Maniac (2012) Director: Franck Khalfoun

Blue Underground

Unrated

The 2012 remake of the 1980s drama/slasher film under the same name, follows the story of a man named Frank, who lives and works at his family’s mannequin shop. He meets a french photographer named Anna, whom he builds a friendship with while she’s building her exhibition, but while their friendship grows, it becomes more and more difficult for Frank to mask the monster that’s writhing inside him.

The viewer moves through the film in a (mostly) first-person perspective, as Frank stalks, encounters and eventually, scalps his female victims. He then takes these scalps back to his room in the mannequin shop and attaches them to the figures, creating an alternate situation where he can connect with these “women” in a way that’s compatible for his suppressed and ultimately, fatal, demons. The more we learn about Frank, we see his traumatic childhood resurface, fueling these murders and his blood-thirst for vulnerable women, which relate directly to the abuse from his drug-using, promiscuous mother.  

While this movie is disturbing not only in the essence of gore and body-horror, there’s the underlying themes of child abuse and trauma that haunt every moment in this film. At the beginning, of course I was wondering exactly why he wanted to kill vulnerable women, but with every kill, the story thickens, and his backstory is revealed. While it encouraged me to feel empathetic and sorry for our antagonist, the film did a great job of ripping that sense of sadness away, by putting the perspective on the women he attacks.

The thing that makes this film the gem that it is, is that most of the horror and discomfort comes from the act of stalking his victims. Through this first-person perspective, we see these women through Frank’s eyes, which as a woman, puts me in his psychotic version of the male gaze. The real horror for me, as a female, cis-gendered viewer isn’t the scalping or the gore, but the representation of the dangers that women face in our every day lives. Women can’t just walk home alone, go on a date, get dressed after a workout, or walk through a train terminal alone without having their guard up. We’ve been trained to be careful in these situations, and to be weary of anyone that crosses our paths. This movie showcases the stress and horrors that come with womanhood in a way that’s witnessed in the eyes of the perpetrator, which almost made me feel like I  was committing the heinous acts with him. This illustration of the female struggle, and eventually the revenge of the women he killed, makes this movie a gem, as it isn’t just about a man with a blood-thirst. It’s about women and their struggle to exist comfortably in society.

The cinematography itself is stunning, with tight shots of minuscule details and camera movements that mimic the focus and perspective of Frank himself. We see exactly what he sees, and this builds the tension, as it puts the viewer in Frank’s position, through and through. There are multiple scenes where everyday cityscapes are turned into eye catching and enthralling backdrops, such as the scene where he chases his third victim in a subway terminal. This, along with the eerie, ’80s electronica-inspired soundtrack are chilling and make for a truly enjoyable viewing experience through this slasher flick. The attention to detail throughout this film really made it stand out among the rest, and made it a film that I will revisit again, for the score and cinematography, alone.

Ultimately, this film hits every key-point for me. It’s beautifully made, the soundtrack is killer (no pun intended) and it’s disturbing and gore-y without losing it’s storyline. There’s nothing excessive about this film, as the blood and the discomfort comes in thick, yet palatable waves that are made to disturb and stick with you. I give this film an easy 5 out of 5, as it stands out as a potent slasher film—especially in this era of horror, when paranormal films dominated the box office.

Martyrs | Pascal Laugier | Eskwad / The Weinstein Company

Martyrs (2008)

Director: Pascal Laugier

Eskwad // The Weinstein Company

Unrated

Unavailable to stream There’s no denying that this movie is difficult to watch, especially as a young woman. Please keep this in mind moving forward, as I will be discussing intense content in this review. If you are uncomfortable with extreme torture and abuse, please take caution. This review is loaded with spoilers, as it’s difficult to describe the story and detail of this film without them.  

                                                — Summary —

Martyrs (2008) is a french film that begins with one of our main characters, Lucie (Mylène Jampanoï) bloodied and crying, escaping what looks like an big, grimey abandoned building. We then see home-movie styled clips showcasing Lucie’s life after her escape. We then cut to a scene that introduces our other main character, Anna (Morjana Alaoui), who is Lucie’s childhood friend and eventual lover. Anna is shown the home-videos of her and Lucie’s childhood, trying to decode who could have hurt Lucie. Then, we see Anna find Lucie in the bathtub covered in cuts, where she says that she didn’t do it before they go back into their room and encounter a sihilouetted woman at the foot of Lucie’s bed.

