13 Slots for the Best Horror I've Seen in the Past Year
[13 of 13]

MIDSOMMAR

(June 2019)

i cant anymore - everything's black - mom and dad are coming too. goodbye.

That’s an email that Dani Ardor (Malevolent’s Florence Pugh) receives from her bipolar sister Terri, which we get a peek at early on in Ari Aster’s sophomore offering, Midsommar.

Like the obituary that opens Aster’s feature debut (and ¡Qué horror! 2018 title) Hereditary, it’s an ominous harbinger of the torrent of grief that rages throughout the film’s runtime, as well as all the dreadful things to come, as Dani finds herself in an isolated community in Sweden where things are, quite naturally for a horror movie, not as idyllic as they seem.

I’ve always liked the folk horror subgenre, where the outsider is plunged into a close-knit community, stumbling about, ignorant of the nuances and niceties (sometimes, even the language) of this alien society, exposed to customs and traditions that, to a stranger, can be bizarre, perhaps even grotesque and repulsive.

It’s like the extreme horror movie form of FOMO, the simmering anxiety of being the only one who isn’t in on it, and in folk horror of course, not knowing what it is--until it’s far too late--can very well be the death of you…

When Midsommar takes its first decisive folk horror turn, it’s a powerful and potent sequence, and once that takes place, it is, as they say, all downhill from there, at least for Dani and company…

More questionable incidents then take place, but each character’s personal issues and preoccupations cloud their awareness of the fact that things are very wrong in “… The tranquil and majestic Hårga.”

 

All things considered, Midsommar navigates the folk horror seas exceptionally well, because there is, after all, a giant lying in the folk horror depths.

Said giant is, of course, Robin Hardy’s The Wicker Man, one of those particularly singular titles that forever casts its long and intimidating shadow over all the other films of its type that follow. Like The Exorcist and possession movies, or Jaws and shark movies, any folk horror title made after 1973 needs to walk in The Wicker Man’s shade.*

But thanks to Aster’s firm directorial and narrative grasp (as well as DP Pawel Pogorzelski’s eye), there is more than enough glaring sunlight to drive away The Wicker Man’s shadow, at least for the spell-like duration of Midsommar’s length, enough time for Aster to weave an insidious tale that cautions that the insularity and isolation of any community has the potential to breed horrors.

I suspect that there will be a portion of the audience that will feel Midsommar is not quite as “scary” as Aster’s first horror effort, Hereditary.

But, while that may or may not be true, what I can say is, Midsommar is one effed-up title--and I mean that in the nicest possible horror movie way.

It’s a film that showcases the horrifying beauty of community, where one is never left alone, and where all emotions--joy, ecstasy, grief, or horror--are felt in unity.

Much like a theatre full of people, witnessing Midsommar’s sundrenched terrors in the climate-controlled dark.

* So complete and intimidating is that shadow that not even Hardy’s own “spiritual sequel,” The Wicker Tree, could hope to hold its own…

Parting Shot 1:

Frankie Valli’s “The Sun Ain’t Gonna Shine (Anymore)” plays over the end credits roll…

Man, Aster really knows how to pick a closing song…

Parting Shot 2:

There is what may (or may not) be a swipe at Neil LaBute’s ill-fated 2006 remake of The Wicker Man towards Midsommar’s end…

I leave it up to the viewer to decide…

Parting Shot 3:

I’m looking forward to the opportunity to check out the longer-by-23 minutes Director’s Cut…

Yay! More folk horror goodness!

“Yeah, it’s sort of a crazy nine-day festival my family’s doing. Lots of pageantry…”

“Uh-huh.”

“… special ceremonies, and dressing up.”

“That sounds fun.”

“It’ll probably seem very silly. But, it’s like theatre.”

(Midsommar OS’ courtesy of impawards.com.)

13 Slots for the Best Horror I've Seen in the Past Year
[2 of 13]

HOUSEWIFE

(September 2017)

“Let's go back to where it all began.”

After gracing the ¡Qué horror! 2016 rundown with Baskin, Can Evrenol is back with his sophomore feature, the English-language Housewife, which follows Holly (Clémentine Poidatz), who is haunted by a terrible childhood tragedy.

Things take a turn for the worse when Holly finds herself at the seminar of a “… crazy, world-famous cult that actually believes in the Apocalypse happening pretty soon.”

There’s only you and your dreams – ULM slogan

The cult, described as “… like Scientology with astral travel,” is called ULM (Umbrella of Love and Mind), and is led by Bruce O’Hara (David Sakurai), who comes out on stage at said seminar to the tune of KC & The Sunshine Band’s “I’m Your Boogie Man” (a homophonically apt title, natch).

It really isn’t much of a spoiler to say that the “rock star” entrance (with an umbrella, right, ‘cause, well… ULM) masks something far more sinister.

“Accept the mystery.”

In Housewife, Evrenol trades in most (but not all) of the batsh!t insanity of Baskin for a mystery cloaked in dream, memory, and cult madness, the deep psychological scarring of the eponymous protagonist, and some frank, adult sexuality.

