The vitals:
7:00 ~ Doors
7:30 ~ THE UGLY STEPSISTER

Emelie Blichfeldt’s debut film The Ugly Stepsister seemed to come out of nowhere last year, walloping horror fans with a fresh take on a familiar tale. Inspired by Aschenputtel, an interpretation of Cinderella by the Brothers Grimm, Blichfeldt uses this more graphic version of the classic story as a doorway to an iteration filled with utter madness and gruesome body horror. The tale of young stepsisters going head-to-head against their beautiful sibling for the affections of a wealthy man has been told before, but rarely has the story been so equally a scathing indictment of patriarchal expectations and a stomach-churning cavalcade of gruesomeness, but hey, satire is best when it isn’t subtle.

Decidedly more inspired by Cronenberg than Rodgers and Hammerstein, this fractured Norwegian fable stands tall alongside recent debuts like Coralie Fargeat’s Revenge and Julia Ducorneau’s Raw with the declaration of Blichfeldt as a daring new talent who is as skilled a shocker as she is a director. Bring your favorite tapeworm or come as you are, after this screening you’ll be appreciating inner beauty in a whole new light.

-Jackie Stargrove

SEE YOU AT THE MOVIES
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