The film then jumps 15 years into the future, and we see an average family at home. A mother, sister, brother and father all getting ready to have their breakfast. They hear a knock on the door, and once the father opens the door, he’s shot in the stomach with a shot gun. We see that it’s Lucie, an she then enters the house, shoots the mother and continues to kill the rest of the kids, asking them if they knew what her parents did to her. The same monster we saw at the beginning of the movie returns to haunt Lucie, and she is brutally beaten by it. Lucie runs out of the house and Anna comes to the house to help Lucie. Anna essentailly cleans up Lucie’s murder mess and tends to her wounds.  We see Lucie encounter her monster again while Anna is burying bodies, and disovers that the mother is still alive, trying to save her from Lucie. Lucie has a flashback to her childhood, and we witness her getting force fed, abused and mistreated. We watch her escape and as she’s making her break for it, she sees a tortured woman in another room that resembles the monster that follows her.  We cut back to the future, and  Lucie finds out the mother is still alive and  beat’s the mother’s head in with a hammer while questioning why Anna would help the woman that tortured her.

The monster comes back again, even after Lucie believed to have gotten rid of it by killing the family, which leads Lucie’s forearms being slit open and her head banged against the wall. However, the monster never physically existed and Lucie was abusing herself the entire time. Lucie runs outside where she slits her own throat and dies in the rain. Devastated to see her dead lover, Anna cries and then cleans her body. Anna then hears a strange noise and does some investigating in the house.

“However, the monster never physically existed and Lucie was abusing herself the entire time.”

She finds a strange entrance and follows it, encountering many strange doorways and a cellar door that leads underneath the house. Here, she sees a sterile environment full of gruesome photos of mutilated people, and discovers another tortured woman with a helmet-like device embeded in her head. She’s covered in wounds and open cuts. Anna brings her upstairs, puts the woman in the bath, and tries to remove the helmet. Anna then apologizes to Lucie’s corpse, as she didn’t understand the extent of her pain. Anna then hears a sound coming from the other room, where the woman she tried to save is cutting her arm with a knife. The woman is shot by a group of “secret agent” looking people, who then question Anna and dispose of the bodies. We’re then introduced to a woman that explains what happened to Lucie, and we learn that she is in charge of the entire torture operation. The operation is described as a way to find out what happens after death, and only tortured young women can rach the kind of euphoria necessary to see it. However, not everyone who endures the torture can transcend, only those that accept it and lose themselves completely.

We then see Anna, the sweet-hearted protagonist, go through her own series of torture in the basement of the house. We don’t know how long or what the duration of her torture is, but we see her slipping away from herself after being beaten, force fed, chained, having her head shaved and other demeaning acts. We hear Lucie’s voice tell her to “Just let go,” and once she does, it isn’t long until the beatings escalate into something more vile. We see Anna in an eerie, sterile, emergency-room-like setting where she is bound in a strange contraption. She’s then skinned alive, completely. With her skin removed, she has transcended completely, and the couple that have tortured her is excited to share the news with the higher ups in the organization.

We don’t see what Anna sees, exactly, however there is a dreamy sequence that channels a euphoric feeling and we aren’t sure if this is good or bad.  Anna whispers what she sees into the ear of the woman in charge, prompting her to gather everyone in the organization in the house to share what exists beyond death. However, before we can find out, the woman kills herself, keeping the secret. Is it beautiful? Is it horrifying? We don’t know. All I really know is that this movie was super fucked up and hard to watch.

                                           — Thoughts —

This movie was utterly disturbing and uncomfortable, however that doesn’t suggest that I didn’t enjoy it. I don’t mean that I enjoy watching the brutal torture and mutilation of young women, of course. However, this movie was a gorgeous revenge-influenced shocker that I couldn’t help but keep my eyes glued on, even when I wanted to cover them up.

This film feels like two short films that make one, big cohesive piece. It’s as if you could cut the movie down the middle and they would be two stand-alone shorts, since we close Lucie’s chapter in the first half and completely start a new one with Anna in the second. Both stories encourage deep, intense feelings of sadness, empathy and pain as we see the mistreatment of both of these young women. I feel the exploitation and loss of innocence with Lucie’s story and the utter shock, fear and terror with Anna’s. Anna’s torture sequence feels like it picks up right where Lucie’s left off, which leads me into why Anna’s character is, seriously, the most amazing.

