Midsommar (2019)

It was around this time last year when I finally decided to watch Ari Aster's first feature, Hereditary, and, there really is no other way to put it, my mind was blown by the brilliancy of it and Aster's masterful use of the horror genre to portray a family dealing with grief and loss. Needless to say Aster's second feature, Midsommar, was one of my most anticipated films of 2019. Thankfully, the filmmaker yet again delivers as Midsommar is a terrific cult film that manages to be creepy and horrifying but also funny and very entertaining throughout.

Dani (Florence Pugh) is a mess as she has to deal with anxiety and her sister, Terri (Klaudia Csányi), who is constantly threatening suicide. When her sister stops responding to her messages, Dani is obviously worries and unloads on her boyfriend, Christian (Jack Reynor). He's not the most supportive of boyfriends though; he's actually trying to find the courage to break up with her, especially now that he has a trip to Sweden planned with his friends, Mark (Will Poulter), Josh (William Jackson Harper), and Pelle (Vilhelm Blomgren), to attend a summer festival, and bringing a girlfriend along would definitely mess with their plans.

When Dani's sister commits suicide, killing their parents in the process, Dani is wrecked. Christian obviously can't break up with her now, unless he wants to be the biggest asshole in the universe, but it's not until Dani finds out about the trip at a party that Christian asks her to go with him, a hundred per cent positive she won't actually go.

But she does and, once the group arrives, they slowly realize that nothing is as it seems.

The story is very straightforward and rather predictable as we are shown, either through a "love story" vignette or murals, what is going to happen. While this would have been an issue in most films, especially horrors, it's one of Midsommar's strengths thanks to Aster's superb skills. He shows us what is going to happen, and gives us time to process it and get shocked by it, and yet when the predicted events eventually take place they still come as a shock, an even greater shock than it was before. We, the audience, are disgusted and disturbed by what we are seeing and yet, like its American characters, we cannot help but keep watching. 

The other aspect of the story that differentiates Midsommar from your mainstream horror film is its subtext. While life, death, nature, deity and fertility are the most obvious themes, relationships are the film's core. Not any relationship but the unhealthy, toxic kind — not in a violent way though. The relationships Aster tackles in the film are those who have no reason to exist but continue to exist and "develop" because they are too coward to break up — Dani needs a lot of emotional support, she knows Christian is not able to give her the support she needs and yet she stays with him. Christian, on the other hand, is fed up with her and wants to break up with her but can't work up the courage to do so.

Ari Aster does not shy away from emotions, pain and human suffering. Not only this makes the film even more painful to watch, but it also makes it feel real, hence scarier, as he is able to make you feel the same pain, horror, despair, suffering and confusion the characters feel. Whether you like them or not, all the characters are believable and, thanks to the film's slow pace that allows us to get to know Dani, we cannot help but root for her and be concerned for her safety, both physical and emotional.

Florence Pugh's powerful performance as Dani sure doesn't hurt the film. She delivers the character's pain, anguish and vulnerability to perfection, and genuinely looks horrified and terrified by what her character is going through. She also is the heart of the film, the one keeping us, the audience, emotionally invested in the film for its entirety. The supporting cast also gives great performances, Vilhelm Blomgren as the creepy, laid-back Swedish friend being the standout for me.

The visuals are another aspect of Midsommar that cannot be overlooked. The cinematography is nothing short of breathtaking — I don't remember ever seeing a film so gory and shocking and yet so beautiful at the same time —, the visual hallucinations the characters experience on their trip are beyond hypnotizing, and the attention to details is remarkable. And of course, the setting. Unlike your typical horror film, Aster's mainly takes place in the daylight. This is a total game-changer as it makes the creepy, disturbing things happening even more disturbing and upsetting because we lose that feeling of safety we have during the day, that idea, that illusion that nothing bad can happen unless we are surrounded by darkness.

Midsommar does have a flaw though. Just like in his first feature, Aster is able to establish an eerie, creepy atmosphere throughout the film's entire running time, but there still are some moments, after the hour and a half mark, that feel dragged and a bit boring.

Hereditary (2018)

I saw the trailer of Hereditary a couple of times in cinemas before the movies started but it didn't impress me so I decided I would pass it. Over the past months though, pretty much everyone in the blogosphere has been speaking so highly of it that I rethought my decision and decided to watch it for my horror challenge.

The film follows a family of four, Annie (Toni Collette), her husband, Steve (Gabriel Byrne), son, Peter (Alex Wolff) and daughter, Charlie (Milly Shapiro), after the death of the family matriarch. While each member is still trying to handle the grief their own way, a tragedy occurs and they learn things aren't as they seem. 

Despite some predictable elements --I knew there was something going on with Joanne as soon as the character was introduced--, the story is quite original and twisted, and, although it unfolds very slowly, it grabs your attention right from the start and keeps you glued to the screen, anxious and frightened, until the very (unfortunately unsatisfying) end. The first part of the film is more of a dark family drama than a horror but the drama there works beautifully and, as someone whose family has been through something like that, the blaming, the guilt, the fighting, it feels so real it's heartbreaking.

And it's thank to that drama that director and writer Ari Aster can properly develop the characters, make them believable and relatable. We find ourselves really invested in them, we care about them and root for them --maybe not all of them, but it's still impressive considering how poorly nowadays horrors do under this aspect-- and when the terrible things happen, it's has a huge impact on us.

Of course, the cast deserves to be praised for it too. First of all, Toni Collette. She gives such an intense, mesmerizing performance as the mother who descends into madness --her presence and vulnerability are outstanding, especially during the confrontation between her character and her son. Alex Wolff stole the scene for me though as he gives an exceptional performance as the son --and frankly, I don't give a damn if he doesn't look anything like the actors playing his parents. Not all kids look like their parents in real life anyway. Milly Shapiro also gives a strong performance, but the hype surrounding her (haunting and creepy) performance was so high that it kind of let me down. It's not as disappointing as Gabriel Byrne's performance as the husband/father though as he pretty much sleepwalks through the movie.

A24

As his directorial debut, Ari Aster did a really good job. Although some scenes drag on a little, he was able to establish such an eerie, creepy, unsettling atmosphere throughout the whole movie, and it's beyond impressive.

Ultimately, Hereditary is more than your typical horror as it deals with themes such as family, loss, grief, specifically dwelling into the relationship between parents and their children. It's not the kind of horror that relies on stupid scare-jumps to scare its audience, it's the kind of film that relies on the atmosphere and the beautiful and terrifying visuals. It's different and it works because of it.