10 Swedish Horror Movies You Must See Before You Die
1. Midsommar (2019)
With his debut feature film, 2018’s Hereditary, writer/director Ari Aster immediately cemented himself as one of today’s most gifted horror auteurs. Naturally, that led to exceedingly high expectations for his follow-up, 2019’s Midsommar, which looked to be even more enigmatic and enduring.
Thankfully, the movie lived up to the hype. Arriving just thirteen months after its predecessor – at least in terms of a wide release – its wonderfully disorienting and disturbing tale of youthful travelers who become victims of a sweetly sinister pagan cult is nothing less than a gorgeously constructed nightmare.
Sure, comparisons to Robin Hardy’s 1973 landmark The Wicker Man are justified, yet Midsommar does plenty to earn applause as its own thing. Namely, a standout performance by lead actor Florence Pugh; a healthy dose of clever foreshadowing and hidden imagery; and an ending that’s as unsettling as it is twistedly liberating.
Like Hereditary, its main underlying theme – the destructive power of grief – is also extraordinarily powerful (especially during the prologue), resulting in a macabre but surprisingly empowering and cathartic masterpiece you won’t soon forget.