Review #152: Midsommar (2019)

This review was originally written in 2022.

Gabe's 100 Bucket List Horror Films Review #7 - Midsommar (2019)

First things first, I've seen Midsommar a few times before- it's my wife's favorite movie in fact, and it's often on in the background while we're doing things around the house- but this was the first time I've actually sat down and paid attention to it in quite a long time. Not only that, but we chose to watch the Director's Cut, which I'd never seen- and it adds a whopping ~30 minutes' worth of content, mostly in the forms of extended scenes that add a lot of context to the scenes that are already there!

So, I'll put this right out there: I think this is a great film, though it's lacking something and I'm not sure what. It took until this latest viewing of the film to really feel a significant amount of dread or fear for the characters; my first time through I distinctly remember sitting through the whole movie and constantly wondering, "When is it going to get scary?" But oddly enough, this time, even though I already knew all of the plot points and story beats, it felt way scarier than it had previously, either because the director's cut added enough context for me to be on board with the tone of the film, or because I had previously gone in with the wrong kind of expectations so it never quite matched up.

I think all of the characters are wonderfully developed in this movie- rather than have them be cookie-cutter cliches of the well-worn tropes we all know and love, each character feels like a real person doing something real people would do. Dani and Christian's relationship feels uncomfortable, it feels toxic, it feels dysfunctional, in ways that real relationships feel. Even without a psychology degree you can already see the projecting, the push-pull dynamic, and so on- I'm very pleased to see that instead of having one member of the relationship being the "good" partner and the other being the "bad" partner, both partners are pretty ill-suited for this relationship (though the director's cut changed that a bit- more on that in a moment). There is TONS of nuance in the way the characters talk to one another (not just the main couple, but all of them) and this is only one of many things about this movie that heavily reward repeat viewings. There's so many details to be uncovered each time you watch!

This movie is already pretty long, but if you're going to be watching it at all, I highly, highly recommend watching the director's cut. There's only a couple scenes added whole-hog (which are good, nothing spectacular but worth seeing), but it really goes a long way to add context to the events already there. The biggest difference I noticed was, in the theatrical version, it really seemed like the sex scene was largely the result of Christian being drugged- maybe he had some agency in there, but lots of small details made him seem like an unaware or unwilling participant- but in the director's cut, a combination of making Maja seem more naive and less in control of the arrangement, as well as a much more fleshed-out scene where it's made clear Christian was aware of the cult's intentions ahead of time gives the scene a completely different tone and meaning. We didn't need a reason to dislike Christian, but him being a willing participant makes Dani's decision at the end of the film a lot more palatable to me.

So while I'm not as crazy about this movie as my wife is (seriously, she won't shut up about how much she loves it, she's getting a Midsommar-inspired tattoo sometime soon) I definitely think it's one of the most competently-made films I've ever seen, and it's certainly proving itself to be a gift that keeps on giving.

So go watch this movie!

Overall Rating: 9/10 Ordinary Bears

Disappointing Medical Accuracy Fact: Sorry, but being Blood Eagle'd would totes kill you. I don't care what legend would have us believe. You'd be dead. No ifs, ands, or buts about it.