SPOILER WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Midsommar! Continue at your own risk.
During a Reddit AMA last month, Hereditary director Ari Aster revealed that he was working on a director’s cut of his sophomore effort, this summer’s sun-drenched horror film Midsommar, though at the time we didn’t know when or how we would be able to see this version of the movie. But while many of the film’s mysteries still compel, this is no longer one of them. Midsommar’s Director’s Cut is now officially set to hit theaters, and it will be doing so this weekend no less. Check out the announcement trailer below:
What better timing for the Midsommar Director’s Cut to be released than right as the summer months officially come to a close? (Specifically on on August 30th) Audiences can enjoy some good old-fashioned ritual murder before heading back to school and their lives in autumn. The timing is pretty smart too, since the film’s initial release isn’t so far in the past to have been forgotten, plus this weekend is pretty weak as far as exciting new releases are concerned. That makes it a great time to catch up on a big screen experience like this one.
As far as the trailer for the director’s cut of Midsommar is concerned, it plays things fairly close to the vest, not showing too much of the new material. Going by my own memory, this trailer does offer up looks at some things that were in the film but were kept out of the original trailers - like whatever the hell the cult did to Will Poulter’s Mark. But whatever new footage is featured in the longer version is being mostly kept a secret. According to the promo, it will feature both new scenes and extended footage.
One of the things that appears to be new is the moment where Florence Pugh’s Dani is surrounded by darkness, and she opens her mouth up to allow a dark smoke to emerge. I don’t recall that from the film, but I might be mis-remembering. Something that was definitely new is the bit where Dani and Jack Reynor’s Christian go into the woods.
Ari Aster has said that there was a scene cut from the middle of the film that involved a huge fight between the couple and that he never imagined wouldn’t make it in. The Midsommar Director’s Cut surely gave him the opportunity to put it back, and it seems like that probably happened. That’s a good thing story-wise because it will strengthen the ultimate decision Dani makes at the end of the movie... without getting to deep into the nitty-gritty details.
Ari Aster's initial assembly cut of Midsommar was a whopping three hours and 45 minutes, but the Director’s Cut won’t be nearly that long. The new, unrated cut of the film will be two hours and 50 minutes, which will make it about 24 minutes longer than the two hour-and-27-minute theatrical cut.
This extra time should allow for more character moments as well as, hopefully, some more gruesome pagan rituals. If you're curious and don't care about spoilers, IndieWire has a breakdown of what's included in the director's cut of Midsommar. With any luck this won’t just be a one-weekend theatrical event either, and the unrated director’s cut of Midsommar will eventually make its way to Blu-ray as well. As of now, the director’s cut isn’t set to be on the film’s home video release, which is scheduled for October.
Midsommar: The Director’s Cut arrives in theaters on August 30. Check out our 2019 Release Schedule to see all the movies on the way as summer comes to a close.
