The Ugly Stepsister is what remakes or adaptations or classics need to aspire to be like. Nowadays, when it comes to Cinderella retellings, everything is so uniform and predictable. There is no room for true vision, commentary, or even transformation of a story in a way that makes it feel fresh yet relatable. But The Ugly Stepsister leans into the Grimm’s Fairy Tales of it all and delivers a movie that feels like Cinderella meets The Substance.
At the heart of The Ugly Stepsister is Elvira. She has come to a new home after her mother Rebekka married a man that was seemingly well off and lived with his daughter Agnes, who ends up being the iconic Cinderella. When the man unexpectedly dies, Elvira is tasked by her mother to transform into a young lady that the prince will marry, sealing their fates and saving them from destitution.
The transformation that Elvira goes through is partially due to her mother’s whims and fancies. It’s a really common theme of young women not wanting to disappoint their mothers. But Elvira also wants this for herself. And the film makes it very clear that Elvira has her own dreams, like marrying the prince and becoming the beauty that she has always seen herself as. Problem is, what’s inside is ugly and will step on anyone to get her way. That includes Agnes and even her very own being as Elvira.
When it comes to The Substance feel of The Ugly Stepsister, I find similarities in the way that beauty is brutality. There are no easy ways to become or transform into the kind of woman that society dictates is the one who gets the happy ending. And Elvira literally gets to a point where she is chopping off parts of herself to fit in this mold that her mother wants, society wants, and that she thinks she wants.
The entire story is also told in a filming style that feels ethereal and yet terrifying.
We get these haunting and whimsical moments during The Ugly Stepsister that remind me of classic ’80s visual storytelling. And it’s all elevated by a soundtrack that complements the moments that are terrifying but also the ones that are passionate, confusing, or even just startling. The director and everyone from the cinematographer to the music department, understand the vision of this movie and come together seamlessly to create something disturbing.
A big part of the disturbing nature of The Ugly Stepsister is the tapeworm. If you watch the trailer for The Ugly Stepsister you know that she goes through a rhinoplasty that does not really have anesthesia. That’s painful. There’s also the movie poster that shows her with a cleaver held above her feet, a call back to the ugly step sister trying to fit her foot into Cinderella’s shoe to trick the prince into marrying her. But it’s the tapeworm that really destroyed me.
Without giving too much away, the tapeworm is clearly a symbol of what is eating us inside when it comes to the pressures that we put on ourselves. But it becomes truly disturbing due to the sound editing of what this tapeworm is doing to Elvira inside and the special effects that make it clear that there is a dash of magic in this world. And that magic is twisted and used to destroy a young woman, a destruction that is still prevalent in our world and unfortunately pretty relatable in 2025.
Even though The Ugly Stepsister allows Elvira to explore the dark ruthlessness inside of her, there is a form of redemption here. And it doesn’t even come in the form of Elvira herself. It comes in the form of her sister Alma. She sees what her mother’s influence has done to her sister Elvira. And when it comes down to it, Alma is the one who steps up and looks out for her older sister. It doesn’t matter how Elvira has destroyed herself, Alma is there and acts as the freedom that Elvira has always wanted in her life.
Ultimately, The Ugly Stepsister is a story about beauty and how women are willing to destroy themselves due to an idea. An idea of who we should be according to society, according to men, according to our mothers, and even according to ourselves. And by the end of this movie you should come to the same conclusion someone who watched The Substance would. Beauty doesn’t equal happiness. Beauty fades. And instead of destroying ourselves for the benefit of others, The Ugly Stepsister wants us to take pause, acknowledge who we are as being enough, and look for those who see us without the frills, clothes, or makeup.
The Ugly Stepsister is streaming on Shudder and AMC+.
