REVIEW:
Say what you want about Ari Astor, the horror filmmaker behind this movie, Hereditary, and Beau is Afraid. The man definitely hams it up when it comes to showing extreme bloody or horrific images. But he’s also a pretty smart storyteller. He knows how to present atmosphere and setup that really hooks the viewer. Hereditary was pretty great. Midsommar isn’t quite there, but it’s still a solid film. The movie is about a cult festival that a bunch of college students travel to for vacation. We get hooked into the lives of these characters, particularly our two protagonists who are in a relationship riddled with problems. Only unlike most relationship movies, in this one the dynamic between the two characters actually feels real, with lots of apologizing and miscommunications. What happens on the campsite itself, in terms of horror is just okay. Some of the thrills are better than others, and the movie does get kind of slow at times, especially towards the end. Still, there are very few filmmakers who are making movies as engaging as Astor does, and this movie definitely grabs our attention and for the most part, keeps it.