Ari Aster’s Hereditary (2018) was a promising debut feature, with suggestive atmosphere, compelling performances, and (for a horror film) sensitive observations about the nature of grief. But on the basis of Aster’s second feature, Midsommar, I’m inclined to say that promise is all the writer-director has to offer. Midsommar recycles the memorable qualities of Hereditary, but to no meaningful end. Aster simply employs them to generate a sense of gravitas, which he dashes as soon as Midsommar transforms into a full-blown horror movie. The film operates as an extended bait-and-switch game, as Aster establishes the veneer of an art movie only to draw viewers into what is essentially exploitation fare.
The remainder of Midsommar plays like a high-toned version of Eli Roth’s xenophobic gorefests Hostel (2005) and The Green Inferno (2013), following the American tourists (and a couple of British students they meet along the way) as they come to realize that Pelle’s seemingly peaceful commune is really a death- obsessed cult. Aster prolongs this revelation for as long as he can, drawing out the story with observations of folk rituals and more moody camerawork. Some of his set pieces are effective, in particular the sequence that occurs when the Americans first arrive at the commune and take psychedelic mushrooms. Aster employs subtle special effects to convey the mushrooms’ disorienting effects on Dani, who freaks out and becomes suspicious of everyone around her. This sequence also has little to do with what follows, apart from raising the belabored level of dread that Aster has already conjured.
Directed by Ari Aster. R, 140 min. In wide release.
