Smarter than the average scare!
Midsommar comes from writer-director Ari Aster, who impressed critics last year with his debut movie Hereditary. Many critics hailed his first feature as a masterpiece – giving it 5 out of 5 stars. The audience I saw it with weren’t quite as keen. Comments I heard whilst leaving the screening included, “Worst film I’ve ever seen,” and “There’s two and a half hours of my life that I’m never getting back!”
I feel that Midsommar will once again be splitting the room.
The horror focuses on a young couple, Christian (Jack Reynor) and Dani (Florence Pugh). Dani’s fears of the relationship being rocky are confirmed upon discovering that her boyfriend had planned to take off without her on a once-in-a-lifetime trip to a remote Swedish village to experience a unique midsummer celebration with this friends Pelle (Vilhelm Blomgren), Mark (Will Poulter) and Josh (William Jackson Harper).
Christian takes pity on his girlfriend after she finds herself faced with a family tragedy and so he begrudgingly invites her along as a distraction. Once they get there, they discover their surroundings are even weirder than they had been warned. Think… crazy cult much like in The Wicker Man.
It doesn’t take long for the festivities to take a disturbing turn but leaving may not be so easy.
It may not seem there’is much to the plot, but there’is a lot happening beneath the surface. Much of what we see on the screen is a metaphor. I’ll leave it at that, as analysing the movie is half the fun.
As mentioned previously, this will not be for everyone. Those looking for a mainstream horror oozing with jump scares will be disappointed. This is very much a slow burner and at almost two and half hours, it’ll be too long for some.
There are some intentional funny moments, but much like when I saw Hereditary, there were people also laughing at moments they shouldn’t have been.
Aster’s latest offering is mostly superb throughout but verging on goofy at times. If you’re OK with that, you’ll get much more out of the viewing experience.
ESP RATING 3.5/5
Mikey Clarke
Genre: Horror
Running Time: 2hrs 25mins
Written & Directed By: Ari Aster
Cast: Florence Pugh, Jack Reynor, William Jackson Harper, Will Poulter, Vilhelm Blomgren, Isabelle Grill & Gunnell Fred
See Midsommar and much more at Showcase Cinema, Peterborough. Visit www.showcasecinemas.co.uk for the latest up-to-date show times. You can also join the chat on Twitter @showcasecinemas or on Facebook by searching for ‘Showcase Cinemas UK’
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