Midsommar, the new horror film from Ari Aster, looks to be the inverse of Hereditary: starkly bright instead of dark, about a failing relationship and a group of twentysomethings instead of a fractured family, set in a sprawling outdoor festival instead of inside a claustrophobic (doll)house. But as with Jordan Peele, when you have a great horror writer/director, you follow them anywhere… which is ironic, considering a cardinal rule of horror is to not follow someone anywhere, because you don’t know what you’re getting into.
In Midsommar, it’s a festival in Sweden that happens only once every 90 years. Despite their relationship being on the rocks, Dani (Florence Pugh) follows her boyfriend Christian (Jack Reynor) and his crappy friends to sit in a field, wear flower crowns… drink questionable liquids… perform some ritual involving bloody runes… dissect a bear?? Not to mention all that creepy panting, which immediately brings back Hereditary’s haunting clicks. This is gonna be great.
While the first teaser was mostly just the aforementioned panting, this full trailer gives you a better sense of the plot:
Let the festivities begin July 3, when Midsommar comes to theaters.
