Spoiler Alert: This summary and review contains spoilers.

Additionally, some images and text may include affiliate links, meaning we may earn a commission or receive products if you make a purchase.

The Ugly Stepsister Film Details

• Runtime: 1 Hour(s) and 50 Minutes
• Date Seen: April 18, 2025

• Released: In Theaters
• Director(s): Emilie Blichfeldt
• Writer(s): Emilie Blichfeldt
• Genre(s): Drama, Horror, Non-English (Norwegian), Historical
• Rating: Not Rated
• Distributor: Shudder

Summary

With Elvira’s father dead, her mom, Rebekka, does her best to care for her and her younger sister Alma, which in the times they live in, means pleasing and hopefully marrying a man in order to maintain their position or move up the social ladder. Unfortunately for Rebekka, when she marries Otto, despite the look of his estate, he is broke, and he comes with a daughter, Agnes. Then, to make matters worse, Otto dies the night he marries Rebekka, thus sending her back to square one, but with some form of money to make do with.

This makes the prince of the area looking for a wife of the utmost importance, for while Julian is a bit of a jerk, he is still rich, powerful, and likely wouldn’t let his in-laws live in squalor. So, Rebekka pours everything into Elvira, who is already enamored with the prince due to reading his poetry, and she tries her best to compete with Agnes despite being seen as fat, the hump on her nose, and generally seen as someone who isn’t the ideal, until she allows or invites being brutalized to fit beauty standards.

Cast and Characters

Elvira (Lea Myren)

• Check out other productions we’ve covered starring this actor: [Link to Actor’s Tag]

• Character Summary: Elvira is an 18-year-old girl, of above average height at 5’9, who is enamored, if not outright obsessed, with Prince Julian. Trouble is, Elvira has neither been given the impression she is pretty nor enough throughout her life, so when the opportunity to meet and maybe marry Julian comes up, she allows herself to be changed by so many adults and even partakes in her own transformation, with it appearing nothing would ever be enough.

Rebekka (Ane Dahl Torp)

• Check out other productions we’ve covered starring this actor: [Link to Actor’s Tag]
• Character Summary: Rebekka is Alma and Elvira’s mother whose means of getting through life was marrying rich and well. Unfortunately, though, that plan hasn’t been working out, so she has now pressed Elvira to do what it takes to shield the family from poverty.

Alma (Flo Fagerli)

• Check out other productions we’ve covered starring this actor: [Link to Actor’s Tag]
• Character Summary: Alma is the youngest of Rebekka’s children, of an age where she hasn’t had her first menstrual cycle, and it seems between seeing her mother and all that Elvira has gone through, she is in the process of rejecting their ways of life and belief system.

Agnes (Thea Sofie Loch Næss)

• Check out other productions we’ve covered starring this actor: [Link to Actor’s Tag]
• Character Summary: Born with beauty and a bit of a chip on her shoulder, with her father dying, and then learning her new step-mother is broke, Agnes found herself losing hope. Add in a secret lover being dismissed and forced to become Cinderella, and it seemed nothing but misfortune would come to Agnes’ life. However, you know Agnes’ story, and it doesn’t include, on face value, an unhappy ending.

Otto (Ralph Carlsson)

• Check out other productions we’ve covered starring this actor: [Link to Actor’s Tag]
• Character Summary: Otto is Agnes’ father, who was financially hard-pressed, which made Rebekka’s appearance to have money a potential means to recover. However, he luckily dies before learning he married a broke woman, or she learning he is a broke man.

Julian (Isac Calmroth)

• Check out other productions we’ve covered starring this actor: [Link to Actor’s Tag]
• Character Summary: Julian is the prince of the kingdom, mainly known to strangers, like Elvira, for his poetry, but they don’t see him as someone with a soft heart. He has sown his royal oats many times, and with the way his friends joke, he may leave something behind each time – and it is not a bastard child.

Other Noteworthy Information

•  No need to stick around for The Ugly Stepsister’s post-credit scene – it’s just a corpse.

Why Is “The Ugly Stepsister” Not Rated?

