|The Ugly Stepsister (2025) — Fairy Tale? No. Medical Dungeon? Yes.

Send Us Your Scares!So, you bought a ticket for a fairy tale. But you got a bone chisel.This week Ambrose and Jessica (filling in for Kelly, who's recovering from surgery — get well soon!) crawl down into the Critic's Crypt to break down The Ugly Stepsister (2025) — Emily Blitchfield's debut feature that takes the Brothers Grimm version of Cinderella and drags it straight into full-on body horror territory.Think less glass slipper, more hammer and chisel. Less pumpkin carriage, more tapeworm extraction.What We CoverWho is Elvira — and why she's the most relatable character in any Cinderella story ever madeWhy Agnes (Cinderella) is not the pure, helpless good girl you grew up withThe rotting body in the spare room and what it says about money, class, and survivalDr. Esthetique's Institute — the procedures, the practical effects, and the foley work that will make you never eat celery againThe tapeworm scene, the extraction scene, and the Sundance vomit incidentThe toe-chopping finale — and the tragically funny mistake that makes it worseHow this compares to The Substance (and why this one is angrier and grimier)The Oscar-nominated makeup work and how they made a classically trained dancer look "aggressively average"What the film is actually saying about the beauty industry, eating disorders, and the economics of marriageContent warning: graphic body horror, surgical procedures, eating disorder themes, blood, and a tapeworm extraction that one Sundance audience member did not survive emotionally.Mentioned This EpisodeThe Substance (2024)Raw (2016) — dir. Julia DucournauCrash (1996) — dir. David CronenbergDead Ringers (1988) — dir. David CronenbergPossession (1981)The Fly (1986)A Rose for Emily — William FaulknerThelma & Louise (1991)William Castle (gimmick marketing legend)Jacques Joseph — pioneered modern rhinoplasty in the late 19th centuryThe 1899 Paris trend of sewing hair into eyelids for "permanent" lash extensions (yes, it was real) Support the showEPISODES FM - _https://episodes.fm/1809836198?view=apps&sort=popularitySwift - https://www.swiftenergy.gg/products/tropicrush?ref=svalxxsiFacebook Group Page - https://www.facebook.com/groups/1263899825130479Blue Sky - https://bsky.app/profile/thethingaboutfilms.bsky.socialInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/thethingaboutfilms/TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/search?q=TheTHINGaboutFilms&t=1754605765379X - https://x.com/thingaboutfilms?s=21