On that fateful day five years ago, my mother put on Midsommar and told us it would be a “black comedy.” I knew that wasn’t going to be the case, as I had already seen Ari Aster‘s previous work, Hereditary, and thought it was excellent. Still, I was expecting a thrilling and engaging horror that gave me lots of thematic ideas to think about by the end. Instead, I was left disturbed and, frankly, upset by just how poor I found the film to be. Midsommar chronicles a group of friends who go to a Swedish midsummer festival, and witness shocking violent scenes until only Florence Pugh’s character, Dani, is left, embracing the cult community and leaving her tragic life behind. So, while this movie didn’t outright ban horror movies for me, it did make me extremely wary and apprehensive when it came to watching any horror movies set around cult worshipers or that used body horror. The graphic body horror on display is just plain disturbing, and felt like its main intention was to shock the audience, rather than serve the narrative.
I know that I’m in the minority of people when it comes to feeling disgusted by Midsommar. I have racked my brain for years trying to see if I had missed something. Why did I find a horror movie that so many lauded as one of the best of all time to be so offputting? However, the more I think about this film, and compare it to Hereditary, the more I’m disappointed, upset, and disturbed — and not in the way I’m sure Aster intended.
‘Midsommar’s Use of Disturbing Imagery Fails to Serve the Plot as It Did in ‘Hereditary’
From the very beginning, Midsommar uses disturbing ideas to set the tone, showing how Dani’s sister Terri murders their parents with carbon monoxide poisoning before committing suicide. This trend of upsetting and brutal ideas continues, such as the odd mating rituals, elders committing suicide, and hollowed-out bear carcasses imprisoning members of the group being set on fire. The scene where Simon (Archie Madekwe) is strung up with their lungs pulled out of their body, still alive, was the final straw for me. Rather than how The Substance used body horror to make a commentary on the beauty standards women are pushed to, Midsommar simply uses it to show how messed up this Swedish community is. Perhaps the only impressive thing about it is the fact all this body horror was done on a shoestring budget of just $9 million.
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When compared to Hereditary, you can see the clear difference in Aster’s approach to disturbing the audience with a purpose. In the darkest scenes, such as when the young girl Charlie (Milly Shapiro) is decapitated after putting her head out of the car window and her older brother Peter (Alex Wolff) simply goes upstairs to lie in bed, or when Annie’s (Toni Collette) husband Steve (Gabriel Byrne) burns to death. These moments are so dark, but they’re impactful because they have a narrative purpose. Whether it was showing how Peter fails to take responsibility for his actions, or showing how a family can be torn apart by grief, these moments told us things about the characters in subtle ways. Compared to Midsommar, what does a man strung up with his lungs ripped out tell us about anyone? Or a girl putting pubes in Christian’s (Jack Reynor) pie? As I previously mentioned, the only thing you learn about the film is that everyone in this community should be arrested.
‘Midsommar’ Appropriates Swedish Culture to the Point of Disrespecting It
Here we come to my second issue with Midsommar: the way it bastardizes Swedish culture and links it to eugenics and ableism. The final scene in which Dani finally feels at home in the commune, watching her boyfriend, Christian, burn alive, feels like Ari Aster trying to put a bittersweet message at the end of a disturbing tale. At least Dani found her people, right? Even if it caused the brutal murders of people who, while not very likable, didn’t deserve to die. It’s not bittersweet, but vomit-inducing. Throughout the film, we see that Dani doesn’t belong, and the loss of her family in the opening scene highlights just how alone she is. However, there are a million other ways one can find their people that don’t involve the murdering of those who’ve let you down. If this community is the only place Dani feels comfortable, maybe she doesn’t deserve to find comfort or a feeling of belonging.
This isn’t to say you can’t make morally dark protagonists, or have cults be your antagonist. Some of the best films of all time have evil people, or at least people who commit horrendous acts, as their “heroes.” such as The Godfather Part II, The Wolf of Wall Street, and American Psycho. Get Out is celebrated for using cult horror tropes to comment on racism, heightening the stakes and making the overall film more terrifying. But when your basis for these decisions is simply to disturb the audience, rather than having a genuinely valid message behind it, left a bad taste in my mouth and put me off horror for a long time afterward.
Thankfully, I’ve been able to move past my issues with Midsommar as it pertains to the rest of the horror genre. I have no doubt that there are others who feel the same as me and have vowed not to watch horror again, even if that might be a small minority. Despite my appreciation of Ari Aster’s previous work, Midsommar was a film I found to be grotesque with little substance that validated the horrific images being presented to me. Compared to Hereditary, the imagery does not serve the plot anywhere near as well, and the entire presentation of the Swedish festival and their culture felt lacking in respect and purpose. While I may be in the minority, I will die on the hill that Midsommar is never a film to recommend to someone if they want to enjoy horror again.
Midsommar is currently available to stream on Max in the U.S.
Midsommar
A couple travels to Northern Europe to visit a rural hometown’s fabled Swedish 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.
- Release Date
- July 3, 2019
- Cast
- Julia Ragnarsson , Rebecka Johnston , Henrik Norlén , William Jackson Harper , Gunnel Fred , Anna Åström , will poulter , Archie Madekwe , Louise Peterhoff , Björn Andrésen , Isabelle Grill , Jack Reynor , Florence Pugh , Liv Mjönes
- Runtime
- 147 minutes
- Budget
- 9million
