Horror fans have been looking forward to “Midsommar” since it’s been announced. The Ari Aster project is the follow up to last year’s terrifying “Hereditary”, and while the daylight horror has it’s moments, it might have some fans asking what the heck they just watched when the credits begin to roll.
The film stars Florence Pugh (Fighting with my Family) as Dani, a college student who suffers through a horrible tragedy and is left holding on to her uncommitted boyfriend, Christian (Jack Reynor) for support. The two end up going on a summer trip to an out of the way village in Sweden for an ancient ceremony and that’s where things start to go wrong.
Pugh is excellent in the role and the rest of the cast does their work fine, but Midsommar really is about Aster’s work.
In regards to the look of the film, the director is once again on his game with a unique eye of what a horror film can look like. It’s another nightmare in motion, with objects swelling and gore delivered in a way that is very unsettling. It’s also mostly done in the daylight, which takes the unknown out of his toolbox as a way to frighten audiences. It’s all out there.
Where “Midsommar” goes wrong is with the story. It spirals too far away from the audience to allow it to be taken seriously. There is a lot of nudity and sex in the picture and during my screening the audience was laughing when they should have been on the edge of their seat. At it’s best it’s campy fun, at it’s worse it’s a misfire altogether. The film is also about 20 minutes too long as the story lags on angles that never pay off.
Is it as good as “Hereditary”? No, but if you’re looking for another experience that is unlike anything else you’ll watch all year, then “Midsommar” definitely fits the bill.
GRADE: C
Running time” 2hrs 20 minutes
Rated: “R” and it’s a hard “R”
