WARNING: Contains spoilers!
Alright, everyone, I am a scaredy-cat. I don’t like horror films, ghost stories, Stephen King books, etc. and even some horror trailers have sent me into a full-blown panic attack. So, what did I decide to do this past weekend? Sit down and watch Midsommar because I had apparently lost my mind.
To give some backstory as to why I chose this movie instead of an iconic, cult-favorite like The Shining, let us go back to March of 2019. I watched the teaser for Midsommar as I was standing in line for what was most likely iced coffee. The teaser trailer, for the most part, is bright, sunny and not creepy until a few seconds before the ending. It seemed safe enough—slightly cultish—but safe. The rest of the trailers came out and I quickly realized that Ali Aster, the director, had not taken a sharp left turn away from Hereditary to make a calm, Swedish film in the sunshine but instead had made a creepy, Swedish film in the sunshine. Every plan I had made to see the movie went out of the window because I was not giving up my sleep because I had been roped in by aesthetics. Fast forward to now, almost eight months since the film has been released, and I’m still very intrigued by it. Not one of my friends who saw it gave it a negative review, it has an 83% on Rotten Tomatoes, and I have probably read every Buzzfeed article about it. Yet, I still had not gained the courage to watch it.
Well, when I found out that it was free through Amazon Prime, I decided to dig out my big girl pants, put them on, grab some snacks, and wrap myself up in blankets to watch this film. It took me three days to find those big girl pants, but I found them, and it wasn’t as bad as I expected.
IMDb summarizes the movie as “[a] couple travels to Sweden to visit a rural hometown’s fabled mid-summer festival. What begins as an idyllic retreat quickly devolves into an increasingly violent and bizarre competition at the hands of a pagan cult.” Frankly, that’s putting the events of the movie nicely, so here is a recap from my perspective (if you don’t want spoilers, now is the time to take your exit):
The beginning of the movie is fairly dark, as Dani, the main character, goes through a traumatic situation with her family. She tries to confide in her boyfriend, Christian, who treats Dani like a burden and is planning to break up with her based on his conversation with his friends. Dani finds out a few days later that Christian was planning on going to Sweden with his friends and hadn’t told her. Reluctantly, he ends up inviting her along after the two argue, and they all go to Sweden. They get to Harga, everyone there is dressed similarly, there is a bear in a cage, weird tapestries and paintings, but it’s not that off-putting. Then the festivities that they’re all there for start. Everyone is taking hallucinogenics and two senior citizens die very gruesomely. The group of outsiders that have been brought as guests—Dani, Christian, Mark, Josh, Connie, and Simon—all freak out while the citizens of Harga see it as normal and try to calm them down by explaining that it is a cultural norm for them. Connie and Simon disappear, Mark disappears, Josh disappears, and the only two left are Dani and Christian. Dani participates in the dance competition to crown the May Queen which is very Coachella-esque as the girls dance around a maypole in flower crowns. She wins, does some rituals, finds out the festivities require the sacrifice of nine people and she gets to choose the ninth. She chooses Christian, he gets stuffed in a bear and put in what is essentially a triangular barn, it goes up in flames, the end. Does everyone see why this is disturbing?
Scare wise, I would give Midsommar a 2/10. I’ve watched Lifetime movies with my mom that have been more terrifying. I haven’t had trouble sleeping and I’m not scared of a Swedish person stuffing me in a bear, so I’m not very concerned.
For gore, it’s a 7/10. There are some very vivid depictions of death within this movie and if blood makes you squeamish, I would stay away. I grew up watching SFX tutorials on YouTube, so I tend to have a fairly high tolerance for gore since I know how it is created.
Midsommar hits an 8/10 on my disturbing scale. From the very beginning to the very end there are plenty of scenes that really get you mentally. There is a very interesting vibe with this movie, and it will really have you over-analyzing everything you see. The disturbing scenes pile on the whole time—from the pagan cult rituals to the symbolism, to the evolution of Dani throughout the film. It’s also easy to find yourself sympathizing which adds to the disturbing nature. For example, Christian was manipulative and flat-out mean to Dani and his friends the whole film. It is easy to feel like stuffing him in a bear and letting him burn is slightly justifiable given the other options.
Overall, I think this is a great movie for those who like horror and who don’t. The amount of detail that was put into it is astounding and manages to make the movie creepy and disturbing, while also making it colorful and almost artistic in a way. The plot is easy to follow and not overcomplicated and it definitely is not a movie that will keep you up all night in fear or having you check under your bed and in your closet for monsters. Honestly, I would watch it again happily and recommend watching it if you haven’t.
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