Midsommar Review: 7 Ups & 3 Downs
4. It's Surprisingly Hilarious
By far the biggest surprise here is the unexpected abundance of comedy throughout the film.
While Hereditary was ultimately a pretty humourless affair - and appropriately so - Midsommar uses well-placed black humour to highlight the absurdity of the characters' predicament.
Much of the comic relief dialogue is given to Will Poulter, who plays Mark, the classmate of Dani's boyfriend Christian (Jack Reynor), and he totally knocks it out of the park.
Elsewhere plenty of cringe comedy is mined in the early going from the inherent awkwardness of Dani joining these four lads on their trip to Sweden, and once all hell truly breaks loose later on, Aster cranks the gallows humour up to unforgettably demented levels.
That the comedy never upsets the horror on display is a testament to Aster's delicate tonal assurance, knowing when to milk an absurd moment for chuckles and when to leave well alone.
So rest assured, Midsommar's tone isn't really anything at all like Hereditary's: you'll be laughing far more than you probably ever expected to.