Review of Midsommar (2019) by Edenfinite — 22 May 2021

I can't recall the last time I watched something as frustrating as this film was.

Midsommar, like Hereditary before it, has proven somehow to be boring, confusing, cheap, offensive and pointless all at once.

I can certainly see where this film could be misconstrued as, "deep". After all, it's plenty strange, eccentric and mysterious. However, it's clear upon actually finishing the thing that any ideas one might have had, that there was a point to it all, was misplaced.

And before we proceed, I'm no enemy to the, "deep" horror film. I'm quite the fan of The Babadook. The difference, primarily, here, is that that film uses the horror genre as a means of exploring the deeper themes. The "deeper" themes here are a thin excuse for horrible, disturbing imagery. And these are very much not the same thing.

While we're on the subject of whether this movie has much to say, I'd like to talk about the overly graphic gore of the film. You see, I don't mind slasher films that lean heavily on grotesque imagery in order to make one's skin crawl. But most of those films are rather aware of what they are. Unfortunately, this film has so little shame that it feels the need to masquerade with it's agonizingly slow pacing and discussion of (made up) swedish culture. And yet, that doesn't stop it from selfishly wanting to have it's cake and eat it too. The film's "horror" is entirely in these graphically violent scenes, with heads being mercilessly crushed, bones pushed through the flesh, faces torn off, people burned alive, people being cut into pieces while alive, lungs pulled out through the back... The list goes on and on. This makes the film decidedly... Cheap, if not outright manipulative.

And now that we've segued in the direction of manipulation... Wow. This film is much more offensive than ridiculous slasher films portraying sex and drugs and teenagers as evil... It would seem to like you to believe that Swedish people are horrible as well. The film revolves around American students going to Sweden, only to be killed in gruelingly brutal ways by these swedish pagan folk. It twists (and outright invents) swedish traditions into such alien, strange things that it would be hard not to think of it all as simply, "evil". And if the only thing you can think of to pull upon, in order to scare people, are other cultures, then you're just carrying the flag of xenophobia unabashedly. And trust me, this film does not do these things with the intent to subvert expectation or as satire, either. Everything is played quite straight, unfortunately.

But that's far from the end of this film's sins, though you would be forgiven for thinking that this was enough, already. Because this film is, believe it or not, at the end of the day... A very pretentious ripoff of The Wicker Man. Don't believe me? Both films see Americans heading to a Scandinavian country and observing seemingly strange customs and rituals while attempting (or not even attempting, in the case of Midsommar) to unravel a mystery there. Both films revolve around the Midsommar festival. Both films include violent sacrificial rituals. Okay, okay, that might all be mere coincidence, of course. The final ritual of both films feature a man inside of a bear suit being burned alive, while the pagans look on, mocking their dying pains. If this schizophrenic, idiotic, offensive, pointless film could have afforded to be ONE thing... You'd think that would be, "original".

In conclusion, as I very much cannot wait to never have to waste another moment thinking about this putrid waste of time and effort and film, let me say this above all else...

I will never watch another film by Ari Aster.