If you caught Hereditary last year – a film filled with enough horrifying imagery, suffocating atmosphere, and terrifying reveals to knock your head clean off – you’re probably still feeling traumatised by it. Well, steel those nerves because director Ari Aster is already back with Midsommar, an all-new horror vision – and this one’s bathed in… sunshine? It’s an intriguingly off-kilter approach to a scary movie, but the unsettling contrast level here looks just as eerie as any shadow. The full trailer has arrived, teasing a festival worse than any mud-bog Glastonbury wash-out.
It looks like we’re in for another emotionally gruelling ride with this one – Florence Pugh is Dani, a young woman whose relationship with boyfriend Christian (Jack Reynor) has hit rocky ground. But in the wake of some kind of trauma, the pair have stayed together – and Christian invites her along a sun-drenched occult Swedish festival where everyone’s swapped wellies and maxi-dresses for Maypole chic wardrobes to take her mind off it. As for the main attractions, this festival is more geared towards brutal beatings than banging beats – with the trailer teasing disembowled bears, creepy lottery machines, and some upsetting body horror.
All in all, it looks like a fittingly culty follow-up for Aster, who's assembled an impressive cast here – Will Poulter and William Jackson Harper (aka The Good Place’s Chidi) are also starring in this one. Get your flower headbands ready for Midsommar, which hits UK cinemas on 5 July.
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