Overall gorgeous and brilliant, but succumbs to Suspira's problem

Rating: 8/10 (25 March 2020)

Ari Aster you are one sick cat.
Firstly, I want to say this movie is undeniably one of the most visually appealing movies I've ever seen. Colors are what most people may point out, but by the Nine, the camera work is just perfect. This is one of those things many large budget movies really like to neglect, example is cutting 30 times in in one scene, even in uneventful scenes.
Second to the visuals is the soundtrack, careful use of music throughout the movie is just wonderful. Notably, the lack of music is also amazing, too many movies fear silence, but the creators here knew better. I think at some times I got sick of the repetition, but it wasn't that bad.
Next, the actors, everyone from the main characters to extras were phenomenal, or at least very good.
Now, about Suspiria 2018. That movie had this huge issue, I think, where it wanted a slow burn, but took it so fair it didn't realize just how scary it could get. The most famous scene is a women being twisted and broken. It was freaking brutal, but you never really get anything quite like that again. No, the blood orgy isn't anything spectacular. Suspiria had other problems, too, that Midsommer fortunately didn't.
Likewise, Midsommer kept it interesting, but I think tapered down too much until the end, more on the end later (no spoilers). There's an initial gore scene that's just outright unbelievable. It's stunning, gruesome, sickening. Perfect. Later on, at the end you get a couple quick scenes that are almost as frightening, but I feel as though Ari Aster didn't take it as far, as often, as he could. There was definitely more room for this shocking stuff, that would really make for an intense horror movie. Without the adrenaline filled gore scenes, movies need a compelling story to keep us interested, and it did, but the story here isn't necessarily anything incredibly unique. So while well done, it wasn't the story that drew me in. Once the mystery was unfurled, I was counting down the minutes until it ended, because there wasn't much left.
Well, except the last 30 minutes. The saving grace that made it all worth is the end. It ends on this amazing scene that I will take as the best moment from the film. So, even if I got lulled into wanting it to end, it went out with a sizable bang.
There's a director's cut that apparently adds more gore scenes, about 40 minutes worth of content. So I'm excited to see if that's what would take it to a 9/10 for me. 10/10's to me are my absolute favorites, so that's basically the best I can give without getting too subjective.