It’s a truly excellent follow-up, that also serves as a tantalizing promise of more dark and disturbing visions from Evrenol.

“Let me take you to your destiny.”

Parting Shot: The female artist working in miniature in a horror film has apparently become a recurring motif these days.

Or what the kids would call “a thing.”

Hereditary, Michael Tully’s Don’t Leave Home, and now, Housewife.

Yeah.

“A thing”…

(Housewife OS’ courtesy of impawards.com.)

¡QUÉ HORROR! 2019

Candidate #24

MIDSOMMAR

(June 2019)

i cant anymore - everything's black - mom and dad are coming too. goodbye.

That’s an email that Dani Ardor (Malevolent’s Florence Pugh) receives from her bipolar sister Terri, which we get a peek at early on in Ari Aster’s sophomore offering, Midsommar.

Like the obituary that opens Aster’s feature debut (and ¡Qué horror! 2018 title) Hereditary, it’s an ominous harbinger of the torrent of grief that rages throughout the film’s runtime, as well as all the dreadful things to come, as Dani finds herself in an isolated community in Sweden where things are, quite naturally for a horror movie, not as idyllic as they seem.

I’ve always liked the folk horror subgenre, where the outsider is plunged into a close-knit community, stumbling about, ignorant of the nuances and niceties (sometimes, even the language) of this alien society, exposed to customs and traditions that, to a stranger, can be bizarre, perhaps even grotesque and repulsive.

It’s like the extreme horror movie form of FOMO, the simmering anxiety of being the only one who isn’t in on it, and in folk horror of course, not knowing what it is--until it’s far too late--can very well be the death of you…

When Midsommar takes its first decisive folk horror turn, it’s a powerful and potent sequence, and once that takes place, it is, as they say, all downhill from there, at least for Dani and company…

More questionable incidents then take place, but each character’s personal issues and preoccupations cloud their awareness of the fact that things are very wrong in “… The tranquil and majestic Hårga.”

 

All things considered, Midsommar navigates the folk horror seas exceptionally well, because there is, after all, a giant lying in the folk horror depths.

Said giant is, of course, Robin Hardy’s The Wicker Man, one of those particularly singular titles that forever casts its long and intimidating shadow over all the other films of its type that follow. Like The Exorcist and possession movies, or Jaws and shark movies, any folk horror title made after 1973 needs to walk in The Wicker Man’s shade.*

But thanks to Aster’s firm directorial and narrative grasp (as well as DP Pawel Pogorzelski’s eye), there is more than enough glaring sunlight to drive away The Wicker Man’s shadow, at least for the spell-like duration of Midsommar’s length, enough time for Aster to weave an insidious tale that cautions that the insularity and isolation of any community has the potential to breed horrors.

I suspect that there will be a portion of the audience that will feel Midsommar is not quite as “scary” as Aster’s first horror effort, Hereditary.

But, while that may or may not be true, what I can say is, Midsommar is one effed-up title--and I mean that in the nicest possible horror movie way.

It’s a film that showcases the horrifying beauty of community, where one is never left alone, and where all emotions--joy, ecstasy, grief, or horror--are felt in unity.

Much like a theatre full of people, witnessing Midsommar’s sundrenched terrors in the climate-controlled dark.

* So complete and intimidating is that shadow that not even Hardy’s own “spiritual sequel,” The Wicker Tree, could hope to hold its own…

Parting Shot 1:

Frankie Valli’s “The Sun Ain’t Gonna Shine (Anymore)” plays over the end credits roll…

Man, Aster really knows how to pick a closing song…

Parting Shot 2:

There is what may (or may not) be a swipe at Neil LaBute’s ill-fated 2006 remake of The Wicker Man towards Midsommar’s end…

I leave it up to the viewer to decide…

Parting Shot 3:

I’m looking forward to the opportunity to check out the longer-by-23 minutes Director’s Cut…

Yay! More folk horror goodness!

“Yeah, it’s sort of a crazy nine-day festival my family’s doing. Lots of pageantry…”

“Uh-huh.”

“… special ceremonies, and dressing up.”

“That sounds fun.”

“It’ll probably seem very silly. But, it’s like theatre.”

(Midsommar OS’ courtesy of impawards.com.)

¡QUÉ HORROR! 2019

Candidate #2

HOUSEWIFE

(September 2017)

“Let's go back to where it all began.”

After gracing the ¡Qué horror! 2016 rundown with Baskin, Can Evrenol is back with his sophomore feature, the English-language Housewife, which follows Holly (Clémentine Poidatz), who is haunted by a terrible childhood tragedy.

Things take a turn for the worse when Holly finds herself at the seminar of a “… crazy, world-famous cult that actually believes in the Apocalypse happening pretty soon.”

There’s only you and your dreams – ULM slogan

The cult, described as “… like Scientology with astral travel,” is called ULM (Umbrella of Love and Mind), and is led by Bruce O’Hara (David Sakurai), who comes out on stage at said seminar to the tune of KC & The Sunshine Band’s “I’m Your Boogie Man” (a homophonically apt title, natch).

