Slow, long, but a competent alternative to The Wicker Man

Rating: 8/10 (5 June 2020)

There are 2,502 reviews of this movie so I'll keep it basic. The Director here also did Hereditary (2018). That was a very creepy ghosty movie with very frightening slashes, so to speak. By the end it was both creepy and borderline bizarre, and truly frightening, with all up against an insidious, evil and almost unstoppable power. Top notch modern horror, in other words. Midsommar has the shock slashes, but you have to wait an hour for them. Neither movie is deeply original in its story, but certainly the style is original to the Director, and I began to notice that notably in the last 45 minutes or so of Midsommar, which was certainly tense. Midsommar is an excellent horror movie. It's not as frightening or as shocking as Hereditary. With Hereditary you couldn't see around the corner what was coming up. In Midsommar you can, but it's done really well. It's the same basic premise as The Wicker Man, but the story is not the same, and it's a different style, different vision. I had to dock it a point or two for the length (over two hours) and the fact that it gave the lead character a serious backstory, which was, to me, lazy writing. It meant that aspects of the story were obliged to be related to a prior tragedy, aspects not really related to what was actually happening. Midsommar differs from The Wicker Man in this regard too. I thought that significant and a mistake, but it does make good drama. It was just a bit too 'extra' for me, and extra, for me, implies pushing believability. It's a debatable and minor point. Midsommar is easily a decent 8 stars. Thankyou if you actually read my review.