newsletter. Midsommar star Jack Reynor reveals why he wanted to go fully nude in one of the film's most bizarre scenes. A wordsmith by day and cinephile by night, Anja is a globetrotter who writes for ScreenRant, TheTravel, and TheThings. High on hallucinogenics and fresh from a weird rape ritual, Christian stumbles into a shed where Simon is in the middle of blood eagle torture. And hell wheeze. (Isabelle Grill) starts to flirt with Christain, which is the beginning of the commune's love ritual, further pulling Christain away from Dani. But I can also see myself in Dani's shoesbeing overloaded, it being too much, and shutting down. Not to mention it having a "happy ending.". Where did the ttestupa scene come in the writing process?I always outline before I write. The scene makes the stomach turn because it is subtle at first; it takes a moment to see what's really going on and that it's not actually Mark. It's a custom of theirs; rather than let themselves become a burden to the community, the elders throw themselves off the cliff as a sacrifice. **Spoiler Warning: There are spoilers for Midsommar below. One by one the friends are picked off, until Dani and Christian are the only ones left; Aster has repeatedly said the film is thematically about a really bad breakup, with Christian epitomizing the Shitty Boyfriend trope. It was Simon, the only guy who never actually offended the cult the way Mark or Josh did. One scene depicts a sex ritual-what's going on there? The ending of Midsommar is terrifying and cathartic both at the same time. A24. And once more. The clouds, however, also indicate at attempt to bring all light, in a traditional biblical pre-hlsinge mural way, to the ritual, to focus on the action., As for their clothing, Svensson said, The blue flowers on their backs symbolize that they have their backs towards the sky, i.e. After working with them on research of Swedish folk traditions, as Aster sat down to write the script, he was drawn to take it in another direction following a tumultuous romantic break-up. A contemporary classic of horror cinema, 1992 film Candyman which spawned two sequels and has a Jordan Peele-produced remake in the works follows a graduate student whose studies lead her to the legend of a ghost who appears when you say his name three times. Christian is paralyzed, so all the while he was being set up to be burned alive in a bear costume, he couldn't do anything but move his eyes around. There are two sections of the scene as far as Dani's concerned. Directed by six filmmakers, including Adam Wingard and Ti West, 2012 anthology film V/H/S is grimy horror of the tallest order. But she was so soulful. The Others (2001) is a towering achievement for Spanish filmmaker Alejandro Amenbar who wrote, directed and scored this Nicole Kidman-fronted tale about a woman trying to protect her children from supernatural forces. Most of Midsommar's characters faced a horrible death, but there's no doubt who probably suffered the most in the process. Someone wouldve warned me. Directed by: Joel Anderson. Please also read our Privacy Notice and Terms of Use, which became effective December 20, 2019. Just like Hereditary, Midsommar is a female-led horror movie. Can Democrats win back the internet in the age of Trump? PT: Since people get drunk on Midsummer, the also tend to have sex with people they shouldn't have sex with. The actor digs into attempting to subvert horror clichs and getting through a grueling shoot. There are so many scenes of sexual violence toward women in films that feature full-frontal nudity that they have to deal with, he said. She's anticipating it. Many might not reflect upon 28 Days Later (2002) as one of the world's scariest horror films, but its desolate depiction of a viral outbreak seems more real than any other. As to capturing the spaced-out sensations of the drug in his performance, he responded, Ive done my fair share of psychedelic drugs. One of the most controversial films of all time, The Exorcist which tells the story of the demonic possession of a 12-year-old girl named Regan (Linda Blair) became the first horror to be nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars in 1974. Fans never find out much about him, but his general demeanor makes him seem like a prisoner within the cult, forced to bear witness to horrors much like the paralyzed Christian is at the end. Shes spent the last few days trying to make Christian fall in love with her with all kinds of crazy tricks (including, but not limited to, baking a pie with her pubic hairs in it, which an unsuspecting Christian later eats). He's all alone in a cult where things have obviously gone out of control while he's tripping and he sees clear proof that his friend has been murdered. Zoe Hegedus was inspired by Francis Mallmann and how Scandinavians actually eat. Narrator: "Midsommar" is a horror movie about a Swedish festival gone very, very wrong. Midsommar, the new movie from writer and director Ari Aster, is the slowest of burns.It's nearly two and a half hours long, and spends most of that time lulling viewers into a resting state of . Christian and his friends, theyre all walking into a folk horror movie and thats what the movie is going to be for them. Read our interview with Midsommar star Will Poulter