An unusual horror masterpiece will only be included in your Prime subscription for a few days, so you shouldn’t hesitate and be quick when streaming. In this article we will tell you why the shocker is absolutely worth it.
“Midsommar” sounds like IKEA to many of us. And no lie, this is what the film by horror prodigy Ari Aster, who also gave us the great “Hereditary”, looks like: like something out of an IKEA catalog full of happily smiling people celebrating a big summer party in Swedish traditional costumes.
Some of them only smile contentedly at first, but Aster consistently follows through with another special feature and delivers a bombshell surprise in the often already pretty tired horror genre: the majority of his “Midsommar” takes place in glaring daylight, it’s almost always light everywhere, after all it’s midsummer, it doesn’t get really dark. So no teenagers in dark forests, no massacre orgies at midnight.
The best horror film of at least 2019
Does that make “Midsommar” any less frightening? Absolutely not! Actually, the horror is heightened by the fact that everything seems so happy and bright, radiant and inviting, but it is precisely in this setting that one of the most exciting, mysterious and crazy horror stories of recent years takes place – For me, with absolute certainty, “Midsommar” is the best horror film of 2019, maybe even of the decade.
One scene in particular at the very beginning, which doesn’t yet take place in sun-drenched Sweden, completely blew my mind in the cinema – but before I get to that (then with a spoiler warning!), here’s a brief outline of the plot for all those to whom “Midsommar” doesn’t mean anything. And if that’s the case, you should change that as soon as possible!
You have the opportunity to do this, for example, with the Amazon Prime Video streaming subscription – but only until December 11, 2023! After that, “Midsommar” will be removed from the subscription, but can of course be streamed as VoD at any time for a fee. Or you can bring the horror highlight home on Blu-ray or DVD – for example in 23 minute longer Director’s Cut*.
The plot: Anthropology doctoral student Christian (Jack Reynor) and his girlfriend Dani (terrific: Florence Pugh) haven’t been happy for a while, but a trip to Sweden together should help and, above all, give Dani, who has been inconsolable after a family drama, a change of heart. Another plus point of the trip: Christian hopes to finally find a suitable topic for his doctoral thesis by visiting a very special Midsommar ritual in a friend’s home village that only takes place every 90 years.
Once there, the festivities begin by throwing in magic mushrooms. But the bizarre trip that the couple and their friends Pelle (Vilhelm Blomgren), Josh (William Jackson Harper) and Mark (Will Poulter) then experience is nothing compared to the – no longer just psychedelic – horror into which they find themselves slide into it in the next few days…
So beautiful and yet so terrible
I really don’t want to give too much away because… “Midsommar” thrives on surprise – not through classic horror elements like jump scares, of which there are only a manageable number, but through the mysterious, disturbing and sometimes completely surreal situationsin which Dani and Christian gradually end up.
I wasn’t the only one who sometimes had to laugh in the cinema – and not just because of the dry humor that shines through again and again in the film. But rather out of sheer disbelief at the fucked up, absurd thing that is happening right before my eyes.
“Midsommar” combines a psychological trip with cult horror and is beautifully photographed gives the audience one punch after the other in the pit of their stomach in an ever faster rhythm, as the Midsommar festivities reach their climax. And the punch is rarely one of pure disgust or shock – but rather an emotional one, and that’s usually even nastier.
Especially in the aforementioned scene at the very beginning of the film, which is now at least partially revealed for the particularly curious – Warning, little spoiler: Dani has been trying to reach her mentally unstable sister for a while, from whom she recently received very worrying news. She also can’t get her parents, where Dani’s sister lives, on the phone. After a long radio silence, Dani’s cell phone rings and the viewer can already guess what’s coming: bad news.
But the way Ari Aster directed the scene that shows the audience what Dani is just learning about her family over the phone (which, again, we don’t hear – we just see, and that’s bad enough) is absolutely masterful, isn’t it, according to reviews Author Christoph Petersen called it “almost perversely effective”. But the real thing here is: look at it for yourself!
The most disturbing films of all time
This is an updated republication of an article that previously appeared on FILMSTARTS.
*The links to the Amazon offer are so-called affiliate links. If you purchase through these links, we receive a commission.
2023-12-03 18:02:43
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