We Need to Talk About MIDSOMMAR ... Reviews and Spoilers Welcome

VIV VANCE: ETHEL TO TILLIE

I voted for Witchfinder General, but I would have chosen The Witches (1966) had it been included in the poll.

I've yet to see that.

I think MIDSOMMAR is a great film. It's one of the most original and unique experiences you'll ever have. The director makes very deft use of music and visuals to lure you into a trance -- just as the victims were lured with drugs and social pressure into trances. It reminded me of APOCALYPSE NOW in the mood it creates: a gradual, lyrical descent into madness and horror with atmosphere, as if in a nightmare.

Very creepy and disturbing. It's 2 1/2 hours long, but that's because it's a carefully composed opera of gradual degeneration.

MIDSOMMAR and THIS IS US are two of the most memorable films you'll see -- and two of the most creative horror flicks ever.

What is the film THIS IS US? That is the name of an NBC tv show, not a movie.

There's already a thread...

Sorry, I meant US

Well, this is the thread for reviews with spoilers, r6. The critics are GAGGING, gurl.

I think it’s important to keep in mind the groundbreaking contributions Nicholas Cage has made to this genre.

For a second there i was worried the poll said that the Nic Cage version was the best

Bump for those who are spoiling the movie in old threads.

Isn’t it just a re do of “The Dark Secret of Harvest Home” ?

You left Harvest Home off your list, OP.

Reynor nude pics please

Reynor is not very hung. And contrary to some claims, his body is flabby.

I know Chris Pratt has had chubby phases. But Reynor is a LOT more like Seth Rogen than Chris Pratt.

I'd still like to see a full frontal of Jack. I like chubby Chris and confess fatty Seth is a guilty pleasure.

I had to leave several movies off my list, r13, including MIDSOMMAR.

Alas, Datalounge only allows 10 candidates in polls.

But DARK SECRET OF HARVEST HOME was a 4-hour, TV miniseries, not a movie.

Thank you for pointing HARVEST HOME out to me, r12/ r13. Its plot is almost exactly the same as MIDSOMMAR!

Bette Davis and the subject matter make it sound like a gas, too. I might check it out, but I'm afraid of network TV standards -- always so toothless and boring.

MIDSOMMAR could even be borrowing from THE RITUAL just two years ago. I'd be surprised if Ari Aster and his production hadn't seen THE WICKER MAN. It even bears a resemblance to LOGAN'S RUN!

Harvest Home was a terrific book by noted gay author & former actor Tom Tryon, although not as good as "The Other," his first book.

When they made the TV movie, they added "The Dark Secret of ..." to the title. I think it was one of Rosanna Arquette's first acting gigs (she plays the young daughter).

The original score was released today! The music was one of my favorite aspects of the film. I listened to the first three tracks in my car tonight, but the third ended with a musical jump scare, so I had to stop and come inside. I'm too creeped out to listen to the rest of it tonight, but I will tomorrow!

Wow, I don't need to score my life to a scary acid trip.

It's also worth mentioning Eli Roth's THE GREEN INFERNO -- a great horror flick.

Where is the Cock?

In the film's last act.

But the cock isn't a big deal and we're not supposed to like Jack Reynor's character.

He doesn't support his girlfriend when she's had terrible tragedy and doesn't truly want her. Then, he steals his buddy's dissertation idea, then tries to throw said buddy under the bus.

I would dumped that fat needy bitch way before her sister had gassed their parents.

I found Dani insufferable.

Did you notice her May Queen flower gown was in the shape of a snail? It even had antennae.

I think they were using a snail to symbolize how Dani felt -- she was drugged and manipulated into becoming docile, slow and immobile.

R26, they were both unlikable. Dani was needy and neurotic. Christian was a douche ... but he was way out of Dani's league in terms of looks.

Please, what's his cock and ass like? Does it have a twist ending?

R18, if I remember Harvest Home correctly, the underlying mythology and the ending are almost identical to Midsommar.

Midsommar is entertaining and the cinematography is great, but I didn't find it scary or especially memorable. It strikes me as a horror movie for people who don't watch many horror movies. I do think it was better than Hereditary, which I found dull and unoriginal.

R29, pretty average. Raynor is very handsome, but his body is pretty average, too (which I find sexy, but if you only like gym-perfect bodies, he doesn't have one).

There's no twist ending; if you're familiar with this subgenre of horror, you can guess the ending about 30 minutes into the movie.

Nice ass? Cut? Erect? Big balls? Bush? Come on!

Dang gurl, just go see it already.

It isn't out yet in my country! :(

You missed "The Darkness" in the poll.

THE DARKNESS is a ghost story, not a murderous, pagan cult.

How big is Jack's willy?

Pretty small

I thought it was a pretty nice size when he ran outside with a bloody semi-erection (bloody from breaking the girl's hymen, I presume.) He's a bit doughy but still looked good naked. The Chris Pratt circa Parks and Rec comparisons are good.

