Evil in broad daylight

Rating: 8/10 (29 July 2019)

Ari Aster is back with Midsommar, his first official horror movie as he considers Hereditary a family drama. Starring Florence Pugh (who we will next see in Black Widow) and Will Poulter from Black Mirror episode (season, really) Bandersnatch, it follows a group of friends that goes to a secluded community in Sweden so they can participate in a festival that happens literally once in a lifetime, every 90 years. As Dani (Pugh) struggles with the recent death of her parents and sister which in turn has strained her relationship with her boyfriend Christian, a trip together might just be what they both need so they can weather the storm.
WARNING: Contains some minor plot points which may be considered as spoiler for some.
Unfortunately, this vacation is not it. I mean when suicide in public display is explained to you as a ritual to be reborn into the community, it's a little skittish but since you're a visitor and you want to be respectful of their tradition and culture, you just ignore the lump in your throat and wish you've seen the worst of it. Well it wasn't if you consider ritual sex, skinning, mutilation and something to do with a bear among other things (yes there's more) as acceptable norm, you then start wondering maybe the public community pool would've been a safer choice (hello Stranger Things season 3.) Kudos to Aster for coming up with a horror movie set in sunny Sweden. Sometimes it's more horrifying when something evil happens in broad daylight - it's more raw and real compared to when it's in the shadows of the dark.
Still around? Let's continue. The good thing (?) about the theatrical release is that they needed to cut around 30 minutes worth of material in order to get a R-16 rating which means more cash for them. I suppose the deleted scenes would explain how a tree is grown inside you (on second thought do I really need to know?) but it kind of leaves you wondering how it happened. More importantly, the WHY it happened, what was the relevance if any? Because I want to be able to categorize evil things between explainable and non-explainable which separates the Purge movies from the Exorcist. Yes it's scarier if left unexplained and you're urged to use your imagination but here it's just sloppy editing. Ari only had one year to work on this and it's good all things considered, but definitely not as polished as Hereditary. But I'm willing to cut him some slack as he was able to show how scary being cut off from the world is, and what's considered as knowledge passed on from generations back does not necessarily hold weight in this day and age.
In both movies, Ari has touched on cults, complicated relationships and head bashing. He might be on to something here. Also is it too early to speculate that an Ari Aster horror universe is in the making?
This movie deserves a place in your library, just make sure you have the director's cut.