UGLY BEAUTIFUL
A tormented schoolgirl makes the transformation from ugly outcast to head-turning beauty using unorthodox methods.
Beauty is only skin deep...
While that may be of comfort to some, it’s scant consolation to the antagonists of ‘Ugly Beautiful’, Warren Duncan’s twisted take on the fairytale classic The Ugly Duckling.
First off - let's meet Page:
A twenty-something beauty turning heads with a risk of whiplash as she strides through the city, soaking up attention every step she takes. This is Page’s moment. It’s what she’s been waiting for her whole life. In her mind, this is the way it was supposed to be. Just like all pretty girls deserve...
But it wasn’t always like this. For once there was a troubled teen, subjected to a ritual of daily abuse at the hands of three high-school bullies who convinced Page she was too ugly to ever find love. It’s the kind of torment that stays with a kid, ingraining itself deep in the psyche; consuming the soul as it grows into a singular desire for perfection at any cost.
Cut to ten years later, when our trio of high-school haters are living it up in the suburban bubble. The wine flows freely. The cosmetic surgeon is on speed-dial. And Porky Page (as they nicknamed her) is now a distant memory.
But when the lights suddenly go out on one of their weekly soirees, the “mean girls” soon discover not all ducklings become beautiful swans. Some become a different creature altogether.
They told her she’d never be loved for who she was. But if Page can’t find comfort in her own skin…
...maybe someone else’s will have to do.
Warren Duncan’s modern take on the Hans Christian Andersen classic gives us a dark tale of a tormented teenager with consequences that stretch beyond childhood. Fast paced and grittily scribed, Ugly Beautiful pulls you into Page’s world to experience her suffering – then turns the tables in an unflinchingly macabre payoff. Fans of low budget slashers would do well to check this out!