• Dialog:
  • Cursing: Mild
  • Discriminatory Language: Yes
  • Innuendo: Explicit
  • Suicide Mentions: No
• Violence:
  • Gun Violence: None
  • Violence Against Animals: Yes
  • Violence Against Children: No
  • Domestic Violence: No
  • Gore/ Blood: Heavy
  • Body Horror: Yes
  • Notable Violence: Self-Harm
• Sexual Content:
  • Nudity: Full (Backside/Chest/Genitals)
  • Sexual Situations: Explicit
  • Sexual Violence: No
• Miscellaneous:
  • Drinking: Yes
  • Drug Use: None
  • Vomiting: Yes
  • Smoking: No

Links

• Check out our movies page for our latest movie reviews and recommendations.
• The Ugly Stepsister will be out later this year on Shudder

Review and Commentary

Highlight(s)

We’re All Villains Of Someone’s Story [82/100]

The evil and ugly stepsisters of “Cinderella” are well known. Still, I would submit, similar to how Disney, at one time, was trying to give the villain’s side of the story with Maleficent, with The Ugly Stepsister, we’re reminded that the truth is often more agreed upon than facts. Case in point, Agnes is shown to be a bit of an ass, humbled by Rebekka cracking down on her, especially after catching her doing some un-ladylike things. Yet, who becomes the princess, later the queen, and can write the story as she sees fit?

Meanwhile, we have Elvira here who may have had a sister in Alma, but with Alma already showing signs of not being like other girls and certainly not strongly into adhering to feminine ideals or gender roles of the time, Agnes was a welcome change. She was beautiful, graceful, someone Elvira seemingly wanted to be friends with, but was rejected almost instantly.

Now, this isn’t to say, as Elvira became society’s form of beautiful that she didn’t show some villainous traits but, I saw this less as Elvira showing who she truly is and Agnes, then Cinderella, becoming humbled, as she deserved, for how she treated Elvira.

This Is Not The Kind Of Film To Eat Anything But Popcorn With [83/100]

I don’t think since seeing Wetlands has a movie made it so I had to set aside what I was eating due to what was happening on screen. For between a tapeworm, and other things which happen to Elvira, or she does to herself, it’s disturbing in ways that I usually feel immune to or have built up a tolerance against.

Elvira’s Insecurities Make You Feel So Deeply For Her [85/100]

What will drive your interest in The Ugly Stepsister is that Elvira not only doesn’t fit the narrative we’re used to, but she seems somewhere between being ideally sweet or relatable, depending on how you grew up or see yourself. She is deeply in love with the prince, through his poetry, but she also recognizes that from her teeth, the bridge of her nose, and other things, society has written her off.

Now, let it be clear, you may not understand what is wrong with Elvira since you see her completely, and can only fathom it must be the times. But, as you can easily find on social media, a lot of people, no matter what kind of inner or outer beauty they exhibit, struggle with seeing what others do. And with Elvira being 18 and having all these struggles, it can hurt a bit, especially since only Alma seems able and willing to say she is beautiful.

But, as anyone who has ever felt unattractive knows, unless certain people validate that you are attractive, it doesn’t matter what anyone says and watching Elvira get stabbed, cut, and so much more to be seen as beautiful in the eyes of the prince, it is sometimes more devastating than the gore attached to the moments.

Rebekka’s Desperation Is Understood [81/100]

While Rebekka isn’t given as much time and effort to give her perspective, at the same time, you can understand who she is and why she does the things she does due to the times. Now, is Rebekka’s background enough to know if maybe she came from a middle-class background, potentially an upper-class family that hit hard times? No.

But, you can tell the alternative of being a maid, having to work hard, isn’t attractive to her, and she’d rather work on wooing and marrying a man than do labor, for she does not dream of labor. Which, honestly, I respect for the time that she is in. So while her pimping her daughter, paying for alterations, and diminishing her self-esteem easily could make Rebekka appear evil, you have to remember this is all Rebekka knows and how she believes Elvira can have a comfortable life.

Never mind, I doubt she’d want her daughter being like her and having to sleep with men, especially in her later years, for comforts beyond company.

Overall

Our Rating (82/100): Positive (Worth Seeing)

When it comes to what Shudder curates for their network, honestly, with the exception of Grafted, they might be the most consistent brand dedicated to a niche. The Ugly Stepsister continues the trend and keeps them in a place of being a trusted name for all things horror.

What To Check Out Next