by Larry Legion
Skol, dear readers! Once again, it is I, Larry Legion, your humble expert on all things horror, writing to you from the rolling hills of Denton, Texas, where I’ve just taken in my third viewing of the new Ari Aster film “Midsommar.”
You may remember the director from last summer’s breakthrough work “Hereditary.” In that film, we were invited in for a peek at what happens when one dysfunctional family is forced to deal with an overwhelming trauma that leads to a demonic ritual summoning everyone’s favorite king of hell, Paimon. For those who haven’t seen the film, I’ll leave it at that. Let’s just say that heads roll, and all hell literally breaks loose in a finale that only can be described by this black-hearted critic as glorious and transcendent.
I was thrilled when the sun-soaked trailer for “Midsommar” arrived at theaters this spring. It was clear that this would be a different experience than the black-blooded, occult vision of “Hereditary,” but what exactly would it be?
The film opens by giving most of the plot away in a fairytale play-by-play tapestry. We are greeted by a frozen foreign landscape which turns into a close-up viewing of a house with no lights on. Inside the house, we hear the voice of a worried Dani (played by Florence Pugh), leaving a message on her family’s answering machine. She then reaches out to her boyfriend, Christian (Jack Reynor), who is out partying with his college pals. These friends try convincing Christian to break up with Dani so that he can travel to Sweden for a midsummer celebration that happens only every 90 years.
Things go very badly for Dani. Christian invites her along for the mysterious ride to Sweden, where we’re greeted by endless sunshine, blond hair, blue eyes and a group of freshly frocked strangers primed for a nine-day “feast” of some sort.
Our American guests are given psychedelics to ease their arrival into what will eventually be, for them, all-out madness in the small cult-like community of Harga. The group is introduced to some of the locals and other “outsiders.” They are given shelter in a large barn with walls adorned in paintings of local folklore. If you pay close enough attention to those, you just might guess what is about to happen to our ill-fated friends.
We learn what an “attestupa” is. Outsiders start disappearing. There are more hallucinogens. Dani seems to be the only one who is truly accepted by her new Swedish friends. A new love story is introduced, and Christian is led farther away from the group and instead into the arms of his new destiny. There is a bear in a cage, too, but I can’t tell you much about it.
After my first viewing of “Midsommar,” I felt like I might want to vomit. But I refrained and left with the feeling that I had seen a true masterpiece of horror filmmaking. I look forward to seeing what nightmares Aster will conjure in the future. Skol!
