by Alex Billington
March 17, 2025
Source: YouTube
“Vicious. Unrelenting. Horrifying. Intense.” Shudder + IFC Films have revealed the official US trailer for a freaky new body horror from Norway titled The Ugly Stepsister, marking the feature directorial debut of genre filmmaker Emilie Blichfeldt. This first premiered at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival a few months ago and was heralded as one of the big horror hits of the festival, stirring up audiences (and even causing one person to puke during a screening). Arriving in US theaters to watch this April – they’re banking on it being a big theatrical hit just like The Substance (the trailer is very similar to that) and it might just catch on. Determined to outshine her beautiful stepsister, Elvira resorts to extreme measures to win the prince’s heart in this dark re-imagining of the Cinderella fairy tale. More praise: “A biting satire and cinematically exhilarating directorial debut, The Ugly Stepsister is a timely examination of [both] body image and beauty standards, identifying Emilie Blichfeldt as one of the most exciting new international filmmaking voices.” The film stars Lea Myren, Thea Sofie Loch Næss, and Ane Dahl Torp. A very sneaky trailer playing up the terrifying body horror aspects of this while downplaying that all of the dialogue is in Norwegian. Enjoy.
Here’s the trailer (+ posters) for Emilie Blichfeldt’s horror film The Ugly Stepsister, from YouTube:
A darkly entertaining fairy tale horror from Norwegian writer & director Emilie Blichfeldt in her feature directorial debut. A sinister twist on the classic Cinderella story, The Ugly Stepsister follows Elvira (Lea Myren) as she prepares to earn the prince’s affection at any cost. In a kingdom where beauty is a brutal business, Elvira will compete with the beautiful and enchanting Agnes (Thea Sofie Loch Næss) to become the belle of the ball. The Ugly Stepsister, also known as Den Stygge Stesøsteren in Norwegian, is written and directed by up-and-coming Norwegian filmmaker Emilie Blichfeldt, making her feature directorial debut after a few other short films previously. Produced by Maria Ekerhovd. This initially premiered at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival earlier this year in the Midnight section, and it also played at the Berlin Film Festival. Shudder + IFC Films will debut Blichfeldt’s The Ugly Stepsister in select US theaters exclusively starting April 18th, 2025 this spring. It’ll be streaming on Shudder later this year. Who wants to watch?
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