Ewww blood over a perfectly good semi.

He’s a good size

Jack Reynor is gorgeous to me and I loved his normal body, though I'm sure DL queens will love to call him "fit fat" as they type from their mother's basement and wipe the donut glaze from their chins.

Mmmmm

Does anybody remember the M. Night Shyamalan shitfest THE VILLAGE?

R44 I’m trying to forget

I thought Jack Raynor had a very nice body and a great ass. He did remind me of Chris Pratt.

It's a stupid plot--the characters all act like idiots, and you can see the upshot of the narrative from even the previews. It's visually stunning, though, and Florence Pugh is very good as an actress.

It’s not a stupid plot and the characters don’t act like idiots.

Wow, what a scintillating rebuttal, r47.

I want to see Jack's big round bum

R16 In what galaxy is this "Chubby" and "More like Seth Rogan"? I have a theory...only an online gay who looks like a busted-ass Paul Blart mall cop OR a busted-ass Milo Yiannopoulos would call this guy chubby. FOH

Sorry R16, this was directed at R15. I WW'd you at R16

Jack the hottie.

Jack the hottie.

Gosh thank you for posting, he has a lovely big cock and a nice body. Yum!

He has a regular body

He's got a great body.

He's cuddly. He'd be a wonderful snuggler.

You can't be "The Truth Fairy" for aesthetic opinions.

Opinions and truth are not commensurate.

[quote]Wow, what a scintillating rebuttal, [R47].

Just as scintillating as the statement it was rebutting.

Not much of a justification, is it?

Try again.

I want to see it! The Love Witch was ridiculous, though. Beautiful to look at, and I got what they were going for, but...guess I had my hopes up too high.

I really enjoyed it. Felt this was more a thriller than a horror movie. You can guess the plot from the opening scene, but the beauty of the movie was the cinematography and storytelling.

THE LOVE WITCH isn't truly scary. It's more of a retro art exhibit and feminist spin. You're right — beautifully period and kitschy.

Where is RACE WITH THE DEVIL in that poll?

The Devil's Rain?

[quote]Please, what's his cock and ass like? Does it have a twist ending?

Which? The cock or the ass?

I was really disappointed. It had so much potential but failed in so many ways. Pacing was slow without building suspense. Dialogue was not believable and was on par with a CW teen or (shudder) Ryan Murphy show. Poorly developed characters and bad acting. The Chris Pratt lite character is the most unconvincing dudebro academic ever. The great tragedy at the beginning lacked the wallop of Charley’s death in Hereditary—we didn’t know those people, so it was sad but not involving. And people were LAUGHING in the theater a lot, especially the ritual sex scene where she was pushing on his butt. It was not nervous giggling, it was laughing.

I think they gave Aster too much rein. The whole thing felt slack. Even the CGI was uninspired. It could have been great.

I thought this thread was going to be about Midsomer Mysteries

It's definitely not

Carry on

Jack Reynor is absolutely gorgeous! I love that his body is more on the average side. I can't believe anyone could call him fat, though. C'mon, guys! Really?

[quote]Not much of a justification, is it?

[quote]Try again.

No need, dear.

Jack has a gorgeous body. Lovely face, nice cock and ass. Sick of seeing guys using prosthetics.

The Love Witch is fantastic. A total original, made with tons of style, and psychologically it goes surprisingly deep. I loved it. It's one of my favorite movies from the past several decades.

I've seen this twice now. Great movie. Florence and Jack aren't fat at all. Florence is fantastic in this and deserves Oscar consideration.

Finally watched Midsommar last night. It did not live up to my expectations at all based on critics’ and friends’ reviews. I expected Kubrick or Von Trier or David Lynch-level unnerving and it was...OK.

I give the movie a lot of credit for being different and better than most horror movies in approach and scope and style and cinematography. It felt new and original.

The characters were really underdeveloped, though. Melancholia is a bizarre movie, but the emotional toll is heavy throughout and by the end. Lynch is so disorienting that that alone often is horrifying. Kubrick made puzzles that begged rewatching.

Here, I kept waiting for an unraveling or a big reveal about motivations and it never really came. And for a genre horror film, that’s expected, but this movie presented itself as something more than that and so I ended up disappointed at the end.

The lead actress is flawless in the movie but the writing lets her fulfillment of the characterization down.

