A poor imitation of The Wicker Man

Rating: 4/10 (5 January 2020)

10
I can't help comparing this overlong teen horror flick to the wonderful 1973 horror thriller The Wicker Man ,perhaps that's what Director writer Ari Aster had in mind to bring that type of story to a new generation.
Well in my opinion he failed miserably of course taste In films is very individual and subjective and if your taste is Group hysteria under the influence of mushrooms and potions leading to satanic mating rituals and a story plot that a 5 year old could tell you the conclusion of in 2 minutes instead of 2hours 27 minutes then you may enjoy Midsommar?
The basic plot is a couple of teenagers travel 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.
I read Florence Pugh said filming the superb Little Women and playing Amy March was like therapy after Midsommar and I can see why.
I'm tough rating this film because the professional critics have been so savage on films like Cats 2.8 and Mrs Lowry & Son 6.6 in rating them so low. They give this bizarre nightmare a 7.2 rating when as far as I'm concerned the talent and production of those 2 earlier films alone make Midsommar look like a bad telemovie.
The best moments of this film are the first 15 minutes when Dani's suspicions and worse fears for her family are realised but never explained how they connect to her Swedish Summer Camp of witches warlocks or what ever ever this strange cult of aged hippy grandmas and grandpas and lusty blonde teens call themselves.
In Hollywood they say you're only as good as you're last film and I'm glad Florence Pugh's last film Little Women is not the stinker Midsommar in my humble opinion is.