10 Best A24 Horror Films

After losing her entire family in a murder-suicide, Dani tags along with her emotionally distant boyfriend on a trip to a rare pagan festival in Sweden. But once their friends go missing one by one, the couple finds their toxic relationship at the center of an ancient ritual.

The key to Midsommar’s success is that Dani and Christian feel like a real, bad couple. Their fights are realistic, with Dani bottling up her emotions to keep Christian from leaving and him gaslighting her in subtle ways. This conflict pushes Dani towards the cult’s emotionally healthy lifestyle, with their custom of vocally echoing other people’s feelings making them far more empathetic than Christian.

While the commune is appealing in many ways, director Ari Aster relies on the cultists' exaggerated friendliness to create a creepy undertone. The wide smiles and lingering stares are uncomfortably funny, but the bizarre body horror rituals keep the audience on edge.

Even if you can guess where Midsommar is going, Dani’s arc keeps the story thoroughly compelling. The film’s emotional core rests entirely on Florence Pugh, who gives a phenomenal performance. She pulls off the struggle to keep Dani’s trauma under the surface and shows no fear when the painful emotions come pouring out.