MCBASTARD'S MAUSOLEUM: THE UGLY STEPSISTER (2025) Second Sight Films 4K Ultra HD Review + Blu-ray Screenshots

THE UGLY STEPSISTER (2025)

aka Den Stygge Stesøsteren

Label: Second Sight Films

Region Code: Region-Free (UHD), B (Blu-ray)

Rating: Cert. 18

Duration: 109 Minutes 25 Seconds

Audio: Norwegian DTS-HD MA 5.1 Surround with Optional English Subtitles

Video: Dolby Vision (HDR10) 2160p Ultra HD Widescreen (1.66:1)

Director: Emilie Blichfeldt

Cast: Ane Dahl Torp, Myren, Flo Fagerli, Thea Sofie Loch Naess

The Ugly Stepsister (2025), directed by Emilie Blichfeldt, is a dark retelling of the Cinderella story that is super-dark, twisted and wonderfully grotesque. In it the recently widowed Rebekka (Ane Dahl Torp, Dead Snow) arranges to marry a new husband, Otto (Ralph Carlsson), a older

widower, whom she believes is wealthy. Accompanying her are her two daughters, the not traditionally beautiful Elvira (Myren) and the younger Alma (Flo Fagerli), who upon arrival are introduced to Otto and his beautiful blonde daughter Agnes (Thea Sofie Loch Naess). As they gather for a festive wedding breakfast Otto unexpectedly drops dead. It is only upon his death that Rebekka comes to realize that her new husband was broke, in a cruel twist of fate realizing that he was only marrying her for her perceived wealth, as creditors arrive and scavenge his estate's belongings leaving Rebekka with meager finances and dour future prospects.

Later both Elvia and Agnes are invited to attend the all noble young virgins ball, where Prince Julian (Isac Calmroth) will choose a wife. Rebekka sees this as a potential financial stabilizer, and the whimsical Elvira has long dreamt of marrying a prince, indulging in fantasies about marrying into the royal bloodline, but her mother believes her to be too ugly to ever have a chance to draw the attention of the prince at the upcoming ball, to that end she sets out to give her daughter a bit of a Victorian era glow-up. Rebekka subjects her awkward daughter to some horrific cosmetic surgery without the benefit of anesthesia at a clinic run by aptly named Dr. Esthétique (Adam Lundgren). During the painful process Elvira has her nose broken with a chisel and hammer and reset to beautify it, made to wear metallic nose-brace, which brought to mind The People Eater from Mad Max: Fury Road. She also has extended eyelashes sewn into her lower eyelid, providing viewers with some squeamish eye surgery, with the doctor and the nurses wearing these surgical gowns that made me think of David Cronenberg's Dead Ringers, which I am thinking in no happy accident, the influence of Cronenberg's body horror is slathered all over this one, albeit Cronenberg's body horror comes from within usually, while the physical horrors here are external and inflicted. After her cosmetic surgeries she is enrolled at a finishing school fort young women to learn proper social etiquette and ballroom dance. The school's instructor Sophie von Kronenberg (Cecilia von der Esch) despises her initially, but eventually comes to realize her potential, gifting her a tapeworm egg to swallow to help her lose weight, which is just a horrific idea. All the while Agnes's dead father's corpse is just rotting away in disused room in the house the whole time, unburied, because the expensive cosmetic surgeries meant there was no money to bury his body, with young Agnes occasionally visiting him to vent her anger and frustrations.

Throughout the film we hear the disgusting sounds of Elvira stomach rumbling from extreme hunger, leading to a later horrific scene as she attempts to disgorge the parasite from her stomach, and if your squeamish, well, you'd better strap yourself in for that one! The parasite eventually causes her to become malnourished and she starts losing her hair, causing her to have to wear a blonde wig for the ball.

At a certain point Elvira catches her stepsister Agnes having sex in the stables with the stable boy Isak (Malte Myrenberg Gårdinger), which she informs her mother of, resulting in Agnes being treated like the fairytale Cinderella, they even call her Cinderella at various points, as she is put to work in the kitchen and made to be a servant. Agnes also dreams of marrying the prince, but when a jealous Elvira tears up her ball gown all hope seems lost, until she has a vision of her dead birth mother (Agnieszka Żulewska) who gifts here with a pair of gorgeous shoes and summons silk worms from her father's corpse that spin a beautiful new ballroom gown, as well as a carriage to take her to the ball, one that she says will turn into a pumpkin at midnight, setting the stage for the stepsisters to attend the ball to compete for the prince's affections, with a wild finale that features a desperate Elvira willing to horrifically mutilate her own body to fit into the fabled slipper the prince will use to identify his future wife,

The is a wonderfully dark and lush period set film, the locations and costuming are absolutely stunning, steeped in atmosphere and and dread, and I adore the subversion of the Cinderella story through a dark slice of body horror with themes of beauty standards and the psychological effects of transformation and wish fulfillment, all filtered through a visual style that I would describe as Walerian Borowczyk (Immoral Tales) by way of Cronenberg (The Brood). It's an incredibly assured feature-film debut from Emilie Blichfeldt, establishing herself as a cinematic voice worth checking out, and Second Sight limited edition 4k UHD/Blu-ray set is the perfect way to watch it, offering a stellar 4K UHD presentation with a terrific set of in-depth extras and some gorgeous limited edition packaging.

