Yahoo Movies 'Midsommar' star says it gave her 'PTSD' as critics hail new 'Texas Chain Saw'
Ari Aster’s follow-up to 2018’s cult hit Hereditary is one of this summer’s most anticipated horror films and it looks like it won’t disappoint.
Midsommar was screened for critics for the first time on Tuesday night and it has earned wide-spread acclaim.
The Sweden-set film, starring Florence Pugh, Will Poulter and Jack Reynor, has even been compared to Tobe Hooper’s seminal 1974 slasher film The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.
“Forget the HEREDITARY comparisons,” tweeted Fangoria’s Editor-in-Chief Phil Nobile Jr. “[Midsommar] is a European cousin to the sun-soaked fairy tale madness of THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE.”
Forget the HEREDITARY comparisons. @MidsommarMovie is a European cousin to the sun-soaked fairy tale madness of THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE. Like, direct spiritual riffs in parts.
— Phil Nobile Jr. (@PhilNobileJr) June 19, 2019
“Like his previous film, Ari Aster’s #MIDSOMMAR is an unsettling portrait of grief & how it can consume us from within,” tweeted Heather Wixson, managing editor of Dead Daily News.
“Lots more thoughts swimming around in my head (LOTS) but those will be in my review out sometime tomorrow.”
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Pugh, who was recently seen in Fighting with My Family and Outlaw King, tweeted her reaction to the film as well her experience making it, and it sounds like it really put her through the wringer.
Tonight is the first time people will see Midsommar.
A) I’m so sorry I can’t be there to join the Q&A.
B) this film extracted sweat, tears and PTSD from the making of it.
C) the film made me wiser, bolder, stronger AND weaker during and after the film.
D) we are proud #Midsommar— Florence Pugh (@Florence_Pugh) June 19, 2019
Midsommar tells the story of Dani (Pugh) and Christian (Reynor), a young American couple with a relationship on the brink of falling apart.
After a family tragedy keeps them together, a grieving Dani invites herself to join Christian and his friends on a trip to a once-in-a-lifetime midsummer festival in a remote Swedish village.
Read more: Midsommar is ‘atrociously disturbing’ says Jordan Peele
Their carefree summer holiday takes a sinister turn when the insular villagers invite their guests to partake in festivities that render the pastoral paradise increasingly unnerving and viscerally disturbing.
Ari Aster’s directorial debut Hereditary first wowed critics at Sundance Film Festival in January 2018. Starring Toni Collette and Gabriel Byrne, it told the story of a family who becomes haunted by the death of their secretive grandmother.
Featuring one of 2018’s most shocking twists, it became a huge word of mouth hit earning £63 million from a modest £7 million budget, winning a number of awards for Collette and Aster
Here’s what other critics are saying:
Like his previous film, Ari Aster’s #MIDSOMMAR is an unsettling portrait of grief & how it can consume us from within. Lots more thoughts swimming around in my head (LOTS) but those will be in my review out sometime tomorrow. 🌸🌺🌼🌺🌸🌼🌸🌼🌺🌸🌺🌼
— Heather Wixson (@thehorrorchick) June 19, 2019
#MIDSOMMAR. wow. i don’t know that i’ve ever felt so gutted and seen by a movie. i felt sick, i felt joy - i felt so much. above all else: i’ve never seen such a wicked, accurate depiction of intoxicating mania. i adored it and i hate it. florence pugh is god level.
— lindsey romain (@lindseyromain) June 19, 2019
I had to pee for the entirety of MIDSOMMAR’s runtime and I stuck out the whole thing, that’s how good and weird it is
— EMMAR Stefansky (@stefabsky) June 19, 2019
Don’t remember the last time I related to a film as hard as MIDSOMMAR 🙃
— Emily Yoshida (@emilyyoshida) June 19, 2019
Things that are great about MIDSOMMAR:
1. Florence Pugh.
2. Henrik Svensson's next-level production design.
3. Pawel Pogorzelski's slow, steady camera that lulls you into a state of calm.
4. Ari Aster meditating intensely about trauma and loss in the most fucked up ways.— Neil (@rejects) June 19, 2019
MIDSOMMAR is ambitious and audacious and admirable and yet I dunno, I wanted all of its dread and discomfort to pay off in a more visceral, satisfying way. YMMV!
— Jason Bailey (@jasondashbailey) June 19, 2019
Midsommar is in cinemas from 3rd July. Watch a trailer below.
