Midsommar - Ari Aster
Horror - R - 2019
A waking nightmare that dares you to look away; Midsommar is an unnervingly beautiful film.
Ari Aster did it again. Just like his debut Hereditary - this is next-level horror. It gets under your skin and pushes your anxiety to the limits. One thing is certain: Aster has a profound understanding of suffocating dread.
It’s hard for a film to truly scare me, (CHEAP JUMP SCARES DON’T MAKE A MOVIE SCARY) and this one really did a fantastic job doing just that. Watching Dani try to cope with everything around her kept me in an escalating state of unease. The tension is palpable as Dani and Christian’s relationship teeters on the brink of collapse at every moment.One of the scariest things about Midsommar is the realness of the horror/lack of supernatural elements. The possibility that stuff like this could actually be happening somewhere is what makes it so terrifying. This is quite a difficult thing to do with this genre, so naturally I was very impressed.
Essentially, the characters are greeted into a Swedish community where the summer sun never sets and everything seems perfect. It’s an extremely twisted, dark film that deceives you with its alluring setting. The long runtime (2 hr 36 min.) is never even an issue. I found it so unsettling that I was glued to the screen wondering what horrors would come next. From a disturbing introduction to a sinister, yet strangely beautiful finish - Midsommar is a film that stays with you. One of my favorites of 2019, without a doubt. Ari Aster is a masterful horror auteur on the rise.
(I liked it more than Hereditary shhhhh).