This poor girl was tortured by a mentally ill sister, her whole family died, her boyfriend was self-involved but not a total monster, she ended up in a nightmare scenario—but why did she take glee in her choice in the end? It doesn’t make sense. Was she doing what she knew they wanted her to do because it was her only way to survive? Based on the circumstances of her boyfriend’s cheating on her—he was coerced, drugged and essentially forced to do it—it’s not as if he betrayed her in such a way that we should feel like her revenge was justified. The movie was interesting along the way and so I ended up being really disappointed that it let me down in the end. I wish the characters and relationships had been better developed. They could have lost the horny dude altogether and shown some more nuance in the primary relationship. Was he abusive to her after all? Was she so traumatized by her family that she has a compulsion to sever all close relationships even as she wants them? What the fuck was her motivation in the end? During the feast before the elders died, someone made a comment about people severing ties or separating or detaching; that could have been a potent theme to weave throughout. If at the end, we saw that the influence of the cult on the girl was to teach her how to detach from all others and from life itself—and made some gentle gesture toward conveying that doing this brings her to peace with losing her family—then I think, if executed well, that or another psychological insight could have made the movie powerful. Instead it felt like a lot of spectacle. Speaking of which, the goriness didn’t feel necessary either and I wish they would have found a way to justify it. The graphic views of the people who fell—that worked for me; the American characters were traumatized by it and the flashbacks of the couple’s faces really worked. But the British guy who was strung up and flayed like a Francis Bacon painting in a henhouse—why? That’s so over the top gratuitous and it would require a concerted effort by people, unlike smashed faces of people who fell. Did I miss the explanation for why the guy was filleted? And why the inconsistency—the black guy’s leg sticking out of the ground...? That was random and frankly dumb.

Another issue with the plot: the inbreeding-to-create-prophets thing seemed like it should have had greater import. They used the American guy as a stud stallion before disposing of him, but that certainly was not inbreeding. It seems like the only purposes of the explanation about incest in the village was to justify showing a grotesquely disfigured face several times. Was that it? In the end, it had zero to do with the overall story.

I’m watching it now. Haven’t read the spoilers.

This was awful. It was entirely predictable. And almost 3 hours. Hrumph.

FWIW The Blood on Satan's Claw is on TCM Thursday, October 10 @ 02:00 AM

[quote] R75: But the British guy who was strung up and flayed like a Francis Bacon painting in a henhouse—why? ?..

It’s called The blood eagle. Some historic character was tortured by the Vikings with it. To my knowledge it was used once of note, possibly imitated again afterward. And it’s so appalling that it is memorable once you learn of it.

If you read The Lottery in high school, you can forget seeing this movie.

I found the lead's boyfriend really beautiful and a good actor to boot. I like his willingness to go full frontal, too. It was refreshing to see someone in shape, but not overly plucked and roided out like a lot of actors his age.

^r82, a man like a real person.

I finally watched this and I have to say I fucking HATED it on the first view.

Watched it again, and started to have good feelings about the flick. I think the music is gorgeous and it may have helped to influence the positive reaction.

Didn't know the leads were Brit and Irish.

I expect that Nicole Kidman will look like poor Ruben in a few more years.

Florence is so British! I had no idea.

One of my favourite films of 2019.

The female lead was excellent and the annoying too clingy girlfriend!

excellent as the annoying girlfriend

Florence Pugh’s brother, Toby Sebastian.

Wow.

r89 Wait, are you shittng me? The beautiful Prince of Dorne is her brother?! 🤯

Yep R91 England is making some pretty people lately.

I started watching for Reynor's ass but I couldn't finish. It's so boring.

It’s interesting, I guess. I certainly wanted to like it. But I kept being pushed away.

Both of the lead characters were severely annoying. Unlikable characters I can appreciate, but not annoying ones. It also made no sense to me that Chidi from The Good Place wouldn’t warn them about the two old folks jumping off the cliff. He knew what the ceremony was; why not tell them? And then after it happened, why wouldn’t they just get the hell out of there? There’s no way in hell she would have stayed a second longer.

Things like that just pull me out of the story.

Great production design and music, though.

I watched last weekend and loved it. I wish it had a more provocative ending. It was a bit of a bore...like, wait, it's over?

Florence Pugh's character annoyed the shit out of me, which sucks because I love her, but I kept hoping she'd end up being the one sacrificed. She didn't stop whining the whole goddamn movie.

The first half hour or so was intriguing, but then it just slogged on endlessly. Complete waste of time.

I found the opening really funny. When it's revealed that the sister killed herself via the world's longest exhaust pipe I lost my shit. Why'd she have to do the deed inside of the house? Why not just suffocate yourself in the garage? Seems like an unnecessary addition.

The entire film was filled with preposterous details, r98. Nothing really adds up, including that we are supposed to believe these kids were anthropology graduate students, lol.

R99 The girl is the only one I bought as an anthropology grad student. All of the male characters (with the exception of MAYBE the Jack Reynor character) were all too frat-ish and douchey for me to believe they'd be in anthropology.

The only good thing was the male frontal nudity near the end. The rest was watching paint dry.

I was surprised someone as young and attractive as Reynor did all that nudity. I think he presented everything but hole (and he might have even done that if you go frame by frame). A lot of actors in his age range should take note. I also loved how his body was sort of average. It looks like he takes care of himself but doesn't use steroids and live at the gym. That was refreshing.