Ari Aster on the terrifying expectations of his folk-horror freak-out Midsommar

Ari Aster's debut and previous film, Hereditary, was considered to be 'the most traumatically terrifying horror movie in ages' by the AV Club.GABOR KOTSCHY/Courtesy of A24

Before talking about the new horror film Midsommar, it helps to think about just what everyone wants Midsommar to be. Last year at just about this time, writer-director Ari Aster was making the promotional rounds for Hereditary, his feature debut about grief, family and the Devil. The film immediately caught on fire with critics, some of whom labelled it “the most insane horror movie in years” (USA Today) and “the most traumatically terrifying horror movie in ages” (the AV Club). Naturally, anything Aster would do next would be carefully, painfully dissected – held up to the impossible standards certified by the overwhelming reaction to his very first film. The New York-based director didn’t have to make another scary movie. He had to make the scariest movie. Ever.

So what does a young (then 31) filmmaker do? Well, in Aster’s case, you immediately leave the country, hunker down in Hungary and get to work on a freak-out folk-horror follow-up that is guaranteed to leave audiences scratching their heads when they aren’t busy choking back laughs or politely suppressing the urge to vomit. And if that description makes Aster’s Midsommar sound … well, not unappealing, but certainly a unique proposition, then congratulations – you now know what it feels like to both be acutely aware and confidently ignorant of expectations. You know, for a brief moment in time, what it feels like to be Aster.

“Hereditary was released on June 8 last year, and I was in Hungary on June 9, so it was a total sprint from minute one,” says Aster, seated next to his Midsommar star Jack Reynor in a downtown Toronto hotel. “The water was up to my nose for the entire shoot and when you’re doing that, it’s just like survival. Luckily, the process was so intense that I never had a chance to get in my own head about people’s expectations and whether this film was going to be a worthy successor to [Hereditary]. I’d be lying if I said that over the past month, though, that it didn’t occur to me and that it didn’t become a weight that I was carrying around with me.”

Midsommar centres around a group of American grad students.Gabor Kotschy / A24/Courtesy of A24

It will be fascinating to see how heavy or light that burden becomes as Midsommar makes its way out into the world starting July 3. An intoxicating, intense production, the film feels influenced by provocateurs such as Lars von Trier, Robin Hardy and Ken Russell, but also Ingmar Bergman and Albert Brooks (really). Midsommar is a sickening, heartbreaking and hilarious concoction that can be read as a spiritual sequel to Hereditary, as well as a direct rebuke to its pitch-black terror.

With Hungary standing in for rural Sweden, the film follows a handful of ugly American grad students lured to the countryside for a once-every-90-years solstice festival. Leading the academics/bait is Christian (Jack Reynor), an insensitive dummy who is struggling to end his relationship with the recently traumatized Dani (Florence Pugh), while the supporting cast is filled with stock types such as the horny jackass (Will Poulter), the stuck-up nerd (William Jackson Harper) and the shifty foreigner (Vilhelm Blomgren), the latter of whom convinces the group to visit the village in the first place.

Naturally, things begin to go very wrong for everyone. But not as quickly, or obviously, as genre films have conditioned us to expect. Certain acts of blunt violence feel featherweight compared with the emotional tripwires Christian constantly lays in front of Dani, while other elements (including one plot device that I’m going to refer to as Chekov’s Grizzly Bear) are woven into an unexpectedly and deeply funny narrative. If Hereditary was pure horror devised to turn you into a sobbing little baby forever afraid of the dark, then Midsommar is something more tricky and impressive: a squirm-inducing comedy that shines a bright, blinding light on all your worst emotional tics and relationship habits. (It will also ensure you’ll never, ever visit Sweden.)

The primary antagonist of the film is more conceptual than a character: anyone who has ever been selfish, or callous or lacked basic human empathy.Gabor Kotschy/Courtesy of A24

"I definitely see the film as a dark comedy, maybe not in the number of individual laughs, but the trajectory of the film. I always find myself laughing at the final few minutes, even though I do hope it's laughter that catches in the throat," Aster says. "I'm aware of people's expectations, but this is a film that benefits from letting go of those and giving yourself to the film completely. I want it to be an immersive experience. It's a deviation from the genre in a big way. It's ticking different boxes."

Chief among them is the fact that Midsommar’s villain isn’t, as in Hereditary, supernatural. It isn’t even completely fair to demonize the film’s Swedish villagers and their, um, unusual customs. Instead, the true enemy is (pseudo-spoiler alert): us: i.e., anyone who has ever been selfish, or callous or lacked basic human empathy.

“There is a distinction between the word ‘villain’ and the word ‘antagonist,'” Reynor says, “but I think Christian is an antagonist, because he’s not actively trying to cause someone else harm. There is plenty of this guy’s character that I can see in my own life. We’ve all experienced what it’s like to be insensitive to others’ needs, to lack empathy. The crimes here are more the lack of capacity to do the right thing.”

Aster is not far off when he compares Midsommar to the The Age of Innocence.Csaba Aknay/Courtesy of A24

“It’s all pretty perverse, because after watching this, you have to wrestle with it a little bit,” Aster adds, careful to not plunge too deep into the film’s perverse third act (even with a journalist who’s seen it). “Does the punishment fit the crime?”

“It’s also about how the audience sees the film from both perspectives,” Reynor says. “Ultimately, there’s only a slight shift on the axis until the film really swings in one way. But it could’ve easily moved in the other direction.”

“This could’ve instead been The Age of Innocence, and you’re Newland Archer, and Florence’s character is May Welland, who needs to die,” Aster laughs.

Aster enjoys playing with the macabre, but it might not necessarily be horror.Frazer Harrison/Getty Images

That last line may not make much sense to those who have yet to experience Midsommar, but trust me, it clicks. Because Aster isn’t trying to make his own Edith Wharton epic. He’s not even sure he wants to make another horror film. If he ever has, really.

“Everything I do plays with the macabre and there are two projects I’m considering right now,” he says, adding that he’s not about to jump into another production right away. “Neither are horror films, but both are very dark. So they’re not a million miles removed from what I’ve been doing.”

Good luck to anyone, then, placing expectations on those.

Midsommar opens July 3.

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