Spurred on by his friends, anthropology student Christian (Jack Reynor) is on the verge of breaking up with his girlfriend Dani (Florence Pugh),but a family tragedy for Dani changes his mind. Feeling guilty about putting his girlfriend through further emotional trauma, Christian asks her to accompany him and his pals on a once-in-a-lifetime trip to the remote ancestral village of their Swedish friend Pelle (Vilhelm Blomgren),who has invited them take part in the commune's nine-day midsummer festival.

Director Ari Aster (Hereditary) might claim that Midsommar only pays homage to brilliant UK folk horror The Wicker Man, but all I can see is a blatant, bloated and extremely tedious rip-off. Where The Wicker Man (Director's Cut) runs at a reasonable 99 minutes, its engrossing story whisking the viewer along as Edward Woodward's character attempts to solve a mystery on a remote Scottish island, Aster's film (The Director's Cut) takes a whopping 171 minutes to tell its very familiar tale of unwary outsiders falling foul of an strange religion that practises bizarre rituals.

Moving at a snail's pace, the first hour of Midsummar is a massive challenge for the viewer, as the students travel to the village of the Hårga, meet the locals, and take part in ancient rites which involve lots of chanting and taking of hallucinogens. Those who make it through this tedium will eventually be rewarded with a shocking scene that is the equivalent of Hereditary's decapitation (ie., it's designed to wake up the viewer and become a talking point): before the eyes of the horrified students, elders of the village throw themselves off a precipice, falling onto the rocks below with very messy results.

Anyone hoping that this will herald a turning point in the film will be sorely disappointed: the dull drama continues, with an excess of singing, dancing and a glut of aerial overhead shots, with hints of weirdness to indicate where the film is heading (as if we didn't know already). As Christian's friends go missing one-by-one, and the locals become increasingly weird in their behaviour, neither he nor Dani question the wisdom of remaining in the village, both continuing to partake in the commune's activities. A bit of ritualistic sex and the sight of a bloke with his lungs pulled out of his back are about the film's only other noteworthy moments before the whole boring mess finishes in inevitable fashion, stealing its fiery climax from... you guessed it.... The Wicker Man.

In short, what a load of (Swedish meat)balls! If you haven't already seen it, watch The Wicker Man first.

MIDSOMMAR is the latest film from arthouse director Ari Aster, whose HEREDITARY wowed audiences a few years ago. While I liked that film I didn't love it, but I do love folk horror and THE WICKER MAN so I expected a lot from this one. Sadly, I didn't get it. MIDSOMMAR is a real mixed bag of a movie, with a decent first half. Florence Pugh gives a fine performance and the opening sequence is particularly powerful, getting off to a good footing. The slow-burning suspense works effectively until the genuine shocks of the 'cliff' sequence, but after this things really stop working. There's the usual sex and violent content, but it all feels very meandering and dragged out, saddled with unlikeable characters and a genuine lack of meaning and narrative cohesion. The cinematography is great and the actors certainly do their best, but by the end I felt this had become predictable, random (Viking execution methods for shock value, etc.) and a bit like a boring slasher film.

Dani Ardor (Florence Pugh) is suffering after her troubled sister killed their parents and then herself. She jumps at the chance to join her anthropology student boyfriend Christian Hughes and his friends who are following Pelle to a Swedish commune.

Ari Aster has made two feature length films so far, this and Hereditary. No one pushes the envelope that far, right out of the gate. He is a filmmaker worthy of the attention. As for this film, his skills are not to be questioned. This is an unsettling story. When that member says matter a factly "It's a Bear", that's the moment I'm looking for the exit. Dani may be looking for something and the students may be more obsessed with their paper. The whole situation is spooky. The expert filmmaking may be covering up the emotional devastation of Dani. That's the first priority of the movie. Instead of flashy camera moves, it would be better to tell the beginning much more naturalistically. Her depression is the film's journey and it needs to set off as straight as possible. She could also be more specific in her journey. Again, this has to be her movie. I do like her journey. I don't care as much about Christian. There is a lot of WTF moments. Some of it is too WTF like Aster is deliberately pushing buttons. His expert filmmaking can come off like that. I want the pain, not a visual representation of pain.