Review of Midsommar (2019) by Hydemike — 31 Jul 2019

I 've not laughed so much internally since watching "Carry On Screaming". I say internally because I was watching it in an arthouse cinema and an "arthouse" crowd is too polite and too emotionally controlled to respond honestly when viewing trash. I should have guessed by the way this film disappeared quickly from the multiplexes that the general viewing public had been warned off this film through word of mouth and I think the money men who backed it might be worried that word had got around that this self-indulgent, vanity project written and directed by Ari Aster was never going to get much affection from the viewing public.

Sadly, the film carried a reputation before it that equated it with the horror classics such as "The Shining", "The Wicker Man" and the more recent "Kill List" - a high bar that a fast-paced,quickly-told prologue implied might be happening here.

But no, weirdness and predictability of the "look behind you" type takes over and the standard horror beats had me mentally betting who was going to go first. Much has been made by the critics of the film being set in daylight and being full of springtime colour. For me this was a novelty that quickly wore off. This is a long film - 140 minutes - and the director has plenty of opportunities to satisfy the true horror fan. But when the level of spending on plastic flowers outweighs the amount spent on prosthetic makeup, you know you won't be jumping out of your seat too many times.

I wish I'd been there when Aster pitched this movie to the money men - that would have made an interesting film in its' own right. I'm sure he used the phrases "horror", "isolated pagan cult" "Sweden", "drugs", "sex", "blond Nordic types", "naive young Americans", "sunshine", "strange forbidden buildings", etc... to beguile them into parting with their money. For me this is his second strike. "Hereditary" had a couple of decent shocks but never achieved the level of quality given to it by the critics. The same thing has happened here. I hope that by participating in it , the careers of Will Poulter, Jack Reynor and even the "bombproof" Florence Pugh are not going to go down the plughole - anyone remember Milly Shapiro or Alex Wolff?

If you expect a horror film - don't go. If you expect a gory thriller - don't go.