After a successful run on the streaming service Shudder and appearing on quite a few Best of 2025 lists, Norwegian writer-director Emilie Blichfeldt's rich, heavily gothic retelling of the Cinderella story from a different point of view to that envisioned by Giambattista Basile and afterwards by the Brothers Grimm is getting a 4K UHD and Blu-ray special edition release from Second Sight.
The stepsister of the title is Elvira (Lea Myren) who, along with her sister Alma (Flo Fagerli) ends up having to live with her recently widowed mother Rebekka (Ahe Dahl Torp) and Rebekka's new husband Otto (Ralph Carlsson) and his daughter Agnes (Thea Sofie Loch Naess). Otto soon dies in a cake-throwing incident and it turns our he wasn't as wealthy as the rest of the family had previously thought.
Elvira dreams of marrying a prince but with her radiant beauty Agnes is highly likely to beat her in the courtship game. So Elvira embarks on a series of increasingly desperate measures that include considerable body modification / self-mutilation in an attempt to make her more appealing than her sister. As with the traditional tale, it all comes to a horror-filled climax at a ball and I won't spoil the surprise of what happens.
As gorgeously filmed as the best Italian gothics of the 1960s, Emilie Blichfeldt's film is a must see for any fan of European horror cinema. The director has cited her influences as David Cronenberg (there is a character named Kronenberg in the film) as well as Argento, Fulci and Julia Ducournau and the film certainly bears this out. Of all the strong performances in the film it's Myren who stands out in the lead (at least until she mutilates her foot) offering a compelling sympathetic performance that you cannot help feeling sorry for.
Second Sight's disc comes with two commentary tracks, the first from Blichfeldt with Patrik Syversen and the second from academic Meagan Navarro. There are interviews with Blichfeldt (35 minutes), Myren (19 minutes), Naess (14 minutes) and SFX artist Thomas Foldberg (18 minutes) followed by a very entertaining piece with him on the effects where he demonstrates some of the prosthetics surrounding him during the interview (11 minutes). Kat Hughes provides an 18 minute visual essay, there's a three minute deleted scene and two Blichfeldt short films: How Do You Like My Hair? (10 minutes) and Sara's Intimate Confessions (22 minutes).
Finally, the limited edition comes with a 120 page book featuring new writing on the film, six art cards and a rigid slipcase. Also worth noting is that the disc does not contain the English dub of the film that is currently available on Shudder.
Emilie Blichfeldt's THE UGLY STEPSISTER in 4K is being released in a limited edition UHD / Blu-ray combo with all the trimmings as well as standard edition UHD and Blu-ray editions on Monday 23rd February 2026
No comments:
Post a Comment