The defence The Auteur Devotee
“Its refusal to behave is the point.”
The strange choices create the kind of friction that follows you out of the theatre and into the argument.
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Midsommar
Horror · Drama · Mystery · 2019
Several friends travel to Sweden to study as anthropologists a summer festival that is held every ninety years in the remote hometown of one of them. What begins as a dream vacation in a place where the sun never sets, gradually turns into a dark nightmare as the mysterious inhabitants invite them to participate in their disturbing festive activities.
Movie details
Midsommar
“Let the festivities begin.”
2019 Horror · Drama · Mystery 2h 27m
Critical arithmetic
One number, for now.
Scores change. Arguments endure.
TMDB
7.1 / 10
Community rating
Several friends travel to Sweden to study as anthropologists a summer festival that is held every ninety years in the remote hometown of one of them. What begins as a dream vacation in a place where the sun never sets, gradually turns into a dark nightmare as the mysterious inhabitants invite them to participate in their disturbing festive activities.
CriticWise case file
What this film says about your taste.
Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.
The archetype split
Who fights over Midsommar?
For the defence
The Auteur Devotee
“You watch the director, not the movie.”
Read their case For the prosecution
The Popcorn Loyalist
“Big screen, big feelings, no apologies.”
Read their objectionThe split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.
Taste neighbourhood
Nearby on the taste map.
TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.
Jacob's Ladder
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Birth/Rebirth
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A single mother and a childless morgue technician are bound together by their relationship to a little girl they have reanimated from the dead.
Videodrome
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Castle Freak
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John Reilly discovers that his family's newly inherited castle in Italy is haunted by a relentless, bloodthirsty creature.
The Woman
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A lawyer puts his family in jeopardy when he captures the last member of a violent clan and tries to forcibly tame her.
Fear Street: 1978
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In 1978, two rival groups at Camp Nightwing must band together to solve a terrifying mystery when horrors from their towns' history come alive.
Ginger Snaps
Fantasy · 2000
The story of two outcast sisters, Ginger and Brigitte, in the mindless suburban town of Bailey Downs. On the night of Ginger's first period, she is savagely attacked by a wild creature. Ginger's wounds miraculously heal but something is not quite right. Now Brigitte must save her sister and save herself.
The Surrender
Drama · 2025
A fraught mother-daughter relationship is put to a terrifying test when the family patriarch dies, and the grieving mother hires a mysterious stranger to bring her husband back from the dead.
Antichrist
Drama · 2009
A grieving couple retreats to their cabin 'Eden' in the woods, hoping to repair their broken hearts and troubled marriage. But nature takes its course and things go from bad to worse.
Barbarian
Horror · 2022
In town for a job interview, a young woman arrives at her Airbnb late at night only to find that it has been mistakenly double-booked and a strange man is already staying there. Against her better judgement, she decides to stay the night anyway.
Where it lives
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Names above the title
The people responsible.
Cast & crew
Directed by
Ari Aster
Written by
Ari Aster
Florence Pugh
Dani
Jack Reynor
Christian
William Jackson Harper
Josh
Will Poulter
Mark
Vilhelm Blomgren
Pelle
Isabelle Grill
Maja
Gunnel Fred
Siv
Court is in session
Put Midsommar on trial.
Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.
The prosecution The Popcorn Loyalist
“Oddness is not depth.”
A film can break every rule and still leave nothing behind but the memory of how hard it tried to be singular.