“It’s as if you could cut the movie down the middle and they would be two stand-alone shorts, since we close Lucie’s chapter in the first half and completely start a new one with Anna in the second.”

We witness young Anna sympathize with Lucie while they were kids. Anna protects Lucie, helps her and ultimately, is by her side through it all, and continued to do so into adulthood. Anna carried Lucie’s pain and struggles all throughout her life, constantly trying to take it away from Lucie and help her heal the demons that raged inside her. However, her efforts, while selfless and generous to Lucie, only weighed her down and eventually, put her in harm’s way. While she didn’t know it, she was tortured alongside Lucie all along as she constantly absorbed Lucie’s pain, cleaned up Lucie’s messes and carried Lucie’s burdens for her. This ultimately, led her to her brutal demise.  While this was presented as Lucie’s story at first, it really ended up being about how tortured Anna was all throughout her life, even if it wasn’t exactly what Lucie had endured at the beginning.

The attention to detail when it came to the actual gore and special effects was amazing. I could feel every cut, every beating and every brutal mistreatment alongside the characters. The most shocking of the effects was, of course, when the “monster’s” face is revealed and we see her mutilated body, as well as when we see the tortured woman Anna finds in the house, and Anna’s skinned body. Every single one of these scenes is brimming with agony and it’s impossible to ignore the heart-wrenching pain I felt as a viewer. The makeup and effects are so well done that they look and feel so real. The attention to detail is impeccable and while these scenes weren’t easy to watch, the realisticness of these mutilated bodies was impressive and vexing. The pacing and story of this film are amazing. It’s not a slow burn by any means, as it comes right out the gates with intense, attention grabbing visuals. The gore complements the story and none of the torture/mutilaton scenes feel unnessecary or un-called for. There’s enough gore to satisfy the blood-thirst, however the gorey, violent visuals aren’t the most disturbing part of the movie—the story is. The gore is there to drive the point and message of the story home, but the story itself is disturbing enough on it’s own. These two elements blend perfectly together to make one grim, painfully disturbing film that is really, a masterpiece and is so worth watching. Like I had mentioned in the disclaimer, it’s not an easy film, especially to watch as a young woman since young women are the victims here, but if you can stomach the intensity, I highly reccommend it.

The Green Inferno | Eli Roth | Worldview Entertainment

Review: The Green Inferno (2015) Director: Eli Roth Worldview Entertainment Rated R

Eli Roth’s take on the ever-disturbing cannibal film blurs the lines between humor and horror. Whether it was intended to be that way or not, I couldn’t help but find this film somewhat comical. While the gore is thick, uncomfortable and gruesome  the elements that piece the rest of this film together are runny and slip through the cracks.

The Green Inferno follows Justine (Lorenza Izzo) as she stumbles into finding her passion for women’s rights in Africa, a detail that’s insanely rushed and out of place, but I’ll touch down on that later.  She attends classes with her friend/roomate Kaycee (Sky Ferreria) who is apathetic at best and isn’t necessarily the sharpest knife in the door. Once Justine encounters a group of student activists, she’s convinced that she must go on a trip to Peru to save the rainforests. This leads to her being set up by the group’s leader and Grade A douche bag, Alejandro (Ariel Levy) during their protest, as when they chain themselves to trees, Justine’s lock doesn’t latch, which just so happens to almost get her killed when they mention that her dad works for the U.N. When their attempt to chain themselves to trees to stop the bulldozers is revealed to be a publicity stunt by Alejandro and the companies fighting over the destruction of the rainforest, there’s outrage among the group. Their plane miraculously crashes into the middle of the rainforest, where the group is exposed to the indigenous, cannibalistic tribe. While some died in the crash, Justine, Lars (Daryl Sabara), Amy (Kirby Bliss Blanton), her partner Samantha (Magda Apanowicz), Daniel (Nicolás Martínez), Jonah (Aaron Burns) and Alejandro are taken to the tribe’s village, where they will witness the deaths and devourment of their comrades.

Justine makes it out alive, in the end. Her and Alejandro are the last to survive, and while we see Justine return to her life in the states, we are left wondering what happened to Alejandro. Did he die or did he become one of the cannibals himself?