It really isn’t much of a spoiler to say that the “rock star” entrance (with an umbrella, right, ‘cause, well… ULM) masks something far more sinister.

“Accept the mystery.”

In Housewife, Evrenol trades in most (but not all) of the batsh!t insanity of Baskin for a mystery cloaked in dream, memory, and cult madness, the deep psychological scarring of the eponymous protagonist, and some frank, adult sexuality.

It’s a truly excellent follow-up, that also serves as a tantalizing promise of more dark and disturbing visions from Evrenol.

“Let me take you to your destiny.”

Parting Shot: The female artist working in miniature in a horror film has apparently become a recurring motif these days.

Or what the kids would call “a thing.”

Hereditary, Michael Tully’s Don’t Leave Home, and now, Housewife.

Yeah.

“A thing”…

(Housewife OS’ courtesy of impawards.com.)

10 Slots for the Best Horror I've Seen in the Past Year
[6 of 10]

HEREDITARY

(January 2018)

"My mother was a very secretive and private woman. She had private rituals, private friends, private anxieties.”

Annie (the always amazing Toni Collette) reads the above as part of the eulogy for her mother, Ellen.

The fact that

A) this takes place less than 5 minutes into Hereditary’s running time, and

B) the film actually opens with Ellen’s obituary

should be a clear sign that one of the movie’s main themes is the desolation of familial loss.

It’s a difficult film to get through, particularly if you’ve slogged through that brutally vicious type of grief yourself.

But of course, what writer/director Ari Aster does in his feature debut is to use that emotional wrack and ruin to delve into the secrets that gradually accrete onto any family tree, all the unspoken and repressed feelings that only manage to fester and insidiously poison if kept in the darkness of silence.

And all that is made even worse if some of those secrets are, let’s just say, not your run-of-the-mill garden variety domestic dramas…

So long as you’re prepared for the tragic and emotionally gut-wrenching aspect of Hereditary, you’ll find this to be an astoundingly solid feature debut by Aster, with a killer cast; Collette is joined by Gabriel Byrne (both of whom double up and executive produce as well) and Ann Dowd.

Plus, Alex Wolff and newcomer Milly Shapiro (who play Annie’s children) acquit themselves commendably in the shadow of that intimidating acting trio…

And how messed up is it that even after that mondo bizarro third act (which manages to capture the unsettling nightmare idea of waking up to find the sanctity of home transmogrified into a perverse charnel house, all that rot finally blooming into a pervasive malignance), I still ended up snuffling when “Both Sides Now” (the original Judy Collins recording) plays over the end titles?

Man, this movie…

“But now old friends are acting strange, they shake their heads,
They say I've changed,
But something's lost, but something's gained, in living every day…”

--“Both Sides Now”

(Written by Joni Mitchell)

Parting Shot:

So looking forward to Aster’s follow-up, Midsommar…

(Hereditary OS’ courtesy of impawards.com.)

¡QUÉ HORROR! 2018

Candidate #10

HEREDITARY

(January 2018)

"My mother was a very secretive and private woman. She had private rituals, private friends, private anxieties.”

Annie (the always amazing Toni Collette) reads the above as part of the eulogy for her mother, Ellen.

The fact that

A) this takes place less than 5 minutes into Hereditary’s running time, and

B) the film actually opens with Ellen’s obituary

should be a clear sign that one of the movie’s main themes is the desolation of familial loss.

It’s a difficult film to get through, particularly if you’ve slogged through that brutally vicious type of grief yourself.

But of course, what writer/director Ari Aster does in his feature debut is to use that emotional wrack and ruin to delve into the secrets that gradually accrete onto any family tree, all the unspoken and repressed feelings that only manage to fester and insidiously poison if kept in the darkness of silence.

And all that is made even worse if some of those secrets are, let’s just say, not your run-of-the-mill garden variety domestic dramas…

So long as you’re prepared for the tragic and emotionally gut-wrenching aspect of Hereditary, you’ll find this to be an astoundingly solid feature debut by Aster, with a killer cast; Collette is joined by Gabriel Byrne (both of whom double up and executive produce as well) and Ann Dowd.

Plus, Alex Wolff and newcomer Milly Shapiro (who play Annie’s children) acquit themselves commendably in the shadow of that intimidating acting trio…

And how messed up is it that even after that mondo bizarro third act (which manages to capture the unsettling nightmare idea of waking up to find the sanctity of home transmogrified into a perverse charnel house, all that rot finally blooming into a pervasive malignance), I still ended up snuffling when “Both Sides Now” (the original Judy Collins recording) plays over the end titles?

Man, this movie…

“But now old friends are acting strange, they shake their heads,
They say I've changed,
But something's lost, but something's gained, in living every day…”

--“Both Sides Now”

(Written by Joni Mitchell)

Parting Shot:

So looking forward to Aster’s follow-up, Midsommar…

(Hereditary OS’ courtesy of impawards.com.)