Satire of Religion Masking as a Horror Film

Rating: 10/10 (5 July 2019)

Can a movie be creepy, funny, horrifying and enormously entertaining throughout? This is the cornucopia of delights Ari Aster has produced in his second offering. Two ingredients that seem to have fueled his inspiration are, of course, the original British version of The. Wicker Man (quite an achievement itself) and the scores of Friday The 13th slasher movies where groups of youngsters go on a vacation to be killed off one by one. His movie rises to the level of the first and transcends the level of the second formula. One of the most remarkable things here is the first 20 minutes or so which create a traumatic situation that causes the young couple to appear annoying and psychologically questionable - so that as the story progresses we do not have the compassion for them that would otherwise make their ordeal unbearable to watch.
Important to note is that there is not one scare or "jump moment" in the entire movie. This is not a complaint, merely a warning to viewers who might see this as a failure, which, of course, it is not. The horror here, as it turns out, is all-pervasive and throughout all the bright sunny faces and clear landscape of the Swedish countryside. It is in the cult members' drinks, their food, their soil and their beliefs. The horror is in the way they live.
Hopefully Swedish people with a sense of humor will not be offended by the script's locale. It would be interesting to see how the movie "plays" in that country's press. One comes away from it eager to avoid the next chance one gets to attend a prayer service or join a group seeking some kind of so-called enlightenment - regardless of the country.
Hat's off to Ari Aster as he boldly goes down his dark, clever path.