From the second this film begins, it’s apparent that the dialogue isn’t great. While I expected more from Izzo during the build up of the film, whatever uncomortable delivery that was there is made up for in her intense, suspenseful scenes. She acts very well in high-stress situations. This could honestly be said about most of the cast, as the dialogue is consistently chunky, unnatural and generally, awkward on the ear. It’s not until they land in the Amazon that the acting improves, and once half the group makes it to the camp, it’s all uphill from there. The pacing was also terribly off, which is understandable, as there’s a lot packed into the run time. However, Justine’s decision to suddenly care about women in Africa after hearing about FGM (female genital mutilation) in a class for the first time was abrupt and confusing. I didn’t understand why she decided to go on the trip, but nevertheless, she got on the plane and did it. It’s apparent that the dialogue and pacing wasn’t the main focus of the film. The main focus, of course, was the gore and practical effects.

The gore in this film is wonderful. It’s obvious that in many of the shots and shocking visuals that there’s a lot of inspiration pulled from Cannibal Holocaust (1985), and that this was a passion project, of sorts, for Roth. The minimal use of CGI and attention to detail in his practical effects is impressive, and something that I wish was used more often in modern films. The gore, while rich and unsettling, was still campy enough to provoke some laughter. I know it seems insensitive to laugh at a human getting eaten alive, the vegan Amy eating the remains of her butchered lover, or at a tight-shot of an impaled body, but sometimes, the set up is just too comical to ignore. I found that it was my initial reaction to laugh at these scenes rather than cower, because while this is a dose of Eli Roth’s amazing, horrific blood work, it’s also just a campy, easy to watch cannibal movie. It’s hard to make the genre deeply disturbing, as cannibalism films themselves have always had that fraying edge. With the comedic execution, the violence is easier to witness, making this film considerably more consumable than I had expected going in.

While this movie may not be the best, the classic Eli Roth-ness of this film is really what makes it good. It doesn’t matter how goofy, campy or cheesy the execution is because the violence and disturbing visuals make up for the film’s faults. I’m definitely behind on seeing this movie, but when it came out, I can admit, that my interest wasn’t in cannibal movies at all. I couldn’t have cared less. However, I’m glad I gave this movie a chance. It may have it’s weak points, but even it’s weakest moments can’t justify hating this movie. The consumption and mutilation of these characters is still very gruesome, uncomfortable and upsetting. This isn’t exactly a movie to take seriously, but it’s still a fun watch from a director I admire.

Photo: Maïwenn in High tension (IMDb)

High Tension (2003)

Director: Alexandre Aja Alexandre Films

Unavailable to stream // Available on Amazon Prime to rent for $3.99

Spoiler Warning: I highly recommend watching this film before reading the review, because a lot of the kills are just too good not to describe and there’s really no getting around it. You’ve been warned!

                                              — Summary —

High Tension is a french film from 2003 that tells the story of two friends: Alex (Maïwenn) and Marie (Cécile De France). The film begins with Marie sitting in what appears to be a hospital room, repeating the words “I’ll never let anyone come between us again.”  The scene then cuts to the two women traveling by car to visit Alex’s family in the french county side, and on the car ride over we learn little quirks about the them. Alex comes off as  level-headed, responsible and caring where Marie appears to be more reckless and has a bit of an edge to her.

Once they arrive at Alex’s family home, we notice that the house is surrounded by corn fields, and that her family is eager to meet Marie. However, before we follow the women into the house, we see a total creep (aka Le Teur / Philippe Nahon) in a rusty, old van pleasuring himself with a decapitated head, then, chucking it out the window.

Alex then gives Marie a tour of the home and shows her the guest room. The family all goes to sleep and Alex is alone in her room. We watch her touch herself while everyone sleeps because what’s a horror film without a little over sexualization? The man (from the truck scene earlier) comes to the house, ringing the doorbell and waking the father. The man proceeds to enter the house and sticks the father’s head in between the banisters that line the stair case and pushes a dresser towards him—popping his head right off. He then searches around the house, going up into Marie’s room. Marie, however, is great at hiding and made sure she left no trace of her exisiting in the room. She wipes off any moisture from the sink, makes the bed and hides her belongings. The man enters the room, and is unsuccessful at finding Marie, although she’s only hiding under the bed. Once he leaves her room, he finds Alex’s mother, cutting off her hands and slitting her throat and chains Alex up and gags her. Alex’s little brother, Tom, (who is about 5 years old) runs out of the house and the man follows, eventually killing him in the corn field by shooting him. (I definitely cried).

