Boston Underground Film Festival 2025 Reviews

by Mike McGranaghan

The 2025 Boston Underground Film Festival once again put a spotlight on some of the most innovative and interesting genre moviemaking out there. Here’s a look at three of the notable titles I was able to screen:

The Ugly Stepsister - This Norwegian film is absolutely demented, and I mean that as a compliment. Writer/director Emilie Blichfeldt offers up a twisted take on the Cinderella story. Lea Myren gives a stunning performance as Elvira, a young woman with braces and a slightly misshapen nose who dreams of marrying Prince Julian (Isac Calmroth). When he issues an edict for all virgins to attend a ball wherein he will choose a bride, she puts herself through a series of deeply unpleasant procedures in an effort to make herself feel attractive. Her new stepsister, the more conventionally pretty Agnes (Thea Sofia Loch Naess), also wants a crack at the prince. As a seasoned horror buff, not much gets to me, but The Ugly Stepsister has three scenes that made me squirm with discomfort. (Again, a compliment.) The movie has a dark sense of humor, as well, so there are times when you laugh, even as Elvira’s situation grows more dire. Blichfeldt shrewdly uses her tale to comment on how society often makes women feel like their worth is directly tied into their beauty.

Chain Reactions - Tobe Hooper’s 1974 classic The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is considered by many to be the best horror movie ever made. This gripping documentary illustrates why people continue to be fascinated by it decades later. Director Alexandre O. Philippe interviews five hardcore TCM fans - comedian Patton Oswalt, author Stephen King, film critic Alexandra Heller-Nicholas, and filmmakers Karyn Kusama and Takashi Miike. They offer informed observations about the movie, its subtext, and what makes it so darn scary. Oswalt finds multiple comparisons to F.W. Murnau’s 1922 Nosferatu, while Kusama envisions the story as just one instance of a worldwide epidemic of violence. Chain Reactions is chock full of tantalizing insights. You’ll want to watch TCM again immediately after seeing it.

Escape from the 21st Century - This Japanese sci-fi comedy is quite literally the most hyperactive movie I’ve ever seen. It’s about three friends who get exposed to toxic chemicals and develop the ability to time travel by sneezing. (Hey, not everyone can have a DeLorean.) When they discover the future world isn’t in great shape, they vow to save it. Director Yang Li employs a rapid-fire editing style that finds many shots lasting little more than a second or two. Graphics flood the screen and visual effects act as punctuation marks. Weird little comedic asides are ever-present. To be honest, I found following the plot a little difficult due to the film’s manic nature, although it’s undeniably impressive how Escape from the 21st Century executes its wacky vision. There are pretty big laughs in here, too.

---