"Midsommar" - new folk horror film from "Hereditary" director Ari Aster*

You organized my very thoughts out of all the denseness of both that article and the plot of the movie. I thank you. I'll try to keep this short for further !!!"SPOILER WARNING"!!!.

So there's no "WHY" about the ceremonies behind this religious cult which from Cerebus' linked rune article happens to be a real Swedish Pagan religion centering around what I'm guessing is the historical source behind the "Maypole" I was taught as a child in grade school.

 

I saw it yesterday and I loved it. I have not seen Hereditary yet, so I can’t compare the two.
Though some complain about the length of the film, it didn’t bother me at all. In fact, the slower pace added to the drama. It was fantastic and psychedelic visually with many layers. This kind of movie will stand up to repeated viewings.

 

Not seen it yet, but it’s getting rave, 5 star reviews over here, where it’s just come out.

 

At least it's not another super hero movie, right?

At least it functions as shock treatment against that tiresome genre.

 

Easily the most ####-ed up movie that I have ever seen.

I want to give it credit for combining the "art house" and "horror" genres, but the plot is just too ridiculous, the gore is too gratuitous, and the one sex scene was so bizarre that I would have vomited in the theater if I wasn't laughing so hard.

At the end of the day, this movie is just a variation on the "Friday The 13th" plot -- where stupid teenagers (or, in this case, stupider-than-they-should-be-college-postgraduates) are killed off one-by-one and no one ever seems to show the slightest bit of concern.

 

LOL, I thought the same thing. One minute they're talking about runes and the next minute they're talking about the May Queen.

 

Don’t forget to purchase your very own Bear in a Cage

 

I liked it a lot. My wife, not so much.

 

Sorry, no Paul Giovanni soundtrack. Or Christopher Lee, or Edward Woodward. Or 1973.
NOT THE BEEEES !

 

I saw it two nights ago. Very disappointed. Essentially, it’s all style with very little substance. We can talk all we want about the hidden meanings of the runes, but this is basically a relationship film about a woman’s revenge on her stupid/clueless and philandering boyfriend. All the rest is just window dressing.

 

That's great!

 

Because you've just described me to a T, that is exactly why I'm going to see this movie.

 

I asked Jimmy Page what he thought of the film. He said it was zo-so.

 

The blu-ray will have footage that was cut to get the MPAA not to put an NC-17 rating on the film.

Midsommar filmmaker Ari Aster confirms his director's cut will include 30 minutes of new footage | Daily Mail Online

 

30 more minutes of footage? What did they cut...the exposition...?

 

Yes, at the cinema the other day. Average fayre, to me, though there was some tension to it. A bit predictable the way the young people were disposed of one by one. It's already been pointed out that it achieves a degree of fear although the action takes place almost entirely in daylight.

IMO better than Hereditary.

 

I thought Hereditary blew chunks. Not surprised if this subpar.

 

The "hidden meanings of the runes" might have been a worthwhile plot device -- IF the director had actually given some worthwhile clues to the audience, allowing them to have some kind of satisfactory "Aha!" moment (see: The Usual Suspects). But for the most part, the runes and the pictographs were just half-baked MacGuffins.

As for the revenge aspect: this is one of the things that turned me off about the movie. Yeah, the boyfriend is insensitive and selfish.......but he does NOTHING that makes him deserve his fate. The girl's shroom-induced smile at the end is just such a middle finger to logic and reason. And I can't help but wonder if female fans would like the movie as much if the roles had been reversed, and a smiling man sent his drugged girlfriend to her death.

 

I liked and bought the 4k of "Heredity" so I guess I will like " Midsommar", right, maybe? John M.

 

I don't think the "hidden message" of the runes was any kind of plot device. It was just part of the incredible set design that you could either ignore or dig into, just like the characters in the film. Several of the drawings showed exactly what was going to happen but the characters chose to ignore them. I can't say that I would be much different, though I would have hightailed it out of there as soon as I was asked to take mushrooms in a strange place surrounded by strangers.

 

I took it the fate of the boyfriend was determined by the cult members to free up the girl (Dani) to test her in the May Queen competition.

The cult members already determined the boyfriend was not a good fit for her. They saw her emotional dependence on the drama created by the boyfriend's wishy-washy non-committal attitude in the relationship. You might have missed a key conversation that addressed this right after the opening euthanasia sacrifice where the dude in the group that brought them there was asking her while both sitting on her bed if she felt her relationship with her boyfriend felt like home which I thought was quite touching and poignant until they jumped cut to the grotesque faces of the sacrificed couple carted off to be burned in a pit. The shock and abruptness rattled me so much I sarcastically yelled out at the screen "NICE EDIT!"

 

Was wondering whether families may have been fooled by the trailer's depiction of brightly lit spring scenes and damsels with vibrant colored flowers in their hair dancing around in formation. I find it kind of strange the high online ratings Midsommar has received but the movie has not been mentioned once by name or even of its success on the three networks, ABC, CBS and NBC.

I take it NC-17 is even more restrictive than an 'R' rating. This would be one awkward movie for any young person at any age to be watching with their parents. I do think it deserves an NC-17 in any version cut or uncut.

 

Just saw it and yep it’s one bizarre movie (like Hereditary was). Strange one to be put in a suburban theater next to Toy Story 4 and Spiderman.

I liked it but don’t love it. Nothing really new here just a nice easy going tale that takes place in a sort of “foreign” culture that is mostly suspense than true horror.

The acting was very good.

 

Yeah, that's another reason I didn't care for the movie. I hate when movies deliberately make smart characters do dumb things just to advance the plot. And this movie was chock full of "DON'T GO INTO THE BASEMENT!" moments. If this had been a typical mindless horror flick, then I could have suspended my disbelief and enjoyed the movie on that level. But when the movie sells itself as being intellectual, and goes out of its way to tell us how smart these characters are.....and THEN proceeds to have them do a bunch of really, really dumb things.........then I just can't be bothered to care anymore. I'm out.

The second half of this movie was just a variation on the "Summer Camp Slasher" theme that we've seen a thousand times -- but it's cloaked in beautiful scenery and pseudo-intellectual language.

 

Unfortunately, the print that I saw at my local theater was so dull and the contrast so murky, that I couldn't make out any detail in most of the runes and tapestries anyway. So any extra dimension that might have been added by these details was lost to poor presentation. (Apart from a couple that were so in-your-face, they were impossible to miss.)