February 8, 2025

FILMHOUNDS Magazine

All things film – In print and online

The Carrie-fication of Cinderella – Cinderella’s Curse (FrightFest 2024)

Fairytales have been around for centuries. The familiar fables involving princes, princesses, fantastical creatures, and many more, are world-renowned tales that we cherish in our early years. Everyone knows the story of Sleeping Beauty, Beauty and The Beast, and Cinderella. A lot of these fairytales and childhood stories have become increasingly exploited in recent years as a lot of copyright licenses have expired. With this, our favourite characters from our childhood are on the market for anyone to use in their story.

We've had the infamous Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey films, soon to become a whole cinematic universe dubbed the ‘Poohniverse' featuring other iconic characters who are now in the public domain. With the sheer impact that Blood and Honey had on the pop culture zeitgeist, being an astronomical financial success, there are a lot of similarly bloody films on the horizon. One is Cinderella's Curse, a low-budget British horror that is a retelling of the classic tale through a sadistic lens.

Cinderella's Curse does exactly what it promises to do; it's a bloody revenge story of a woman pushed to the brink by the high society that is fixated on humiliating her. Simple yet beautiful handmaid Cinderella (Kelly Rian Sanson) wishes for love and happiness, but she finds herself ill-treated and abused daily by her evil stepsisters and stepmother, unable to escape their cruel clutches. Until she summons her fairy godmother from an ancient flesh-bound book, who can grant Cinderella her greatest wish: ultimate revenge. Now, with bloodlust, Cinderella goes to the ball to massacre those who have done her wrong before the hour strikes midnight.

This is a pretty decent effort by filmmaker Louisa Warren. She offers a different perspective on the Cinderella tale and it all works surprisingly well. The concept of turning Cinderella into a revenge-fueled killer, glass slipper as her weapon of choice, is a great idea. When things get gory, it's done well with some pretty gnarly kills. In a way, this film feels very much based on the iconic Stephen King character Carrie, as this film's Cinderella is pushed to the brink by the constant bullying and harassment by all of those around her. It's essentially the ‘Carrie-fication' of Cinderella.

Like films in the same sandbox, the acting is very hit-and-miss. When characters aren't screaming or getting butchered by Cinderella, the narrative does drag with some wooden line readings. But overall, this is a trashy little horror film that will entertain, and with a runtime around the 80-minute mark, never overstays its welcome.

Cinderella's Curse had its UK premiere at FrightFest 2024 on Thursday, August 22.