”The man proceeds to enter the house and sticks the father’s head in between the banisters that line the stair case and pushes a dresser towards him—popping his head right off.”  

All the while, we see Marie trying to find help.  All of the phones are disconnected, and the only thing she can do is climb into the truck and go with the man and Alex to an unknown destination. They stop at a gas station, and Marie escapes inside the shop, seeking help from the clerk and hiding from the man. He follows in shortly after, unaware that she’s inside. We see him intimidating the clerk and eventually killing him, hunting down anyone else that could possibly be in the gas station. After an intense cat & mouse moment in the bathroom, the man leaves with Alex in the truck and Marie tries to call the police. Marie is unsuccessful with her phone call, so she takes matters into her own hands by stealing a car from the gas station and snatching up a gun that was under the counter. She then follows the man onto a wooded road where things get hectic.

Marie eventually loses sight of the truck while she’s following him, and to her surprise, she looks in her rear-view mirror and sees that he’s right behind her. He is constantly pushing against her car with the truck, eventually causing her to go off of the road and flip her car. This scene is full of build up, as Marie is trying to hunt the man down on foot and kill him. There’s plenty of twists and turns in this scene, and I honestly won’t go into it, but all you need to really know is that Marie finds him and they fight. She ends up beating the shit out of him with a wooden post strung with barbed wire.

Alex runs back to the truck to free Alex, as she’s still chained up in the back. However, (*MAJOR SPOILER ALERT) Alex refuses Marie’s help. Marie is unsure why, as she has been trying to save her this entire time and tries to explain that everything is okay now and that the man is dead. It’s then revealed that Marie had been “the man” the entire time, and that “the man” that we saw as the killer never really existed. He was a persona that Marie imagined due to her split personality disorder. We then see footage from the gas station’s security cameras that Marie was the one that killed the clerk, and it all becomes clear. Marie killed Alex’s family and kidnapped her. The movie ends with Alex trying to escape from Marie by getting into a stranger’s car. The car doesn’t start and Marie kills the driver by tearing him up with a saw through the windshield, shooting and splattering blood all over Alex. The final scene is the same as the opening: Marie in the hospital, but we see Alex there checking her.

                                            — Thoughts —

Like the title suggests, this movie had me stressing out from beginning to end with no remorse. I was on the edge of my seat the entire time. How could I not love this film? Not only was the plot and overall idea for the film captivating and easy to follow, but it explored a unique avenue of story-telling that was unexpected and refreshing. I loved the characters, specifically Alex and Marie. Their friendship seemed very pure and loving, and was presented in a way that was convincing without being too by-the-book. The way Marie’s character was portrayed by Cécile De France was believable and I found it easy to feel empathy for her. The creators did a great job of making me want to be on her side, and I feared for her and Alex throughout the duration of the film.

That plot twist was shocking and brutal, and it wasn’t something that I was expecting at all. I think that the twist was extremely necessary, because while they could have kept with the creepy-guy-in-the-truck character, it would have been just another predetorial slasher. By twisting the ending to make Marie the antagonist, the film gained depth and meaning. While it may present split-personality disorder in a not-so-textbook manor, it ultimately made the film stand out and made it better. Because we only see Marie’s perspective throughout the entire film, the twist is surprising and raises a lot of questions. I remember trying to piece it together after my first viewing and being confused about certain scenes.

“However, I think to truly understand the message of this film and enjoy it, the viewer must get over the literal scene by scene breakdown of this movie and change their viewing experience to be more general.”

However, I think to truly understand the message of this film and enjoy it, the viewer must get over the literal scene by scene breakdown of this movie and change their viewing experience to be more general. It’s easy to get confused, especially when there are scenes that depict the man and Marie in the same room. But, it’s in these scenes that we’re actually witnessing Marie’s struggle with herself. She is constantly battling the evil inside her throughout this movie, whether we knew about it or not. The man was just Marie projecting and personifying her own demons all along. So, when we see Alex cry and run away from her, I want to be upset that she isn’t excied to be free, but in all actuality, Marie was the predetor the entire time.

The kills in this film are extravagent and unnerving. Whoever wrote them was very creative and it was nice to see some outlandish kills in a predetorial, looming and ultimately, depressing film. The first of the kills in the home-invasion scene was, indeed, the most comical, but it still made my skin crawl. There were a lot of hard to watch visuals in this film, and while the viewer doesn’t see the death of Alex’s little brother the implied action is just as effective as it being right in my face. I would have to say that, really, showing him in the corn field was an unnecessary scene, but having that confirmation that—yes—he really did die, was a gut-punch.

