As one of the most well-known, evergreen classic stories, the tale of Cinderella has gone through numerous retellings, which has added to its universal appeal. However, Director Louisa Warren’s brutal, dark, straight-up body horror-themed reimagining of the story Cinderella’s Curse is something we could never have come up with in our wildest dreams. While the core essence of the story remains largely unchanged throughout the majority of the movie, the few alterations establish it as more of an adaptation of Stephen King’s Carrie in the medieval fantasy setting of Cinderella.
If you are among the extreme minority of viewers who actually liked the twisted vision behind Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey, then Cinderella’s Curse is right up your alley; only this one has much better treatment in terms of the narrative than that of Winnie the abomination. But if you aren’t a fan of the idea of a Disney princess getting tossed into a slasher flick, then be prepared to see your childhood memories of this beloved children’s classic ruined forever.
Spoilers Ahead
Why was Cinderella invited to the ball with Prince Levine?
Cinderella’s Curse begins with a terribly horrific scene of a dark grimoire being used by a peasant named Jacob, who kills his wife along with a bunch of other people in a barn after being manipulated by its evil dictates. As Jacob laments the death of his daughter (who might or might not have been killed by him), a vicious-looking witch-figure emerges out of the fog along with her thralls and takes her payment for fulfilling his wish by taking off his head. No time wasted to establish the tone, indeed.
The first half of Cinderella’s Curse, which chronicles Cinderella’s fate while living with her stepmother’s family, progresses just as the familiar version of the story does. Cinderella’s socialite father had married a vicious, cruel woman after the death of his first wife. Cinderella’s stepmother and her two daughters from her first marriage, Ingrid and Hannah (both named after their mother), had her new husband murdered and inherited his property, subjecting Cinderella to inhumanely cruel treatment on a daily basis, making her life a living hell. Cinderella’s only companions were housemaid Anja and her son Mortiz, and they were the sole reason as to why Cinderella never left the house, as she had promised her father that she would look after them. Cinderella endures all the pain inflicted upon her by her evil stepmother and her daughters and has only her diary as an emotional outlet. Sometimes, when she is at her lowest, Cinderella experiences haunting, morbid visions of impending doom.Â
However, things change as the royal family arrives at their mansion to seek the hand of one of the daughters, and Prince Levine, seemingly infatuated with Cinderella in the very first meeting, asks her to attend the ball. This proposal comes as an unexpected blessing in Cinderella’s otherwise miserable life, and Anja encourages her to attend the ball as well. Cinderella has already been charmed by the prince, and considers him a sensitive, thoughtful, and gentle soul. On the contrary, Prince Levine is as wicked as the rest of the lot, and by conspiring with Ingrid (with whom he was already in a relationship), he wants to humiliate Cinderella among the socialite crowd.
How Did Cinderella Get A Hold Of The Grimoire?
Absolutely furious over Cinderella’s apparent turn of fate, her stepmother decides to teach her a lesson as she and her daughters brutally torture, maim, and disembowel Anja horrifically and force a devastated Cinderella to deliver the killing blow. Cinderella cries in guilt and agony as poor Mortiz searches for his mother, not knowing how viciously her life was ended.
Cinderella’s ominous visions escalate after her traumatic experience, and as she goes to bury Anja in the garden, she comes across the dark grimoire. At night, Cinderella dreams of the grotesque fairy godmother who used to trigger her haunted visions and gets extremely creeped out. Mortiz goes missing, and unbeknownst to Cinderella, the kid is being kept chained inside the basement of the mansion. On the day of the ball, Ingrid and Hannah initiate a plan to humiliate Cinderella and get close to her by pretending to be sympathetic to her condition. While Ingrid makes her believe that Prince Levine will choose her as his better half, Hannah returns Cinderella’s crystal shoes, which were gifted by her father. A naïve Cinderella mistakes their feelings to be genuine, and as she remains distracted, Hannah steals her diary.
How Did Cinderella Reach the Royal Ball?
