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Ugly Cry

Play trailer Poster for Ugly Cry 2026 1h 34m Comedy Horror Mystery & Thriller Play Trailer Watchlist
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Tomatometer 5 Reviews Popcornmeter 0 Ratings
When Delaney's boyfriend leaves town to shoot a splashy zombie movie, she becomes obsessed with a character she's auditioning for after she learns the producers think she has an "ugly cry." But when she tries to make her cry prettier, her performance suffers. Can she contort herself, and her face, to have the perfect cry? Her attempts to change herself cause Young Delaney to haunt her, catapulting present-day Delaney deeper down the rabbit hole. She isolates herself and grows increasingly delusional, and interested in physical fixes to her acting problem. How can she make the world see her as she sees herself? How can she become and become and become? She will become famous. Or die trying.

Critics Reviews

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Rendy Jones Rendy Reviews 2d
3.5/5
It’s a warped cautionary tale for young women navigating the LA acting scene, and a scathing takedown of the personalities that Tinseltown stirs. Go to Full Review Christopher Llewellyn Reed Hammer to Nail 4d
In her directorial debut feature, "Ugly Cry," actor-turned-writer/director Emily Robinson delivers a compelling meditation on how the harsh gaze—male, female, and even one’s own—within systems built on exploitation inevitably leads to terrible outcomes. Go to Full Review Chad Collins Dread Central 5d
4/5
Emily Robinson’s Ugly Cry is a grounded, dysphoric body horror about the very real cost of fame and success. Go to Full Review Codie Allen Geek Vibes Nation 5d
9/10
Ugly Cry sits confidently alongside films that have critiqued beauty standards before it, but it does so in a way that feels wholly original, intimate, and devastatingly honest. Go to Full Review Alan French Sunshine State Cineplex 6d
7/10
Robinson is not necessarily striving for scary in the ways that a true horror film does, but her visuals add a nightmarish quality that’s hard to shake. Go to Full Review Read all reviews

Cast & Crew

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Emily Robinson

Director

Emily Robinson

Actor

Ryan Simpkins

Actor

Aaron Dominguez

Actor

Robin Tunney

Actor

Emily Robinson

Screenwriter
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Ugly Cry

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Movie Info

Synopsis When Delaney's boyfriend leaves town to shoot a splashy zombie movie, she becomes obsessed with a character she's auditioning for after she learns the producers think she has an "ugly cry." But when she tries to make her cry prettier, her performance suffers. Can she contort herself, and her face, to have the perfect cry? Her attempts to change herself cause Young Delaney to haunt her, catapulting present-day Delaney deeper down the rabbit hole. She isolates herself and grows increasingly delusional, and interested in physical fixes to her acting problem. How can she make the world see her as she sees herself? How can she become and become and become? She will become famous. Or die trying.
Director
Emily Robinson
Producer
Sophia Sabella, Pablo Feldman, Jolene Mendes, Rhianon Jones, Tristan Scott-Behrends, Emily Robinson
Screenwriter
Emily Robinson
Production Co
More Avenue, Neon Heart Productions
Genre
Comedy, Horror, Mystery & Thriller
Original Language
English
Runtime
1h 34m