by Daniel O’Connell Director Ari Aster has recently proved to be an up-and-coming horror master. Starting out with short films The Strange Thing About the Johnsons (2011) and Munchausen (2013), he rose to prominence last year with his feature-length debut, Hereditary. It received a great deal of critical acclaim, with special praise going to lead actress Toni Collette’s performance. The film stood out for being a slow-burning, atmospheric horror akin to The Shining or Rosemary’s Baby, featuring personable themes about mental illness and family. Many consider Hereditary to be one of the best horror movies of 2018, if not if the decade. Now, Aster brings his second feature film, with the summertime folk horror Midsommar. The film follows Dani Ardor (Florence Pugh) and Christian (Jack Reynor), a couple whose relationship is on the verge of falling apart. When Dani’s bipolar sister kills her family and commits suicide, the tragedy prevents the couple from separating. The following summer, Dani goes along with Christian and his friends Mark (Will Poulter) and Josh (William Jackson Harper) when they are invited by their friend Pelle (Vilhem Blomgren) to visit his home, the Swedish commune of Harga. There, the commune’s midsummer celebration, which happens only once every 90 years, is about to occur. However, their summer vacation slowly takes a turn for the sinister when the inhabitants invite the group to take part in their festivities. This leads into a chain of increasingly disturbing and haunting events set in an eternally sunny land, all conducted by a pagan cult.
A beautiful, summertime daymare with great performances
Fantastic cinematography and slow-building horror
The Wicker Man
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