The Ugly Stepsister: we chat with the director and stars of this body horror take on Cinderella

I was absolutely floored by The Ugly Stepsister when I caught it at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year. When I heard it was a subversive take on Cinderella, I groaned, as this was at the height of Snow White’s terrible press run, and I didn’t really need to see yet another fairy tale told over again – especially as there was a pretty solid retelling done back in the nineties with Drew Barrymore, Ever After, which doesn’t get much love. Suffice to say, I had no clue what I was getting into, with this a gory, body horror version that puts the Grimm back into this Brothers Grimm story. It’s the darkest fairy tele movie I’ve seen since The Company of Wolves or Snow White: A Tale of Terror. 

Taking the perspective of one of the “ugly stepsisters”, director Emilie Blichfeldt has made a gruesome, darkly humorous take on the genre that will no doubt earn her a lot of fans. It’s currently playing in theatres, and is due for a Shudder release relatively soon, and to mark the occasion, we were invited to sit down with the director and her two stars, Lea Myren and Thea Sofie Loch Naess. What follows is an interesting chat, where Blichfeldt goes into her many influences, including what influenced the film’s synth-style score (which is evocative of classic Tangerine Dream), and how she wanted to rock people with the gore. The stars also draw an interesting parallel to the film’s universality, with Myren citing the recent Netflix series, Adolescence, as evidence of that, lest male viewers not think the film will resonate for them too. It’s a fun interview, and I really hope people get out and see this movie. Blichfeldt is a rising star and will undoubtedly become a big name in horror. 

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