This movie was an unexpected, gorey, uncomfortable abduction/slasher-thriller film and I really loved it. I couldn’t stop thinking about the plot for a while after viewing and I think that with another watch, the plot twist will feel smoother and less confusing. However, even with it’s minor faults, I was still impressed and in a fucked up way, enchanted by this film. I love the creative direction this film went in to give audiences a different perspective on killers. I definitely wasn’t expecting it.

(Center) Isabelle Grill. Photo by Csaba Aknay, Courtesy of A24

Midsommar

Director: Ari Aster

A24

In Theaters: 07.03

-This review was originally published by SLUGMag.com. Thank you, SLUG Magazine for giving me the opportunity.-

Midsommar director Ari Aster is the mind behind 2011 short film The Strange Thing About The Johnsons and last year’s talk-of-the-town, Hereditary. He has established himself as a director that delivers striking visuals as well as writes captivating stories that twist hearts just as much as they wrench guts. Midsommar, his second full-length feature film, delivers exactly that with a deranged elegance.

Midsommar begins with a focus on Dani (Florence Pugh) and her less-than-adoring partner, Christian (Jack Reynor). We see that their long-term relationship is on the rocks, and Dani is dealing with a family-related tragedy on top of it. Christian’s friends Mark (Will Poulter), Josh (William Jackson Harper) and Pelle (Vilhelm Blomgren) are planning a trip to Sweden for the summer, to visit Pelle’s family for their Midsommar celebrations. However, once they arrive, they quickly learn that this wasn’t the retreat they were expecting. It isn’t long until the group realizes that Pelle is a part of a pagan cult, this celebration only occurs once every 90 years, and that they will experience excruciatingly gruesome encounters throughout their stay. These encounters consist of many graphic rituals that are enveloped in a disorienting atmosphere, making me feel just as out-of-place as Dani did. Throughout the story, there’s a divide that grows between the group of friends, separating them as they are individually plucked from the group leading to a satisfying and fulfilling conclusion.

“The score and soundtrack for Midsommar is enchanting and it supports the story effortlessly.”

Midsommar, in comparison to Aster’s last project, Hereditary, takes on a completely different tone while still following through with extreme visuals. While Hereditary is known for its dark, intense storyline and it’s looming, stick-to-your-ribs cinematography, Midsommar kicks it up a notch by keeping the light on. The brightness of this film creates the feeling like there’s nowhere to escape as every sickening, gore-filled moment is showcased in broad daylight. The cinematography in this film is absolutely breathtaking, and the visual effects used throughout is never “too much.” There’s purpose and intention behind every shot, every cut and every haunting image. I could talk about how beautiful this movie is forever because the lush, green environment and all of the colorful flowers are sweet on the eyes, and the way they are captured is careful and do it every bit of justice. The way the richness of red blood jumps from the ethereal pastel color schemes makes it all that more gruesome. I was expecting more blood, as barbaric as that may seem, but the film’s other terrifying offerings scratched that itch, leaving nothing to be desired on that front.

The score and soundtrack for Midsommar is enchanting and it supports the story effortlessly—so much so that it’s almost hypnotizing when paired with each shot. I would listen to it independently from the film because it is so beautiful and refreshing as it is straying from the usual dark, ambient, horror-score path.  Bobby Krilic (The Haxan Cloak) uses traditional Nordic instruments and non-lyrical, chant-like vocals together to create a dreadfully spellbinding soundscape that hugs the story tight. By using these mediums together, there aren’t traditional jump-scare-packed, violinning shrill sounds from other popular horrors and gifted with a bright, airy soundtrack that still manages to sit heavily on the ears of the viewer.

“No matter what it is on paper, Midsommar is a beautifully unsettling watch.”

This film and Aster truly are gems in the realm of intense, shocking filmmaking. While Midsommar could be considered “horror,” I believe that “horror” doesn’t quite cover all of this film’s bases. There are so many complexities to this film that it can’t be completely pinned down to one thing. Is it a thriller, drama, horror or all three? No matter what it is on paper, Midsommar is a beautifully unsettling watch, and while it may clock in at 140 minutes, its captivating nature makes the time fly. I absolutely love this film and am so excited to see what else Aster has up his sleeve.