The Ugly Stepsister (2025)

Nominated for:  Best Hair and Makeup    Ah, our first Women's Horror entry of the year.  This was a total surprise to see on the Oscar list.  Content warning:  medical horror, body horror, worms/maggots, some gore, blood, vomit

All Elvira (Lea Myren) wants to do is marry Prince Julien (Isac Calmroth), but she is plain of looks and poor in class.  There's a chance that her mother, Rebeka's (Ane Dahl Torp) new husband (Ralph Carlsson) can raise their social profile but he already has a beautiful daughter, Agnes (Thea Sofie Loch Naess).  And then he dies and it turns out he had a title but no money.  With the ball to determine Prince Julien's bride coming up, Rebeka ruthlessly makes over Elvira to compete with her stepsister --who has literal magic.  

This movie is very funny in the way it highlights how fucked up it is to pit women against each other.  It is a deeply feminist retelling of Cinderella that surprisingly keeps a number of supernatural elements from the original fairy tale.  It does change the ending slightly, which is nice, but amps up the gross-out factors with a trip to a plastic surgeon and a, shall we say, all-natural approach to a miracle weight loss drug.  If you are at all squeamish, this is not for you.  Pretty hurts, y'all.  

The Swedes are much less prudish than American audiences so there is some full-frontal nudity in case the words "violence" and "torture" weren't enough to convince you not to let your children watch this.  It's not Disney's Cinderella.  (One sex scene in the barn is made even more awkward by constant cuts to reaction shots by the horses.  They are not involved but the editing suggests that they are enthusiastic voyeurs.)

Myren carries this movie admirably.  You can visibly see her desperation to stand out and her crushing despair when none of her efforts are deemed worthy.  Special shoutout to Flo Fagerli, who plays Elvira's younger sister, Alma.  She doesn't get a lot of lines, but her facial expressions convey everything you need to know about her.  

The Ugly Stepsister is streaming on Shudder and Hulu.  Hulu also has an English dub, if you're a coward.