2024 was a strong year for horror, proving once again just how big the appeтιтe is for scary and disturbing content at the movies. While studio horror movies like Alien: Romulus, The First Omen, and Nosferatu were all well-received, the year was also strong for indie horror. I Saw the TV Glow and Terrifier 3 both pushed boundaries within the genre, with the latter delivering some of the year’s strongest gore. The Substance reviews were also glowing, and that film, despite leaning heavily into body horror, has just earned a Best Picture nomination for the 97th Academy Awards.
2025 is already shaping up to be another banner year for horror. Though Leigh Whannell’s Wolf Man did not make much of a splash this month and likely will not make back its $25 million budget in theaters, the rest of the year will see the premieres of a mulтιтude of major horror releases such as The Black Phone 2, Final Destination: Bloodlines, The Conjuring: Last Rites, 28 Years Later, Sinners, and The Bride, among many others. Additionally, one under-the-radar horror movie has likely now just joined the list of anticipated тιтles after its debut screening.
The Ugly Stepsister’s Body Horror Caused Vomiting
The 2025 Horror Movie Pushes Boundaries
The Ugly Stepsister, which is тιтled Den stygge stesøsteren in the original Norwegian, has just had its premiere, and its body horror was so intense that it led to an audience member vomiting. Written and directed by Emilie Blichfeldt, the upcoming Cinderella-style horror movie stars Lea Myren as Elvira, a woman who resorts to extreme measures to alter her appearance in order to compete with her gorgeous sister in a land where physical appearance is everything. The rest of the cast includes Flo Fagerli, Isac Calmroth, Matle Gårdinger, Ralph Carlsson, and Willy Ramnek Petri.
The film is said to feature a number of challenging scenes…
Variety reports that one audience member leaned into the aisle and threw up during the premiere screening of The Ugly Stepsister at Sundance. The film is said to feature a number of challenging scenes, including one in which Elvira eats a tapeworm, as well as graphic depictions of cosmetic surgery, including the sewing in of new eyelashes and a viscerally depicted nose job. ScreenRant critic Graeme Guttmann saw the movie while covering Sundance, and reported back with the following:
The film’s fairy tale setting makes its body horror moments all the more visceral and disgusting. One scene late in the film is truly sickening, so it doesn’t surprise me that someone vomited during the premiere.
What The Premiere Reaction Means For The Ugly Stepsister
Will It Be Another Terrifier 3?
Even if the person who vomited might not have enjoyed The Ugly Stepsister, these kinds of occurrences can often work in a movie’s favor. Extreme movie theater reactions played an important role in marketing earlier installments in the Paranormal Activity franchise, and they’ve recently done the same for the Terrifier movies, especifically the surprise smash hit Terrifier 2 and its follow-up, the well-reviewed Terrifier 3. The franchise is continuing to expand because of its notoriety, as director Damien Leone has confirmed that Terrifier 4 is on the way.
Terrifier 3 earned a Certified Fresh Rotten Tomatoes score of 78% with an even better audience score of 85%, in spite of its intense, gory murder sequences.
Terrifier 3‘s premiere reportedly led to multiple audience walkouts and at least one person throwing up due to the extreme gore, and this ultimately just helped to spread awareness and make it “must-see” entertainment for horror fans. The third film in Leone’s unrated indie horror franchise just grossed $88 million on a $2 million budget. Shudder has acquired the North American distribution rights for The Ugly Stepsister, so it is not clear if it will be getting a theatrical release like Terrifier 3 or just a streaming release, but either way, anticipation seems likely to grow in a similar manner.
Our Take On The Ugly Stepsister Premiere Reaction
It Is A Return To Form For Modern Norwegian Horror
The Ugly Stepsister is already beginning to achieve notoriety in its own right, but the 2025 horror movie is also part of a longstanding genre tradition in Norway. Other Norwegian productions or co-productions in the horror genre have managed to break through over the years, particularly in the mid-to-late 2000s. Two of the shining examples are the 2006 slasher Cold Prey (Fritt Vilt) from director Roar Uthaug and the grotesque 2009 zombie comedy ᴅᴇᴀᴅ Snow (Død snø) from Tommy Wirkola.
Both Uthaug and Wirkola later directed Hollywood movies on the strength of their Nowegian genre efforts, with the former helming 2018’s Tomb Raider and the latter taking on 2013’s Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters and 2022’s Violent Night.
During the 2000s, Norwegian horror became known for taking traditional English-language horror subgenres and elevating them with exciting directing and intense gore. However, fewer such тιтles achieved wide recognition in the 2010s. Now, The Ugly Stepsister sees Norwegian horror roaring back into the general public consciousness. Alongside Uthaug’s hit 2022 Netflix monster movie Troll, it could help usher in a new age of Norwegian genre cinema in the 2020s.
Source: Variety
