Appalling news time: I didn’t like Hereditary. Sorry not sorry; I didn’t. Even though horror is my favorite genre, I don’t like stories where the evil force just seems to keep getting more and more powerful until finally achieving easy victory. Makes me ask what the whole point was of the film. I also don’t like movies that keep getting more twisted and complicated as they go along; makes me feel like the filmmakers were just pulling stuff out of their you-know-whats.
Given my feelings about Hereditary (and other movies meeting the descriptions I listed) I wasn’t particularly excited about the next film from the same writer-director. Still, the plot sounded interesting enough in Entertainment Weekly’s (as much as I plug that magazine I hope it does a piece about me at some point) summer preview issue that I made note of the release date. Plus the amazing word of mouth further intrigued me (admittedly Hereditary had that as well). The clincher was that, to be frank, what I read on IMDB got me thinking there would be some nice erotic content.1
What I saw was definitely not nice or erotic. Was it still a good movie though?
Yes. I’m actually surprised I’m saying that as at first I placed it into the category I described in the first paragraph.
However, I now see the point of this one and I feel it was very deliberate. This film is a metaphor for the deconstructive effects of mental illness and how, untreated, it makes you lose touch with everyone and everything you know, leaving you unable to comprehend what makes any sense and what’s even real. This is an issue near and dear to my heart. I’m even considering doing a Ph.D. thesis pertaining to it, which is extremely fitting considering this movie’s specific plot. As far as why I am so moved by depictions of mental illness, you’d understand if you met my sister.2
Speaking of sisters, the main character Dani starts off having often been a rock to hers. However, that wears on her and leads to HER becoming utterly codependent with her boyfriend, a Ph.D. student named Christian. Their relationship has gotten loveless and is on the rocks until tragedy strikes.
The plot then kicks into high gear as Christian, through some combination of compassion, pity, and a martyr complex, invites Dani along on a trip to Sweden with his friends. They include horny and snarky Mark3, Josh, who is writing his thesis on the tradition of Midsummer, and Pelle, who is from Sweden and has invited the group to spend their vacation with the commune in which he grew up.
Then…things get sssttttrrrraaaannnggggeee. Also gory. So much so that I’m actually glad the theater where I saw Midsommar was carding the teenage-looking people who bought tickets.4
In fact, this movie about the family unit outsiders visit was so gory and strange that some people have been comparing it to Texas Chainsaw Massacre!
I kind of see where they’re coming from, but I don’t really agree. Texas Chainsaw Massacre was all about the scares and basically acted like a found footage film decades before that was a thing. For that same reason that it’s one of my favorite horror movies it lacked character development or a real story though.
Midsommar is occasionally even scarier simply because the atrocities are being committed outdoors in broad daylight while normal-looking people are smiling about it. As far as character development or a real story, it definitely has those things but seems to drop them as its long running time drags on. That was only my first take on it though. Now, like I said, I see that the film was making a statement about Dani’s declining mental health and it really gets under your skin. Not since I first watched The Exorcist 19 years ago has a horror movie (or any movie) initially underwhelmed me but left me awake at night thinking about it as the days and weeks went on.
Agree? Disagree? Feel free to comment.
Up Next: It’s a surprise.
Bottom Line: Truly, truly haunting.
- When my friend Leon, a fellow wrestling fan, watched Fighting With My Family I asked if there was a nude scene. That other wrestling fan friend Paul I mentioned said he doubted it considering the movie’s PG-13. I said “So was X-Men: Days Of Future Past and we still had to see Hugh Jackman’s hairy ass. Answer the question Leon!” In this movie many people show skin yet Florence Pugh, looking much hotter with her natural skin and hair color, still doesn’t. WTF?
- Just kidding. I love you Anila.
- I resisted the temptation to call him “Snarky Marky”. I was about to say “I avoided the dad joke; I guess I was right about not being ready to have kids.” Yet now I can’t get the Beastie Boys out of my head and I don’t have enough willpower to avoid typing “Rude Marky….That Snarky Marky…Rude Marky Darky…That Snarky Marky!”
- The last time I remember being carded for a movie it was Eyes Wide Shut at, coincidentally, the exact same theater.
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I’m inclined to disagree with your analysis a bit. You make some great points, but I don’t think there was an inherently evil power existing in this movie, save for the influence of the cult. I don’t feel that the power grew either, I think what made the cult really terrifying is that the events that took place were commonplace and normalized (“Pelle is always such a great judge of character”).
I see how you could interpret this film about declining mental health, but I see it a little differently. I think this film is about family, grief, and being accepted. Dani loses everything right off the bat in a terrible murder-suicide, and her only support system is her asshole boyfriend who stays with her out of obligation and pity. He doesn’t love her, and he feels trapped, especially after her personal tragedy. It’s implied that Dani doesn’t have anybody else for her to fall back to except her sub-par boyfriend and his crappy friends. I really liked how the film contrasted the darkness of Dani’s life with the equally dark but visually bright pastels of the cult and the midnight sun. I also think that Dani was at the right state of mind to be accepted by the cult. Unquestioning, free of judgment, going with the flow, unlike the other outsiders. What else does she have to lose? She truly had zero ulterior motive, and she was made to feel like a burden to the rest of her companions. That set her up for acceptance into the cult: the only group of people who supported her and empathized with her (see: screaming/laughing/crying/etc. with whomever was expressing a deep emotion).
In the end, though, I wouldn’t call this movie a horror film, but the ultimate break-up movie.