A couple travels to Sweden to visit a rural hometown’s fabled mid-summer festival. What begins as an idyllic retreat quickly devolves into an increasingly violent and bizarre competition at the hands of a pagan cult.
From the very beginning, this movie delivers on its promises. Want to see some really messed up stuff? First ten minutes. Want to hear someone utterly break down into a heaving sobbing hysterical mess? You got it. Want to feel deep emotional anguish over the loss of a fictional loved one? Burn baby burn. That’s just the beginning. What follows is the very slow descent into a chaotic hellscape of a Swedish Midnight Sun and Waco-esque cult rituals as observed by four college-aged friends.
Not long after a family tragedy, Florence Pugh’s Dani follows her boyfriend Christian (Jack Reynor) and two friends to Halsinglad in Sweden where they’re invited to participate in the Midsommar festival. What they don’t realize is Halsinglad’s an old festival with medieval traditions practiced once every ninety years. I’m talking traditions we would have made illegal in the modern world. Given that Sweden in the summertime receives something like 3-4 hours of actual darkness. It’s as bright as can be in a gorgeous wide open field but that doesn’t stop the horror from creeping in bit by bit.
The thing Ari Aster’s movies excel in is rooting his horror in human error. Ostensibly the victim in this movie is Florence Pugh (played to perfection bouncing all over the emotional spectrum sometimes in short minute by minute burst.) Her boyfriend creates the tension in the story by completely failing to address confrontation. In fact, the whole reason Dani goes on this trip is that Christian surprised his friends at the very last minute. He’s a weasel and truly the antagonist if you think hard enough: gaslighting, high roading, and generally weaseling his way through confrontation so he always comes out the victor. He gets under your skin just as much as the movie does.
Don’t come to the movie expecting true jump scares or a singular villain. Instead, this movie works on you slowly. It uses minor oddities to prompt your discomfort and before you know it you’re looking at someone’s caved in skull or broken legs as they gasp for life. Both practically and aesthetically the proficiency with which Aster creeps us out surprises me.
A horror movie in broad daylight is a rarity. In previous reviews, I’d heard of references to “The Wicker Man” and while I can’t speak to that movie I can see there’s an inherent challenge to a horror movie in broad daylight. Still, this camera team rocks it. Upside down shots, slow pans, and unnervingly wide angles add to the discomfort the audience feels. At times, the photography feels overexposed and for a second you have to squint, but that’s the point. Everything is hiding in plain sight. I especially want to congratulate the visual effects team. Their swirling backgrounds and breathing flowers brought to life an acid trip much more like what I imagine real life is. The drug sequences stand out the most for retaining clarity while managing to dazzle.
This movie retains its tension with surprising moments of levity as well. The minor characters (Will Poulter, William Jackson Harper, and Vilhelm Blomgren) add minor jokes in moments of harmony. Will Poulter’s constant desire to sleep with Swedish women adds some rare humor to a movie filled with dread. Oh, don’t worry. He pays for his ignorance. Still, it speaks to the editor that these jokes land on us and actually make us laugh, then double back because we remember we just saw something horrifying. In that strange way, there’s a humanness to the edit that reminds us that we feel all kinds of things in rapid succession.
I would go on and on about this movie but I think people know what I mean. While not inherently terrifying this movie creeps into your head bit by bit and unleashes sheer terror towards the end. Less violent than its predecessor but just as alarming, “Midsommar” continues in a tradition of horror I thoroughly enjoy. I recommend for all horror fans. Stick with it. Savor the photography. Enjoy the creeping dread you feel. Ari Aster’s mastered that sense of dread and fear you feel at the back of your neck when something’s wrong. Go check this one out for me!
In theaters Wednesday, July 3rd
