In the space of around 12 months, Ari Aster proved himself to be one of the strongest filmmakers working in the horror genre today. In the summer of 2018, he took horror cinema by storm with Hereditary, which offered up a chilling portrait of American family life and was described as this generation’s answer to The Exorcist.
Then, in the summer of 2019, he proved he wasn’t a one-trick pony with Midsommar, a folk horror movie in the mold of The Wicker Man that’s crammed full of so many details that fans are still picking up on them a year later.
10 Hereditary: “It’s Heartening To See So Many Strange New Faces Here Today.”
At the beginning of Hereditary, Annie’s mother has recently passed away and the Graham family is getting ready to attend her funeral. Annie gives a eulogy and mentions how many “strange new faces” she sees attending the service.
This foreshadows the fact that Annie’s mother joined a pagan cult before her death, and all the strange new faces at the funeral are cultists who know the Grahams’ terrible inevitable fate.
9 Midsommar: “This High My Fire. No Higher. No Hotter.”
Ari Aster made the conscious decision not to subtitle a lot of the Swedish dialogue in Midsommar to help to create the disconnect that the English-speaking American characters feel when they join the native Swedish speakers on the commune.
One of the Swedish lines that is subtitled is Siv’s ceremonial declaration that’s become a defining quote from the movie: “This high my fire. No higher. No hotter.”
8 Hereditary: “She Isn’t Gone.”
Annie thinks she’s found a light at the end of the tunnel when she’s suffering from grief over the losses of both her mother and daughter, and meets a fellow griever, Joan, who knew her mom.
However, things take a weird turn when Joan teaches Annie how to perform a séance. She tells Annie, “You didn’t kill her, Annie.” Then, she tells a baffled Annie, “She isn’t gone.”
7 Midsommar: “Tomorrow’s A Big Day.”
On the eve of the Swedish commune’s first big ceremony, Pelle tells his friends, “Tomorrow’s a big day,” but mysteriously refuses to go into any more detail.
Dani speaks for the audience when she asks: “Is it scary?” She’s right to be concerned about the commune’s dark and disturbing ceremonies, because they get increasingly more terrifying throughout the movie.
6 Hereditary: “I Tried To Have A Miscarriage.”
At its core, Hereditary is a story about a very, very dysfunctional family. One of the most dysfunctional relationships in the Graham household is the one shared by Annie and Peter.
During one of their many heated arguments throughout the movie, Annie tells Peter that she never wanted to have him, and even tried to have a miscarriage by doing the opposite of everything the doctors told her to do.
5 Midsommar: “So, Are We Just Gonna Ignore The Bear, Then?”
The term “Chekhov’s gun” applies to a gun that’s introduced in an early chapter of a story that has to go off by the end of the story. In Midsommar, Aster included a Chekhov’s bear. Mark asks, “So, are we just gonna ignore the bear, then?”
Pelle, knowing that the plan is to drug an unsuspecting sacrifice into paralysis and stuff them inside the bear’s skin, simply shrugs and says, “That’s a bear.”
4 Hereditary: “Don’t You Swear At Me, You Little S***!”
During a particularly tense dinner, Charlie’s absence is felt and Peter tells Annie to “release me” from the guilt and finally get her true thoughts out in the open. He says, “Just f**king say it!,” and she snaps.
She yells, “Don’t you swear at me, you little s**t! Don’t you ever raise your voice at me! I am your mother! You understand? All I do is worry and slave and defend you, and all I get back is that f**king face on your face! So full of disdain and resentment and always so annoyed! Well, now your sister is dead!”
3 Midsommar: “The Queen Must Ride Alone.”
When Dani is crowned the May Queen, she’s invited to go for a ride to bless the commune’s crops and livestock because she’ll be receiving luck from a salt herring.
As she’s about to be carried away, she asks if Christian can come with her, but Siv claims that the Queen “must ride alone.”
2 Hereditary: “Who’s Gonna Take Care Of Me...When You Die?”
Early in Hereditary, after the Grahams have attended Annie’s mother’s funeral, Charlie asks her mom, “Who’s gonna take care of me?”
Confused, Annie asks her, “You don’t think I’m gonna take care of you?” Then, Charlie ominously says, “But when you die?”
1 Midsommar: “The Honor Has Been Bestowed On Christian Hughes, Our Ninth And Most Sacred Offering!”
At the end of Midsommar, as the commune needs one last person to sacrifice in the burning of the cabin, Dani is given the choice between a relative stranger and her boyfriend Christian, who she just saw cheating on her — albeit under the influence of drugs and cult brainwashing.
Ultimately, she decides to go with Christian. Siv declares, “The honor has been bestowed on Christian Hughes, our ninth and most sacred offering!” Dani smiles for the first time as he burns alive.
from ScreenRant - Feed https://ift.tt/2ZxoN4h
0 Comments