Cinderella's Curse

Apparently the makers of this production meant to come up with an original and (very!) unconventional approach to the well-known Cinderella fairytale: turning it into a supernatural slasher-/horror story. Now these old fairytales originally weren't as sweet and Disney'ish as the 20th century has re-invented them, but here they really went totally overboard: this version is nothing but one big blood-soaked gore-pandemonium! It's a Cinderella drowning in a hotchpotch of Hellraiser, Wishmaster and Evil Dead, all in one.

Even in the introductory scenes the violence of the terrifying stepmother and her evil daughters is of Saw-like proportions. But when, after the pivotal ball at the palace, Cinderella shifts into her revenge-mode, all fuses are blown and a hysterical killing-spree starts among all the guests, turning the party into a chaotic frenzy of screaming victims who are stabbed, amputated, torn to shreds and devoured one by one by Cinderella-turned-demon and her Cenobite-like helpers, amidst never ceasing fountains of blood. The VFX- and make-up people probably have had a real ball, but at home I watched in disbelief.

Okay, the acting was reasonable, Kelly Rian Sanson is pretty, Danielle Scott makes a fearsome stepmother, and sleek prince Sam Barrett was at least allowed to show some impressive skin. But that was all. Maybe, just maybe, it could have worked, when they had made it into some kind of comedy, but alas, not one laugh to lighten up the day. What remained is the overblown result of a writer's crazy fantasy, executed on steroids. It's not even camp, just bad. Avoid!