The Trailer For A New Film From The Director Of ‘Hereditary’ Is Here And We’re Terrified
This time, he's set his sight on festivals.
Ari Aster, the young director of Hereditary, is the master of rising horror — that feeling you get when you start to see shapes amassing in the corner of your dark room, or when 14-year-old you checks your phone to see that you have 12 missed calls from your mum.
After all, Hereditary, a family drama that slowly curdles into a straight-up nightmare, is jam-packed with the kind of imagery most commonly associated with a sleep paralysis episode. At first, you’re watching a tragedy tear three confused people apart, but then by the beginning of the second act you’re being bombarded with beheadings, immolations, bloody accidents, and shots of Toni Collette crawling around a ceiling like a spider.
I would very much like it if the filmmaker Ari Aster would stay away from me
— Cam Williams (@MrCamW) March 5, 2019
Which is weird, cause Aster’s newest film looks set to be a bucolic story of love, puppies and cuddles.
Just kidding — it looks like a fucking nightmare.
It’s called Midsommar, it’s due out later this year, and the first trailer is here.
Maybe the most surprising thing about the trailer is the glimpse it gives of the Midsommar colour palette. Rather than looking grim and dark, it’s a collection of bright yellows and soothing whites, seemingly designed to mask the creeping sense of dread lurking below the surface.
Of course, this is Aster, so that terror’s not far below the surface. The trailer is full of brief snippets of horror — shots of a bear having its guts pulled out (fun!); what looks a mutilated young woman, staring bleakly at the floor; and bloody hands, scraping themselves across a stone tablet.
Re: the MIDSOMMAR trailer, it’s frankly astonishing that there aren’t more horror movies that have already made use of this music festival bougie boho chic aesthetic. Over-saturated sunlight and wildflowers can be terrifying when paired with the right sound cues
— Maddie Whittle ?♀️ (@maddiewhittle) March 5, 2019
Thankfully, the trailer is pretty light on plot details, so nothing about Midsommar gets really spoiled: Aster has previously described the film as being an apocalyptic break-up story, and it clearly takes place at some kind of (presumably Satanic) festival. Other than that, a lot of the details are up in the air.
You’ll be able to find out more when Midsommar hits Australian cinemas this August 8.