I'm reviewing this film in October, even though I didn't watch it this month, because I received such an overwhelming response from friends wanting to know my opinion. Most questions came this month. Oh, Midsommar. We fellow Scandinavians are f*cking crazy sometimes.
I'm stupidly Scandinavian - STUPIDLY. My blood flows with farming, snow peaks, and fjords.
So my brother and I went to see this film in the theater and I was immediately uncomfortable with the somber yet "friendly" greetings the strangers in this film were met with. It felt like Thanksgiving or Christmas in my family. I'm American enough to know what's happening and it's stupidly Scandinavian.
Panic set it quickly.
It doesn't help that we have "strange" traditions in our family. We try to warn visitors about the dancing and singing around a Christmas tree and trying to find odd objects in food as a game... there's no amount of warning. Nine years with my husband and he magically disappeared when these traditions were called upon.
So when I saw this film as I was all like, "Oh hell, yeah. We're weird sometimes...."
Then this film got really WEIRD and I was all like, "Oh, hell yeah no.".
I'm equal parts Danish and Norwegian - with a very scandalized history revolving a Swedish grandparent. This movie revolves around Sweden. Sorry Sweden! We don't talk about you at dinner!
No, in all seriousness, this film is a nature horror story and those stories are scary no matter where they come from. I react to nature god horror stories like this one or the Yellow King as I would finding a gigantic spider in my kitchen.
Kill it with fire.
There is a very specific anxiety about nature god stories that I've never been able to understand, and I'm not sure I want to. But that anxiety is very, very real for a lot of people - it helps make this movie a truly horrifying show.
I, in the mean time, am going to continue being a quiet ale drinking occasional fun-loving berserker with a I'm uncomfortable hugging problem - and stay far, far away from those nature gods.
Pairs with anxiety masked as friendliness. I watched this film in the theater. Use Horror Habit's Find It! Watch It! links on Horror Habit's side bar to locate where else you can find this really disturbing film.