here. Where to Watch the Biggest 2023 Awards Contenders. For most of the film's runtime, not much happens, which is what makes the action-packed final third so terrifying. And I never thought people would see that much [of the murals]. Other . The lead character is drugged, disrobed by a bunch of naked women of various ages and then voluntold to have sex with a creepy girl who is . Please check your email to find a confirmation email, and follow the steps to confirm your humanity. Either way.. 10 Things Will Poulter Cant Live Without, The Real-Life Diet of Andrew Huberman, Who Switches to Red Party Lights After Dark, The 17 Best New Menswear Items to Buy This Week, The Best Vibrators Will Help You Get a Buzz, Inside Daniel Lee's Burberry Debut, London Fashion Week's Biggest Show, The Real-Life Diet of Tony Hawk, Who Is Trying to Listen to His Body. Hes alive. It's a cleansing and visceral scene, making Florence Pugh one of the best and most underrated scream queens ever. It tells the story of a Police Sergeant who travels to an isolated island in search of a missing girl, only to find its inhabitants practising a form of Celtic paganism. She walks over to the edge, and your heartbeat quickens. How do you think youd react if you were in these characters shoes?I'm sure I would've been more aligned with the British visitors. Before the Americans even arrive to the main village, they take psychedelic mushrooms, making them less trusting of what is happening around them and exacerbating the distance and miscommunication between Dani and Christian. The result is far scarier than anything featuring ghosts, witches or demons. Forget the iconic "Heeeeere's Johnny" or that bath scene it's the smaller moments that make Kubrick's 1980 adaptation of Stephen King's The Shining a terrifying watch, notably the trippy final act that sees Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) lose his mind to the Overlook Hotel. His leg will bend in a way legs arent meant to bend. Amid safety concerns, and anxiety over the fate of a $200 million movie, Scene Stealer: The True Lies of Elisabeth Finch, Part 1, How Idris Elba became the coolestand busiestman in Hollywood. But still, the villagers seem rather unfazed. I think there are times when the film commits to going absurdly big and operatic and grand. It's these creatures that earn this British horror film's placement on this list. With no less than Get Out and Us maestro Jordan Peele declaring in a Fangoria interview that Midsommar has some of the most atrociously disturbing imagery Ive ever seen on film, the movie has been generating a lot of conversation. All of the events seen throughout the film have happened many times before at least every 90 years and the murals are the Hrgas way of documenting this since none of the participants can be a part of this twice (because no-one can be older than 72), said production designer Henrik Svensson, in an exclusive deep dive for Polygon. Nearly all of the film takes place in the broad daylight, and the cinematography is vibrant and stunning at all times, which also helps to make the experience extremely unsettlingespecially when the scenes feature some serious nightmare material that audiences aren't used to seeing so brightly lit. Chunks of her head are missing. Midsommar is a 2019 folk horror film written and directed by Ari Aster.The film stars Florence Pugh and Jack Reynor as a dysfunctional couple who travel to Sweden with a group of friends for a midsummer festival, only to find themselves in the clutches of a sinister cult practicing Scandinavian paganism.Supporting actors include William Jackson Harper, Vilhelm Blomgren, Ellora Torchia, Archie . Pugh, who carries the film and spent most of her time onscreen sobbing, tipped her hat to her costar. In order to be coronated as the May Queen, Dani must outlast all of the other girls in a strange dancing ritual. Ari Aster continues his exploration of grief in an arresting horror-ish film. By choosing I Accept, you consent to our use of cookies and other tracking technologies. the sex scene One of the things revealed on a tapestry is the love ritual that is performed on Christian, meant to bind him to a specific young woman for conception and procreation. The sex is one thing and your own nudity is one thing, but when you're shooting it and the camera is coming right into your face in the middle of it, and you know the context of the scene, that is very difficult. This leads to one of the most disturbing scenes in the film, in which a drugged-out Christian is brought in to have sex with the young woman in front of a chorus of chanting naked women. Hell do a pencil dive. Directed by: Scott Derrickson. This was an opportunity to flip that on its head and to experience something of the humiliation of it and the intensity of it and the vulnerability of it.". Theyre taking their own deaths in their own hands and being supported by a community. And for Dani, it's the beginning of her indoctrination into this surrogate family. The subsequent shot of first responders zipping Dani's mother and father into body bags is more than a little morose, but the scene may holden an even deeper meaning. There are some things we did in camera, but for the most part we had visual effect artists doing that in post, he said. Thats why we started Creepy Catalog in 2015 as a place for creepy content and creepy people to congregate. Directed by: Michael Haneke. This is another classic horror trope that's used very effectively to show Dani's psychological state, with her feelings of abandonment being unavoidablyand painfullyrelatable. If anything, I'm just allowing it to happen where it feels appropriate. Midsommar is a swedish horror film, written and directed by Ari Aster. The elements are fairly self-explanatory, though the figures are more clothed than they are in the film. I didn't have to give her much direction. You dont know what to expect. Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies. The audience can then surmise that the poor fool was skinned, a tradition Pelle told them all about. Directed by: George A Romero. But no, she wont, you tell yourself. They are taming the elements, the weather, and the overall conditions to assure good crops and a healthy life with their dance, Svensson explained, in line with the May Queens supposed duty to renew the communitys fertility and usher in good fortunes. Afterward he becomes completely paralyzed and is later burned alive in a bear suit while Dani watches, bringing his scary, psychosexual journey as the ultimate Shitty Boyfriend to a dramatic close. And then once the first woman appears at the top of the cliff, her stomach is telling her what's about to happen. Directed by: Pascal Laugier. He said he saw it as a way to restore some balance by submitting himself to what women in Hollywood have endured for decades. The audience then sees her awaken in the night to go outside just in time to see the rest of her group driving off without her, smiling and waving as they leave her alone in terrifying uncertainty. they are flying in the dance and looks down on Earth as observers.. It stars Ethan Hawke as a true-crime writer who discovers a box of home movies depicting grisly murders in the attic of his new house. Your mind flashes back to the incident: the tragedy that forever changed the course of your life, the one that brought you here. Its hard. From award-winning writing and photography to binge-ready videos to electric live events, GQ meets millions of modern men where they live, creating the moments that create conversations. Directed by Ari Aster, the 147-minute theatrical cut released in July 2019. They've got to do it three times. The guy is dead, but they've got their ritual. A villager holding an oversized mallet walks over to the man, casual, businesslike. "I'm somebody who does a lot of takes because I don't get a lot of coverage. After Svensson began assisting with further research, he would eventually make his debut as a feature film production designer, bringing the Harga village to life in Hungary, where most of the film was shot. It's certainly one of them. Forget the effects-laden remake this version of It, released as a miniseries in 1986, is the most terrifying adaptation of Stephen King's beloved novel to date. They can turn it into their thesis. Midsommar star Jack Reynor on the film's bizarre sex scene and going full-frontal. And, as usual, Florence Pugh is just brilliant as Dani. It tells the story of a family who find themselves haunted after the death of their secretive grandmother and features a final act that left many of its viewers with sleepless nights. This is folklore, Aster is careful to note. Plus, the "language" the girls speak toward the end of the dance isn't Swedishit's made-up gibberish, which furthers the idea that something inexplicable and sinister is transpiring. All while grappling with his own feelings of vulnerability in shooting an intense scene completely naked the likes of which are usually experienced by women in horror films. In this scene, Dani is participating in one of Hrga's more energetic Midsommar rituals. What Ari Aster's new folk-horror film might do, however, is spark some curiosity as to the film's . I thought it was important for the audience to see this character coming out as vulnerable and as humiliated as possible., In a separate interview he told the Hollywood Reporter: He suffers this very humiliating and exposing fate, and as a cinephile, Ive really only ever seen that happening to female characters in the horror genre especially in a sexual context. Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Dani's sister died by suicide and killed both of their parents in the process. He lifts his mangled head. In arguably the most disturbing moment of the film, a drugged Christian is forced to participate in a sex ritual and spends a considerable amount of time onscreen nude. This [scene] isn't being pulled from historical fact, but it is part of Swedish folklore that people once committed ritual suicide this way, with an . For Reynor, the scene brought up a mix of emotions. At the beginning of the film, Dani is alone in her grief. "We had I think 31 or 32 different camera setups on the shot list," he said, "and some of them were very exposing. According to legend, this was done when old people were unable to support themselves or assist in a household. Directed by: Na Hong-jin. When these elders jump off this cliff to their death, it's forcing Dani into confrontation with this thing that she's been avoiding. There's the anticipation of the jump and then her reaction to it. All rights reserved. 