- Sunlight has never been so terrifying! Beautifully twisted. Delightfully demented. A24 delivers again.

Full Disclosure: While I’m not really a fan of conventional horror, I love a good suspense thriller. Supernatural shit like ghosts and demons don’t do it for me. I’ll take Hitchcock over Craven any day. When filmmakers can take your mind and twist it and make you question your own nature, that’s when I get legitimately freaked out. Midsommar does just that.

Review

Ho…Lee…Shit! This film is redonkulous. Absolutely bananas! I’ve never heard so many people in a theater whisper, “What the fuck?!” so many times in such a visceral manner to whomever happened to be sitting next to them. This was an event; a shared experience not unlike a solid acid trip. I only knew three things about the film coming into it. One, it’s an A24 horror film. Production company A24 has been consistently releasing some of the most creative and original films in the industry over the past five years, so I knew I had to check it out. Two, it stars Florence Pugh, who I loved as WWE’s Paige in Fighting with My Family. Lastly, it got a rave review from the modern master of suspense: Jordan Peele. This is one of those films where the less you know about it, the better the experience will be. I had no idea what I was getting into, much like the dumbass American college kids that form the nucleus of the cast in Midsommar. If you haven’t seen it, go run to your nearest cinema house and come back here in a few hours. I know, not the best way to direct traffic through a website, but I’m here to help you!

Florence Pugh’s turn as Dani was a revelation. She ran the gamut of every conceivable human emotion. From sheer horror, to abject despair, to the pinnacle of ecstasy, it was a clinic in the art of acting and a performance for the ages. Hollywood jus… — Florence Pugh’s turn as Dani was a revelation. She ran the gamut of every conceivable human emotion. From sheer horror, to abject despair, to the pinnacle of ecstasy, it was a clinic in the art of acting and a performance for the ages. Hollywood just got put on notice: Florence Pugh has arrived.

Welcome back! Fucking nuts, right? A masterclass in mind-fuckery by auteur writer/director Ari Aster. Who would’ve thought a horror film taking place primarily at daytime could be so unsettling? Sunlight has never been so terrifying! This film is beautifully twisted and delightfully demented. A24 delivers again. Between A24 and Blumhouse Productions, the horror genre has officially been resurrected as a viable medium for quality cinema. The 90’s were riddled with way too self-aware slasher flicks. The aughts ran the found footage gimmick into the ground. Now, finally, there’s a place for moviegoers who want to be intellectually stimulated and scared on a base, human level as well. No cheap jump scares here. Midsommar earns your squirms, gasps, and hushed profanities through killer camerawork and phenomenal performances from top to bottom. The brutally long shots are utilized to draw the viewers in and make them feel like they’re a part of the story, rather than a passive spectator. Each cut has a purpose and adds to the richness of the story Ari Aster wants to tell us. The hard cuts are jarring and unsettling in a manner you have to see to believe. Every shot looks like a painting. Each setup is so painstakingly organized that it makes greatness look easy. The production design is gorgeous, yet forebodingly haunting in an ancient and unfamiliar sort of way. It feels like if you get too close, you’ll break it.

It’s also, believe or not, surprisingly funny! Will Poulter provides much welcomed comic relief in his role as Mark, a stereotypical American college bro who just wants to get shit-faced and bang chicks. He and his other bros think it’ll be a swell idea to head to Sweden with their pal Pelle (Vilhelm Blomgren) for a once in a lifetime midsummer celebration in an ancient commune. They’re expecting Burning Man, but wind up somewhere between Hostel and The Wicker Man. Tagging along with the bros is Dani (Florence Pugh), girlfriend of douchebag Christian (Jack Reynor). Dani is… not in a good headspace, shall we say? She’s stuck in a toxic relationship with Christian. Following the murder/suicide of her parents at the hands of her mentally ill sister, Dani’s only human connection is Christian, who wants to break up with her, but feels like that would make him look like a massive dick (which, let’s be fair, it would). To change things up a bit, Dani decides to join the bros on a drug-fueled excursion to a strange place where the sun shines bright at 9pm. When, oh when will Americans who are completely ignorant of other cultures stop thinking it’s a good idea to follow affable foreigners on a backpacking trip to remote areas of Europe? It’s never, and I mean never, a good idea. Americans, here’s a bit of advice that may save your life one day: just keep your head down, respect people’s cultural differences, and for fuck’s sake, don’t piss on their sacred trees!

Ultimately, all of the horror and madness that befalls the cast comes from their own doing. Whether it’s pride, ignorance, laziness, or lack of restraint, there’s a reason for the fates our main characters endure. They’re not from here, they don’t belong here, they refuse to assimilate, and they fuck things up at every turn. (A microcosm of American foreign policy at its finest!) That is, except for Dani. She’s about as broken as they come. The bone-chilling opening sequence of Midsommar shows us all we need to know about that. She is, both literally and metaphorically, shrouded in darkness. She has no-one and nowhere; completely lost in the world and in her mind. In the commune, she finds light. She finds purpose. She finds peace. Similar to 2015’s The Witch (another A24 gem), Midsommar is, at its heart, a harrowing tale of self-realization and female empowerment. One would think a tale like this would have a bleak and depressing ending, but it’s actually uplifting, which makes it all the more horrific! While it’s certainly not conventional, her fateful decision as the May Queen is definitely one way to get out of a toxic relationship!

5 Quick Hits

Big ups to whoever coordinated the mushroom tripping scenes. It’s the most accurate depiction of what it’s like to be under the influence of psilocybin that I’ve ever seen on film! That goes for the good and the bad parts of tripping.
The 147 minute runtime was a bit much for a horror film. While the long shots were haunting, the story dragged in a few places. It’s damn near impossible to hold an audience in a constant state of suspense for two and a half hours without exhausting them.
The film felt a bit self-indulgent at times. We stayed with scenes too long and maybe could have cut a character or two. Once you elicit the desired emotion from the audience, we get it. It’s time to move on!
Florence Pugh probably won’t get nominated for an Oscar for this role, but she really should. She carried the emotional weight of the entire film solely on her back. Sadly, horror doesn’t get recognized as much as it should. But hey, Jordan Peele won an Oscar, so here’s hoping!
That blood eagle scene! Sheesh. My skin crawled. Of all the countless fucked up methods of torture and execution the human race has concocted through the centuries, the blood eagle has to be one of the worst. For those unlearned in the art of kill craft, a blood eagle is an ancient Scandinavian method of execution. The victim is strapped facedown with their arms spread wide. The back is then split open along the ribcage, rib by rib until it pops open to reveal the lungs. The lungs are then pulled from the body cavity very carefully so as not to detach them and laid across the exposed rib cage to emulate wings. Now you look like a bloody eagle. And the best part? The lungs are never fully detached, so you’re alive and breathing the entire time! Yay!