A psychedelic trip to a Swedish wicker man.

Rating: 8/10 (6 July 2019)

Midsommar is beautiful.
It is a gruesome, gritty, visceral tale of a ill-fated Swedish getaway and delivers gore aplenty but unfortunately it doesn't quite deliver fear.
I felt uneasy at times, and I felt tense at times, but at no time during the 150 min run time did I feel afraid. The scenes of horror are disgusting rather than fear-inducing which is by no means a bad thing, but the moments that are supposed to be scary with no gore seem to miss their mark.
I enjoyed the uneasy feel that grows at the start but it seems to falter towards the middle, and while the end tried to deliver the explosive finale like that in 'Hereditary' or 'The Wicker Man', there are sequences in the middle that really need you to stick with it and risk losing a lot of people due to the pacing.
Ari Aster tells a chilling tale of dealing with loss, breakup and realising the damage of a toxic relationship. The themes of release and letting go that Dani is forced to accept are brutal and it drugs the audience into a psychedelic trance alongside the cast.
All that said, what it does, it does beautifully, with some astounding performances and some truly disgusting moments that make even the most hard stomached cinema-goer experience a slight twinge. I enjoyed watching Midsommar, and even with the feeling that it left the possibility of an even scarier movie out in the field, you're not in any way dissatisfied with the end product.
Midsommar needs to be experienced.
Enjoy the festivities.