2010 The Thought & Expression Company, LLC. "That was a huge challenge, just finding the way to be sensitive to everybody who's being exposed on that set while not being so sensitive that you're making them uncomfortable. Orgies, for example, are a favorite of films and tv shows about cults, as are threesomes, incest, and of course, creepy chanting. In a film full of outrageously perverse and impossibly sticky scenes, ttestupa is among the wildest and hardest to forgetnot to mention, the most important. Look no further than David Bruckner's section "Amateur Night" following three friends who meet a mysterious girl who says nothing other than three small words: "I like you.". The Hrga people communicate what is about to unfold via a series of paintings that preserve the traditions theyre carrying out. To revist this article, visit My Profile, then View saved stories. And many of the cliffs are now historic sites for everyone to see. Its the hellish denouement of the story about Dani and Christian, a struggling couple who visit a mysterious Swedish community with their friends (played by Will Poulter and William Jackson Harper). We had some conversations with the other members of the cast, some of them, who hadnt had mushroom trips before and talked about the experiences of it and how it feels, he added. The director's cut adds 24 minutes of new footage. Twist-filled horror drama The Wailing follows a policeman who investigates a series of mysterious killings and illness in the mountains of South Korea. Anybody watching the trailer for Midsommar, you probably know where its going, right? Dont worry, you can unsubscribe any time you like. The moment after the first woman jumps, where it's almost like the dust is knocked off of Dani and she's punched into another reality and just kind of dissociates completely, I remember the first take we did of that it was very clear that Florence had figured it out. It's hard to believe that Simon met an even worse fate. Speaking of his experience shooting the scene, he said, "The scene for me compared to some of the stuff in other movies that I've seen female actors go through is tame. It was just a matter of talking to Florence [Pugh] beforehand. After Dani was crowned the May Queen and she saw that Christian cheated on her with Maja, she fell apart completely. However, if you are familiar with the type of torture depicted, you know that it is performed while the victim is still alive. But what begins as a carefree holiday takes a sinister turn when the villagers force their guests to partake in their deadly rituals. They wouldnt let it happen. The movie follows a group of college students who travel to a pagan festival in Sweden and get caught up in a terrifying ordeal. By subscribing, you agree to the terms of our Privacy Statement. What begins as an idyllic retreat quickly devolves into an increasingly violent and bizarre competition at the hands of a pagan cult. "It's kind of an intense one to begin with, so finding the way to do that in the most efficient way possible was a challenge," he told SYFY WIRE. Released in 2007, it follows a reporter and her cameraman who follow firefighters to a Barcelona building and soon find themselves locked inside with its occupants who are displaying murderous behaviour. The scene was one of the most unpleasant to watch as it went on and on and kept the focus on Christian's confusion. All rights reserved. It becomes funny, somehow. . When they jump from a cliff that was the custom until not so long ago, for elderly people. . Directed by: Takashi Miike . This post contains spoilers for Midsommar. Create your free profile and get access to exclusive content. moments after two 72-year-olds threw themselves off a cliff in a re-creation of the possibly apocryphal Scandinavian ritual of ttestupa, a scene . Midsommar Explained: Symbolism, Themes, and Easter Eggs. That's the good news. All of them are true, Svensson said on the phone from Stockholm regarding the rituals depicted in the movie having at least some basis in historical fact, such as the oversized mallet used to finish the job when an older couple attempts suicide by jumping from a cliff. ", Reynor, who previously worked on Transformers: Age of Extinction with Michael Bay, a filmmaker noted for his use of multiple cameras to capture the action, indicated it was a tremendously arduous scene not just emotionally but logistically. It seems as if Mark or Josh had their deaths coming since they both broke some serious rules. With the tourists skirting on the edge of a bad trip, Dani is pushed over the edge by the mention of family, sending her on a clearly painful journey into her own trauma as she briskly walks away trying to find some quiet in the overwhelming situation. According to Jack Reynor, who plays Christian, it was that climactic "mating" scene that convinced him he had to be a part of Aster's convention-flouting follow-up to Hereditary. Theres something very strange about finishing a movie and simultaneously having opinions raining down on it. We hear you like all things creepy we do too. Even though he had that meeting in which he technically gave his consent, things typically didn't go well when anyone tried defying the cult.