In writer and director Ari Aster’s Midsommar, a group of American students travel to a friend’s commune in rural Sweden for a summer festival. The guests include Christian (Jack Reynor) and his girlfriend Dani (Florence Pugh) who is recovering from a traumatic event. Aster made a splash with his debut feature length horror movie Hereditary last year. I thought that film had some very effective moments but fell apart in the last act. Midsommar shares the same eerie quality but generally holds up better.
Whilst never really being outright scary, Midsommar left me feeling uneasy as I left the cinema. A sense of impending doom hangs over the proceedings once the Americans arrive in the village, and is that part of the film, before any actual horrors, that work the best. There are some problems with the film, though. How the story ultimately unfolds becomes a little predictable, and there are some unintended laughs as events start to get really weird. Also, there are times in the second half that things start to drag, with the running time of 147 minutes probably 20 minutes too long.
The performances are all pretty solid and it is good to see a horror movie without any jump scares. Despite the flaws, this is one of the better offerings as the summer film season gets into full swing and there are a lot of signs that Aster will produce something really special in the future.
Rating: 7 out of 10