Overview
A summer festival turns into a nightmare as a grieving couple uncovers dark secrets.
Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Measured
- Intensity
- Strong
- Complexity
- Layered
- Violence
- Graphic
- eerie
- foreboding
- disturbing
- late night horror viewing
- arthouse film night
What critics said
Critics broadly praised the film as ambitious, impressively crafted, atmospheric, and deeply unsettling, while recognizing its polarizing excesses.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
The Swedish festival unfolds under near-constant sunlight, making the pastoral setting visually exposed while the rituals become increasingly disturbing.
Dani and the American visitors are absorbed into an insular village whose ceremonies conceal violent and coercive practices.
Dani’s bereavement and deteriorating relationship with Christian shape her vulnerability and eventual psychological transformation.
Intricate costumes, murals, choreographed ceremonies, communal reactions, and hallucinatory imagery create an intensely stylized festival world.
Films like Midsommar, and why
The Wicker Man
shared folk horror, ritualized community, rural isolation, and escalating paranoia
Hereditary
shared psychological horror, grief, relationship breakdown, disturbing imagery, and auteur-driven visual design
The Invitation
shared cult menace, hallucinatory atmosphere, and young outsiders confronting sinister communal rituals
The Witch
shared surreal horror, relationship dissolution, symbolic transformation, and emotionally destabilizing imagery
Movie Details
- Director
- Ari Aster
- Release Date
- 2019-07-03
- Runtime
- 147 min
- Rating
- 7.1 / 10 (8457)
Cast
- Florence Pugh
- Jack Reynor
- William Jackson Harper
- Will Poulter
- Vilhelm Blomgren
- Isabelle Grill
- Gunnel Fred
- Ellora Torchia
- Archie Madekwe
- Henrik Norlén
Where to watch in United States
- Streaming
- HBO Max Amazon Channel, HBO Max
- Rent
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home
- Buy
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home
Streaming options come from TMDB and change over time.
Common questions
- What is Midsommar about?
- A grieving young woman joins her boyfriend at a sunlit Swedish festival where communal belonging gradually becomes a terrifying form of captivity.
- What is Midsommar like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of Midsommar as measured, its intensity as strong and its storytelling as layered.
- Is Midsommar violent?
- Yes. Ember rates the violence in Midsommar as graphic.
- What did critics think of Midsommar?
- Critics broadly praised the film as ambitious, impressively crafted, atmospheric, and deeply unsettling, while recognizing its polarizing excesses.
- Which films are like Midsommar?
- Films with a similar feel include The Wicker Man, Hereditary, The Invitation, and The Witch.
- How long is Midsommar?
- Midsommar runs 147 minutes.
- Where can I watch Midsommar?
- In United States, Midsommar streams on HBO Max Amazon Channel, HBO Max.
