Midsommar

Rating: 5/10 (14 July 2019)

This scary movie was becoming something of a talking point before I even saw a trailer, and when I did it looked like a Wicker Man style movie, I was definitely looking forward to it, written and directed by Ari Aster (Hereditary). Basically, college student Dani Ardor (Lady Macbeth's Florence Pugh) suffers from severe emotional trauma during winter, after her sister kills their parents and commits suicide, flooding the house with carbon monoxide from a car. This trauma adds further pressure to her relationship with her anthropology graduate student boyfriend Christian Hughes (Jack Reynor), who is already emotionally distant. The following summer, Dani attends a party with Christian and friends Mark (Will Poulter) and Josh (William Jackson Harper). Christian and his friends are invited to attend a midsummer celebration in Hälsingland, Sweden, by their Swedish friend Pelle (Vilhelm Blomgren). It only occurs once every ninety years at Pelle's ancestral commune, the Hårga. Dani finds out about the trip, and Christian awkwardly invites her to join them. The group arrives at the commune and together they take a psilocybin concoction offered by Pelle's brother, Ingemar (Hampus Hallberg). They also meet English couple Simon (Archie Madekwe) and Connie (Ellora Torchia), they were invited to attend the festivities by Ingemar. The psilocybin causes Dani to have a bad trip and she hallucinates about her dead sister. The group are initially accepting of the commune's peaceful if strange nature, routines and rituals. But then tensions rise after Pelle brings them to witness an ättestupa ritual in which the two elderly commune members commit senicide by leaping from a clifftop. When the male elder fails to die as a result of the fall, several members crush his skull with a mallet. The group are disturbed after witnessing this ritual, but they decide to stay, at the behest of Pelle, and because Josh is writing a thesis about the Hårga. The next day, Simon and Connie disappear, but the group is assured they were taken to the train station. Christian decides to copy Josh's thesis on the Hårga, causing a rift between them. Josh wants more information from an elder on the commune's ancient runic practices, which are based on paintings made by Ruben (Levente Puczko-Smith), a deformed member selectively born incestuously, he is considered an oracle. Mark unwittingly urinates on an ancestral tree where ashes are scattered, he is scolded by Ulf (Henrik Norlen), and later lured away by a female member, never to be seen again. That night, Josh sneaks into a temple to photograph scriptures in a mysterious book, he is distracted by a partially nude man wearing Mark's skinned face, he is hit over the head with a hammer and dragged away. The next day Dani is invited to partake a maypole dancing competition, all taking part must continue dancing until they fall and are eliminated. At the same time, Christian is drugged and groomed to participate in a ritual in which he impregnates virginal commune member Maja (Isabelle Grill) whilst being watched and surrounded by naked female elders. Dani wins the competition and is crowned the "May Queen". Following her victory, she discovers Christian having sex with Maja, she has a panic attack, she is surrounded by several of the Hårga women who wail with her. A disoriented Christian realises what is going on, he runs out naked and hides in a shed, there he discovers Josh's leg, and Simon who has been ritually dismembered as a blood eagle. Christian is found by an elder and then paralyzed with an unknown drug. The cult explains that, at the conclusion of the ritual, nine human sacrifices must be offered. The first four victims are outsiders, therefore Josh, Mark, Connie, and Simon. The next four victims are cult members, two senicide elders, a still-living Ingemar, and a second living volunteer. As the May Queen, Dani must choose the ninth and final victim, either an outsider or a lottery-selected cult member. Bitter and heartbroken, Dani chooses to sacrifice Christian. He is stuffed into a disembowelled brown bear and placed in a yellow temple alongside the other sacrifices. The temple is filled with straw bales and set alight; the cult celebrates the completion of their ritual. Dani at first sobs in horror but gradually begins to smile. Also starring Anna Åström as Karin, Gunnel Fred as Siv, Julia Ragnarsson as Inga, Liv Mjönes as Ulla, Gabi Fon as Dani's Mother, and Zsolt Bojári as Dani's Father. Pugh gives a good performance as the emotionally damaged young woman, Reynor is reasonable as her unworthy boyfriend, and Poulter and other supporting cast members do well also. It is very simple, people brought to a secluded location to be carefree, with a pagan cult behaving strangely and slowly becoming more suspicious and sinister, the twist here is that it in a location where the sun never sets, you can see obvious similarities to The Wicker Man, it is perhaps a little too long, and as a "slow burner" it is maybe too slow at times, but the continuing strangeness, occasional shocks and tension keeps going, a reasonable folk horror. Worth watching!