The Ugly Stepsister (2025) ****

Emilie Blichfeldt's The Ugly Stepsister (2025) is a deliciously bent version of Cinderella, full of grotesqueries (via wonderful practical effects), lush cinematography, exquisite costume and production design, and an excellent score (whose anachronistic qualities I actually quite like; on that note, you gotta love a random Busby Berkeley-style sequence). 

Disturbing yet beautiful, tragic yet hilarious, TUS is a visual feast, a subversive stab at the patriarchy (without being too on the nose; IYKYK), and an impressive feature film debut, with a fearless, committed performance by Lea Myren. A truly grim fairy tale.

Recommended for fans of The Substance (2024) [review], Pearl (2022) [review], Excision (2012) [review], Audition (1999) [review], and The Company Of Wolves (1984) [review].