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Horror is finally getting the recognition it deserves, with many scary movies receiving Oscar nominations ahead of the 98th Academy Awards, including The Ugly Stepsister for Makeup and Hairstyling. But by the sounds of what the team went through on set, there's no doubt that the body horror definitely earned the nomination.
Towards the end of the movie, after Elvira has mutilated herself to the limit in an attempt to make herself as beautiful as possible, the consequences of her actions begin to come back to her. In one of the most realistic tapeworm scenes we have seen, Elvira pukes up a very long worm after swallowing an egg weeks prior. The scene definitely turned our stomachs, but it also had an effect on those filming the movie.
"Lea [Myren]'s acting made it so horrible because it made you almost want to vomit yourself when you were on set, because she did it so well," said Prosthetic Makeup Effects Designer Thomas Foldberg to Bloody Disgusting. "It was a tough one. She was pulling these slimy worms out of her mouth and all this stuff. So that was very special."
Directed by Emilie Blichfeldt, The Ugly Stepsister twists the classic fairytale, Cinderella, telling the story from one of the stepsisters, Elvira's, point of view. Elvira dreams of marrying the prince and is willing to go to great lengths to conform to the kingdom's beauty ideals, including sewing false eyelashes onto her eyelids, undergoing extreme medieval plastic surgeries, and even cutting off her own toes.
It should come as no surprise that Elvira's sessions of self-mutilation are hard to watch, but Blichfeldt says the real horror stems from the reasons behind her actions. "For me, blood, gore, and all that can be great. But what really got me into body horror in the first place is how you empathize with and relate yourself to the characters through their bodily harm," said the director. "The gore in body horror, or the bodily harm, is always filled with an intention, a metaphor, or a message that you want the audience to pick up on."
Feeling pressure to alter one's appearance to fit societal beauty standards is definitely something we can relate to in the modern age. "I think it's kind of been there all along," said Blichfeldt, "I think many people don't want to admit to themselves or to people around them that they do this because they put value in their looks. And they're really, really scared of not being loved."
The Ugly Stepsister is available to watch on Shudder and Hulu. For more, read our deep dive into how the movie is the perfect example of how to turn a fairytale into a horror movie, and keep up with upcoming horror movies heading your way.
