Exclusives
‘The Ugly Stepsister’ Exclusive Clip Is Not For The Squeamish About Eye Trauma
The pursuit of happily ever after in writer-director Emilie Blichfeldt‘s feature debut, The Ugly Stepsister, comes with pain, bloodshed, and body horror. Our exclusive clip from the horror satire teases barbaric beauty procedures that the title character undergoes in the name of love.
Beware: the clip may induce ommetaphobia over the ocular trauma it sets up.
The darkly entertaining and stomach-churning horror fairy tale releases in theaters on April 18, 2025.
The Ugly Stepsister follows “Elvira (Lea Myren) as she prepares to earn the prince’s affection at any cost. In a kingdom where beauty is a brutal business, Elvira will compete with the beautiful and enchanting Agnes (Thea Sofie Loch Næss) to become the belle of the ball.”
Ane Dahl Torp also stars.
Watch the clip below that sees Elvira in the chair for a downright medieval lash extension procedure, one without much in the way of anesthesia. It’s a great showcase for the film’s body horror and darkly twisted sense of humor. Yet it’s not even the worst of what Elvira will endure as she competes with her stepsister, Cinderella, to gain the prince’s attention. The film made headlines after making one person in the audience vomit at the Sundance premiere.
I wrote in my review, “Blichfeldt employs historically accurate medical procedures to great stomach-churning effect, delivering graphic body horror by way of unflinching surgeries and self-harm, all in the name of love. The filmmaker refuses to let her audience look away; each moment of Elvira’s ruthless metamorphosis from an awkward, ugly duckling into a poised stunner is drawn out to an unbearable degree and frequently shot in extreme closeups. Beauty is pain, and The Ugly Stepsister wants you to feel it on a visceral level.”
Don’t miss the elegant, stylish, satirical, and gnarly body horror fairy tale in theaters this weekend to find out how Elvira’s gruesome pursuit of beauty ends up.
A hospital stay grows more nerve-frazzling when memory loss distorts reality in our exclusive clip from This Tempting Madness, inspired by a true story.
The mind-bending psychological thriller will be released in select theaters and on demand on June 12 via Vertical.
Simone Ashley (“Bridgerton”) stars as Mia, who awakens from a coma, grievously injured, her memory fractured. As she puts the pieces of her past together, she starts to question her own actions and her perception of reality.
In This Tempting Madness, “Mia awakens from a coma grievously injured, her memory fractured. As she puts the pieces of her past together, she starts to question her own actions, and her perception of reality.”
Jennifer E. Montgomery makes her feature directorial debut from a script she co-wrote with director of photography Andrew Davis, inspired by Montgomery’s first-hand experience with tragedy involving her best friend.
“Months before the incident, there were signals that her world was unraveling,” says Montgomery. “I could feel the pressure building, though I didn’t know what form it would take. I never could have known what violence would come, and I certainly never imagined making a film about it.”
Austin Stowell (“NCIS: Origins”), Suraj Sharma (Happy Death Day 2U), Mojean Aria (Reminiscence), Amol Shah (“For All Mankind”), and Zenobia Shroff (“Ms. Marvel”) round out the cast.
Smoke Jumper Films and Mango Monster Productions produce in association with Catchlight Studios (Heretic, The Blackening).
This Tempting Madness is rated R for “language, violence/bloody images, and brief sexuality.”