Midsommar

So I watched Midsommar last night, a US-Swedish co-production filmed in Hungary.

To be honest, I fast forwarded through some of it and didn't pay very close attention to what I did watch. I saw warnings that the movie had a lot of sex and nudity, but I must have missed most of it. Did see some gore.

Americans go to Sweden to attend a festival that takes place every 90 years. It turns out to be a pagan thing. And paganism turns out to be a terrible religion.

It was like Poltergeist, or Shadows & Fog, or Plan 9 From Outer Space. It might have been terrifying if you were there, but it disappointed horror fans.

It's the opposite of the Exorcist. That movie was based loosely on a real case---a fourteen-year-old boy was supposedly possessed. Several years ago, a reporter tracked down the people involved. According to the kid's friends, he wasn't possessed, he was just a jerk. The reporter talked to the last surviving priest who took part in the exorcism who said he saw nothing scary about any of it. The kid sort of spoke Latin, but the priests thought he was making fun of them. Another priest wrote an account of the case at the time and said he laughed while some of the stuff was happening. The Exorcist was scary but you'd have laughed if you'd been there.

I saw horror fans complain about Midsommar not working as a horror movie, but it may have been like Dark Crimes (2016) which I took to be a morbid true crime art house film. Critics hated it because they were expecting a thriller.

With Bjorn Andreson in a supporting role. He's in his 70's. As far as I know, it's the only movie I've seen him in since since he played the teen love object in Death in Venice.