‘Cinderella’s Revenge’ Review: A Classic Tale with a Bloody Twist

Cinderella’s Revenge makes some odd choices in its twisted retelling of the familiar story.

Magic Symbol: Thorn Rune
Cinderella’s Revenge was released in limited theaters in the USA on April 26, 2024. It began streaming on May 28th, 2024.

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What is Cinderella’s Revenge About?

Cinderella and her fairy godmother sit next to each other in Cinderella's Revenge (2024).
The fairy godmother listens to Cinderella’s woes.

Cinderella’s Revenge is exactly what it sounds like; it’s a version of the timeless Cinderella story with a twist involving bloody revenge.

Cinderella’s stepmother secretly has her father killed. With no father to defend her, Cinderella is forced to become a maid/slave for her stepmother and two stepsisters. After a few years of servitude, Cinderella is at her breaking point. Her stepmother eventually pushes Cinderella too far when she prevents her from trying on the glass slipper she left behind at the prince’s ball. With the encouragement of her fairy godmother, Cinderella hunts down her step-relatives one by one and exacts murderous revenge.

The stepsisters in Cinderella's Revenge (2024).
Cinderella’s stepsisters are equal parts goofy and mean, which makes them perfect potential victims in a revenge movie.

Cinderella’s Revenge was directed by Andy Edwards (Punch, Midnight Peepshow). Tom Jolliffe (House of Screaming Glass) wrote the screenplay. Lauren Staerck stars as Cinderella, and Natasha Henstridge is featured as Cinderella’s fairy godmother. Also appearing are Stephanie Lodge as the evil stepmother Katherine, Beatrice Fletcher as stepsister Josephine, Megan Purvis as stepsister Rachel, Ricardo Freitas as killer-for-hire Hogan, and Darrell Griggs as the prince.

Cinderella’s Revenge Review

Cinderella puts on a mask in Cinderella's Revenge (2024).
Cinderella’s mask is an interesting part of the movie. It allows her the freedom to act on the impulses she’s always had.

If you see a title like Cinderella’s Revenge and think the filmmakers can’t be serious, then you’d be right. Cinderella’s Revenge is more of a comedy-horror movie rather than a straightforward horror or revenge film. The presence of Natasha Henstridge’s fairy godmother in particular ramps up the comedy considerably. She can apparently travel through space and time, because even though the movie takes place in the past, the fairy godmother uses modern references, people (whom she pulls out of a magical portal), and items to help Cinderella. For example, instead of a horse-drawn carriage made out of a pumpkin, Cinderella is taken to the prince’s ball in an orange car. It’s weird, and it acts more as a comedy-like substitute for humor rather than being truly funny.

Cinderella exits an orange car on her way to the prince's ball in Cinderella's Revenge (2024).
Using a car in place of a carriage might have been a budget-saving move, or it might have just been done for the sake of comedy and weirdness.

That’s not to say the fairy godmother isn’t enjoyable to watch. Natasha Henstridge is great, and she is a major highlight of the movie. The modern references are just an odd choice. Outside of the fairy godmother’s overtly comedic contributions, the rest of the movie is approached in a slightly campy way that is more typical of the lighter side of super-low-budget horror. Which is to say, performances are often exaggerated and the murder is made to be bloody and fun rather than scary or particularly gross.

Natasha Henstridge smiles at the camera in Cinderella's Revenge (2024).
There are plenty of winks and nods towards the audience throughout Cinderella’s Revenge, sometimes metaphorically, and sometimes literally directed towards them.

The special effects are mostly pretty good for the budget. Nothing amazing, but admirably done for the most part. You can tell at times that the filmmakers were working to make the best of their budget, and they did so well. Most of the locations, both indoor and outdoor, are very nice and add a lot to the production value. The only sequences in the movie that maybe aren’t quite as grand as they should be are the prince’s ball (which feels small and cramped), and the obvious use of stock footage. But for a non-serious low-budget movie about Cinderella killing people, neither of these nitpicks is a deal breaker.

The evil stepsisters try on the glass slipper in Cinderella's Revenge (2024).
Some of the more grim parts of the Brothers Grimm version of Cinderella—specifically when it comes to the stepsisters trying on the glass slipper—are included in Cinderella’s Revenge.

Overall though, it feels like the movie needed something more. The first half of Cinderella’s Revenge is just the Cinderella story that we all know. If you choose to watch this over any other version of Cinderella, then what you want to see is her revenge. It would have been nice to get to the revenge a lot sooner, and it would have been nice for the revenge to be more drawn out. It’s violent, sure, but even more blood and violence would have been very welcome in a movie like this. As it is, it feels like too little revenge which happens too late.

Cinderella’s Revenge Rating and Recommendation

Cinderella begs her stepsister to stop whatever she's doing in Cinderella's Revenge (2024).
Cinderella’s Revenge isn’t really recommended for anyone except the most curious.
Star Rating: 2 out of 5

It’s not without its charms, but Cinderella’s Revenge isn’t great. It is recommended only for people curious to see the latest movie in the current wave of public-domain stories adapted into horror movies. The bar isn’t particularly high for that kind of movie, and Cinderella’s Revenge sits somewhere in the middle of the pack.

Cinderella’s Revenge is currently available for digital rental and purchase on streamers including Amazon Prime Video and Fandango at Home.

Further Reading

Meet The Author

Chris has a degree in film studies at Temple University’s campus in Tokyo, Japan. He is a renowned expert on horror cinema.