Make It a Double Feature: Go on the Vacation from Hell with ‘Midsommar’ and ‘Barbarian’
As a horror buff, for the next edition of Make It a Double Feature I’ve chosen two films about trips gone wrong for this month’s column entry in the spirit of summer as a time of vacation and getaways. In particular, two horror films that dabble into how awful the male species can be, whether it’s through depicting incompetent boyfriends or, even worse, sexual predators.
Midsommar, Ari Aster’s follow-up to Hereditary, showcases the former and follows Dani (Oscar nominee Florence Pugh) as she accompanies her boyfriend, Christian (Jack Reynor, Sing Street) and his friends who’re attending a nine-day festival in rural Sweden that takes place every 90 years. While they’re all going for research, for Dani it’s a way of healing after the tragic passing of her family. However, complications arise when the too-welcoming commune they’re staying with engages in ritualistic sacrifice and murder.
Scary but not in a traditional jump-from-your-seat manner, Midsommar is a berserk telling of a relationship gone wrong where the mostly matriarchal cult known as the Hårga breaks Dani out of her feelings of solitude. More so than the men accompanying her, including Christian, who reluctantly invited Dani to come along. As Christian becomes an embodiment of toxic masculinity, he also serves as an instrument for those involved in the film to challenge the on-screen male gaze.
While promoting Midsommar, Jack Reynor commented on how, in the film’s most infamous scene involving Christian engaging in ceremonial sex with young Maja (Isabelle Grill) before fleeing in terror, he willingly embraced the script’s full-frontal nudity to further both Christian’s feelings of emasculation at that moment and gender parity when it comes to nudity in the horror genre. According to writer/director Ari Aster in a Reddit AMA, Christian’s nude scene even caused a six-week fight with the phallophobia of the MPAA to avoid a cursed NC-17 rating.
Besides being an unsettling folk horror pic that tackles gender themes, Midsommar is also a superb technical achievement. The score by musician Bobby Krlic (also known as The Haxan Cloak) is sometimes serene and ominous. At the same time, the balmy cinematography by Pawel Pogorzelski is a stark contrast to the literal dark underworld of Satanism he lensed in Hereditary. The film also thrives on the leading performance from Florence Pugh, who plays the distraught Dani with immense abandon. Given how Midsommar came out two years after breaking through with Lady Macbeth, her work was more evident she’d be the star she is. Praise should also go to Jack Reynor as Christian. Between this, Sing Street, and his star-making role in the Irish indie What Richard Did, Jack Reynor keeps proving himself as a dynamic acting presence.
Whether Midsommar deters tourists from backpacking through Europe remains to be seen. But Zach Cregger’s Barbarian may do for renting an Airbnb what Jaws did for going to the beach. When Tess (Georgina Campbell, The Watchers) goes on a trip to Detroit for a job interview, she realizes that the stress of a double-booking pales in comparison to what lies in the dark, creepy basement of the house she stays in with the mysterious Keith (Bill Skarsgård, Nosferatu).
Deep within the basement lies an elderly deformed woman known simply as “The Mother” (Matthew Patrick Davis), a product of decades-long abuse at the hands of serial rapist Frank (Richard Brake), the house’s original owner who’s been abducting women there for decades. Since the film’s theatrical release, the Mother has inspired conversations over how much she plays into the historical “old people are scary” horror trope, which has been especially prevalent lately. Compared to the older women in the Midsommar cult, who are more willing antagonists, the Mother is as much a victim as she is a villain.
The Mother being a manifestation of generational trauma allows Barbarian to transcend being a standard “something-hidden-in-the-basement” creeper along with its mix of unsettling horror and dark humor. It also thrives on the subversive casting of its two male leads. Bill Skarsgård, who has a penchant for playing bizarros and villains, is well-utilized as Keith, who possibly isn’t as sleazy as he may appear. Meanwhile, Justin Long, known for his lovable charm in films like Galaxy Quest and Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story, plays completely against type as AJ, a disgraced actor and current owner of the main Airbnb property fired from a TV show over sexual abuse allegations who becomes help captive.
Along with the mind-bending Midsommar, Barbarian is a twisted ride bound to keep you on edge only its decaying Detroit setting is worlds away from a scenic, utopian-looking Sweden. If you’re in the mood for a horror film and want a good trip-from-Hell one that may inspire intriguing debate, why not make it a double feature?
Midsommar is available to stream on Max and Kanopy. Barbarian is available to rent and buy on various streaming platforms.
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