I went into Midsommar with very low expectations, and I'm surprised that it actually succeeded them. It's still not a good movie. I do not buy Ari Aster's nonsense, and his images and editing are so labored that not only do they strip them of any intended effect, they betray his total self-consciousness. I think he knows he's a charlatan and a fraud.
I wish I could really get upset about it, but this movie is nothing but an A24-laced amalgamation of Hostel, The Wicker Man, whatever, whatever. The script reeks of insecurity and an overly-calculated attempt to juggle the 4 different kinds of things he's trying to do. You can tell he was like, "okay, so this is where the relationship drama is, and right after that I have to put in some Ugly Americans tourist from hell shit, and then the overly symmetrical washed-out still shots of the buildings go HERE". Whatever! You have to be immune to being tricked by it. I think if you make yourself bulletproof to being swayed by its own self-seriousness and then getting mad when you realize it’s not actually as interesting as it seems like it is (i.e. my reaction to Hereditary), your experience gets a lot better. I'm just worried that future generations are going to think horror HAS to come with all of this sociological study bullshit that Aster and Peele are shoving down our throats. Horror doesn't need to be qualified with the kinds of paint-by-numbers drama and "social investigations" they traffic in to be worthy of respect. I want to force-feed everyone that has seen this some giallo to make them understand what horror really is and can be.
But, if Ari Aster is running shit, at least his definition of "running shit" includes full-frontal nudity and gore -- even if that gore is in the quick-cut Haneke tradition that we should all be sick of by now. The parts of this movie that stink the least of his self-consciousness are fun, and although the shitty boyfriend plotline is catnip for Hereditary's cult fanbase, I decided to buy into it because the psychological reasoning behind what Dani does is without any excuses. If you fail to see the implications of her choice and think it's nothing but "you go girl!" pandering, that's on you, not necessarily on Ari Aster, our new overlord of shitty horror. I respect him as my sworn enemy, and I wish him well.