Audio/Video: The Ugly Stepsister (2025) gets a top-notch presentation from Second Sight Films, sourced from a 4K DI, presented in 2160p UHD framed in 1.66:1 widescreen, with Dolby Vision/HDR10 WCG enchantments. The Gothic setting is lush and wonderfully realized, it was shot with vintage lenses which help maintain filmic look. It appears that some artificial film grain has been added to the image as well, which helps maintain the illusion of film. The cinematography has some inherent softness to it giving the dark fairytale an appropriate dreaminess to it that feels candlelit. The image is warm and chock full of earthy tones that look terrific, color pops during some f the more gruesome scenes, but also during the ball with everyone in their finery. Fine detail and textures are nicety dialed in, those horrific body horror elements like the stitching in of fake eyelashes and the severing of toes are delivered with startling clarity. The accompanying 1080p HD Blu-ray presentation is also terrific looking, even without the benefit of WGC color-grade the transfer is a knockout, just a notch below the 4K.

Audio comes by way of Norwegian DTS-HD MA 5.1 surround with optional English subtitles. The track is nuanced and layered, the dialogue acoustics sound great, and the score which ranges from more delicate strings to electronic drone also sounds excellent. The surround is sparse for a modern surround track, but it does the job, sounds of scream and the thunder have nice presence to them, just don't expect a surround sound workout with it.

As usual Second Sight go all out with the bonus content, we start off with a pair of new commentaries, the first with with director Emilie Blichfeldt and Filmmaker Patrik Syversen, and the second with audio commentary by film journalist Meagan Navarro. Then into the 34-min This Is My Ball: a new interview with director Emilie Blichfeldt , get gets into how "creative naps" informed the film's story, creating a different spin on the Cinderella story, the scripting process, shooting the short to test the body horror versus the inherent sympathy factor, the difficulty of the casting process, how ambitious the film was, world building and design, the influence of Eastern European fairytale cinema and 70s films like Picnic at Hanging Rock, the costuming and make-up, the practical effects, shooting in Poland, the locations, the anachronistic 70s/80s synth score, shooting the body horror scenes, challenges during the shoot, scenes she is most proud of. Then onto the 19-min Generational Trauma: a new interview with actor Lea Myren, she talks about being shocked by the script, enjoying the a Cinderella story from the female gaze versus traditional telling, the audition process, her shared language with the director, working under prosthetics, the tapeworm scene, what the costuming and uncomfortable corset brought to her performance, and seeing the film screen at Sundance with an audience.

Next, the 15-min Take Up Space: a new interview with actor Thea Sofie Loch Næss, she speaks of meeting the director after being cast in a short as Cinderella, then being cast six years later as Cinderella again, how this is more of a Brothers Grimm version of the story, admiring the director's clarity of vision and making it happen, working with her co-stars, learning to speak Swedish, the costuming, and not realizing they were making a horror film at first.

Character and Gore is a new 18-min Interview with effects artist Thomas Foldberg, he gets into his make-up FX heroes Dick Smith and Rock Baker, how he is not a huge gore fan unless its character driven and realistic, how he came onto this film, the good chemistry with the director, the tight shooting schedule, complicated effects make-up shots.

We also get an 11-min The Beauty of Ugly: The Effects of The Ugly Stepsister more in-depth look at the special effects with Foldberg who shows off prosthetic pieces used for the gruesome special effects worl , and 18-min visual essay A Cinderella Story: Kat Hughes on The Ugly Stepsister, a brief Deleted Scene that shows a intense piano performance from Elvira, and two of the director's Short Films: How Do You Like My Hair? and Sara’s Intimate Confessions (21:53) that establish the director's fascination with body horror and body issues.

The limited Edition set from Second Sight includes a Rigid slipcase with new artwork by Ann Bembi, inside the UHD/Blu-ray discs are housed in a 4-panel digibook with clear plastic trays holding the discs. There is also a

120-page perfect bound book with Cinderella’s Stepsister by Emilie Blichfeldt, storyboard comparisons and new essays

by BJ Colangelo, Michelle Kisner, Kimberly Leszak, Jolene Marie Richardson, Katie Rife and Amber T, which are all terrifically explore the film with depth and perception. There are also Six Collectors' Art Cards tucked away inside. It's a gorgeous limited edition set, but fear not, if you cannot spring for the deluxe limited edition set there are both standard Blu-ray and 4k UHD editions that have the same stellar presentations and mirrored disc extras.

Special Features:

• Dual format edition including both UHD and Blu-ray with main feature and bonus features on both discs

• UHD presented in HDR with Dolby Vision

• New audio commentary with director Emilie Blichfeldt and Filmmaker Patrik Syversen

• New audio commentary by Meagan Navarro

• This Is My Ball: a new interview with director Emilie Blichfeldt (34:29)

• Generational Trauma: a new interview with actor Lea Myren (19:08)

• Take Up Space: a new interview with actor Thea Sofie Loch Næss (14:33)

• Character and Gore: a new interview with effects artist Thomas Foldberg (18:00)

• The Beauty of Ugly: The Effects of The Ugly Stepsister (11:12)

• A Cinderella Story: Kat Hughes on The Ugly Stepsister (18:08)

• Deleted Scene (3:11)