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People are definitely afraid of what they don’t understand, which is part of the reason why people are scared of spirits, ghosts and hauntings. Midsommar takes it to a new level of bizarre with an eerie Swedish cult.

Midsommar follows Dani (Florence Pugh) who, having just suffered a great family tragedy, tags along a trip that her boyfriend Christian (Jack Reynor) and his friends were planning to Sweden. The group organised a trip to a Swedish summer festival that takes place every 90 years. However, the once in a lifetime experience turns into something much more sinister than what they had planned for.

The plot is definitely original and steers away from horror clichés, with scares in broad daylight, rare jump scares, if any, and a creepier vibe rather than just a scream-out horror.

The residents of the small Swedish community and their rituals start out as really friendly and interesting, but when they turn sinister, matters do not always pan out. While some of rituals are in fact creepy, some moments are more comedic, like a sequence of a group of women in synchronized screaming.

On the other hand, some rituals were brutal; involving people being burnt alive, or wholeheartedly bashing their own heads, so the horror is definitely still there even if the film takes a whopping two and a half hours to slowly reach the end.

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The slow pace of the plot creates a slow brew of horror, which is definitely unlike most horror movies out there and may not be the cup of tea of most horror fans, but the feature is, nevertheless, an experience no matter how bizarre and unsettling it is.

The setting of the Swedish community is so elaborate and detail-oriented that the audience would actually start wondering whether this is inspired from a real culture somewhere.

The feature’s shots in Sweden are very colorful and meticulously orchestrated to show the beauty of the community before the true colours are revealed, and the beauty becomes part of the creepy factor.

For the acting, Florence Pugh gave a strong performance as a self-doubting, fragile person who always blames herself for anything and everything, and even surprises the audience at the very end. Jack Reynor’s performance was also strong as he went through the motions of what it is to be a boyfriend yet makes it clear that his character has no true empathy at heart, and is, in fact, not the great person he thinks he is. Playing Christian’s friend Mark, Will Poulter, was able to pull off being the sleazy friend who is just absolutely and ruthlessly mean.

Midsommar is not your typical horror; it offers an experience of its own it, but probably won’t be everyone’s cup of tea.