Ingrid even fixes Cinderella with one of her own dresses for the royal ball, but Cinderella’s stepmother refuses to take her. Frustrated, Cinderella questions her about Mortiz’s fate, as she suspects the worst for the kid. As a reply, Cinderella’s stepmother beats her up some more for insubordination and leaves for the ball along with her daughters.
Sulking in loneliness in her room, Cinderella curiously opens the grimoire and reads a foreboding rhyme, which all of a sudden brings her into the midst of dead thralls and her fairy godmother. The fairy godmother offers to grant Cinderella three wishes and promises to fulfill them. Hopelessly lovestruck for Prince Levine, Cinderella wishes to go to the ball and dance with the prince. Her two wishes get fulfilled almost instantaneously, as Cinderella magically gets dressed in a beautiful gown and gets taken to the ball in a grand horse-drawn carriage. However, as she prepares to make her third wish, the fairy godmother warns her to do so only when the time is right.
At the ball, Cinderella’s evil stepmother is visibly disgusted by her presence, but Hannah and Ingrid share a chuckle, as they know what fate is going to befall the poor girl. Prince Levine takes Cinderella’s hand and leads the way as the duo dance, but just as everything starts feeling too good to be true and Cinderella shares her feelings for him, things go south within moments. Prince Levine starts insulting Cinderella, mocks her, and shares the fact that he had planned with Ingrid to humiliate her—much to the socialite crowd’s amusement. Cinderella is reduced to a mere husk of her former self as Levine reads aloud Cinderella’s private accounts written in her diary, further belittling her as her agonizing cries are overpowered by the derisive laughter of the aristocracies. Cinderella’s misery only increases from thereon, as she is ridiculed, stripped naked, and beaten bloody by her stepmother, Ingrid, Hannah, Levine, and the rest of the gathered crowd. All the misery she had to bear just because she dared to dream a little. Cinderella’s Curse really makes viewers feel that whatever happens to these rich, filthy scumbags is completely justified.Â
Did Cinderella finally get her revenge?
A devastated, broken Cinderella calls her fairy godmother to make her third and final wish and shares with her that she wants revenge upon those who have subjected her to pain and torture thus far. The fairy godmother warns Cinderella that once she grants her wish, she will take over Cinderella’s body, and whatever happens after, there is no going back from. Cinderella agrees to the terms, and the fairy godmother possesses her body.
Cinderella, possessed by her fairy godmother, starts wreaking havoc at the ball using her newfound demonic abilities, and the undead thralls join in to assist her. What follows is absolute carnage, a massacre of epic proportions. Cinderella starts slaughtering all the present aristocrats one by one in the most gruesome fashion. Her weapon of choice is the crystal shoes gifted to her by her father, which she uses to cut, stab, hack, maim, and dismember the attendees to death. The satisfying death streak induces a mass panic as people try to flee, but to no avail, and Cinderella and her thralls get to them one by one. The evil stepmother, her two daughters, and Levine try to hide inside the palace quarters, and Cinderella tracks them down and kills Ingrid and Hannah in the most painful way possible, while Levine gets eaten alive by the undead thralls.
Cinderella’s evil stepmother makes a last-ditch attempt to escape as the authorities arrive, but even they get butchered by the thralls, and at last Cinderella confronts her stepmother. Even in her final moments, her stepmother tries to provoke Cinderella by confessing to killing her father, and enraged, heartbroken Cinderella decides to let her go. Remaining alive will be a worse punishment for her stepmother than being dead. However, as the provocations continue on her part, Cinderella decides to end her, and using her magical powers, she burns her stepmother to death.
After all is said and done, the fairy godmother asks Cinderella to join her as one of her undead thralls. Cinderella refuses her proposal, as she has been under others’ thumbs all her life and has been treated like a slave all the while. This time, she wants to write her own destiny and wants to become a leader. Thanking the fairy godmother for her help, Cinderella stabs her to death with her crystal shoes, and the undead thralls start considering her as their new leader. As Cinderella’s Curse ends, Cinderella and her thralls disappear in the darkness, probably to deliver justice to some other poor souls.Â