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Ari Aster’s Midsommar is a modern day masterpiece. Is it horror? A pitch black comedy? A break-up movie? All of the above? Florence Pugh’s riveting performance is a major reason why the film is so undefinable, and yet, so brilliant. And since it’s currently available on Amazon Prime, I thought it would be good to note some other films that are also available to rent or find on streaming services that fans of Midsommar will likely enjoy.
Now, some of these movies might not seem similar to Midsommar at all, while others are dead ringers as an inspiration. But all of them are worthwhile watches if you enjoyed Ari Aster’s sophomore effort. Here’s looking forward to whatever the exciting director has next in store for us.
The Wicker Man (1973)
The Wicker Man is usually the go-to movie that everybody compares Midsommar to, and for good reason. Both are about pagan cults, and both are more unsettling than scary. But there are a lot of differences, too. The Wicker Man is about a Christian police officer who goes to Scotland to find a missing girl. What he ends up finding is a bunch of pagans prancing around a maypole (there’s a maypole scene in Midsommar, too). He also finds something much more sinister, with a giant wicker man being the film’s centerpiece.
Fans of Midsommar will dig The Wicker Man because of all the similarities (like the nihilistic ending with fire), but also all the differences, too, like the pacing and the lead character, who is actually disturbed by all the paganism because of his Christian beliefs. If anything else, it’s a nice companion piece to Midsommar that you should definitely check out.
Stream it on Netflix: Netflix
Stream it on Shudder: Shudder
Where to rent it online: N/A
Hereditary (2018)
Hereditary is actually very different from Midsommar, but it has the same director, so it has that going for it. Hereditary is about a woman who loses her mother only to find out that there’s more to her death than she ever imagined. And it ends up haunting her entire family. There is also some of the occult in this film, but other than that, the two movies are completely different. Even tonally. Most of Midsommar is in the daytime while Hereditary seems to get darker and darker throughout the entire movie until it’s almost pitch black by the end.
Fans of Midsommar should definitely check out Hereditary so they can follow this talented young director’s career. It’s interesting to see how different these two films are, but also similar in that the death of family members spurs both of the plots. Both are emotionally wrenching films, and both will have you thinking about them long after you’ve watched them.
Where to rent online: Amazon
The Witch (2015)
The Witch is a period piece about a family in New England that is kicked out of a Puritan colony and finds that their baby is missing. Witchcraft is suspected, and a billy goat named Black Phillip may have something to do with all the recent events.
Fans of Midsommar will love the slow burn of The Witch and the tension of not knowing what will happen next. Also, religion, in a sense, plays a large role in both stories, with the plot of The Witch almost entirely centered around it.
Stream it on Netflix: Netflix
Where to rent online: Amazon
Rosemary's Baby (1968)
Rosemary’s Baby is about a pregnant woman (Mia Farrow) who is convinced and possibly even paranoid (hint: She’s not) that a cult wants to use her baby for nefarious purposes. This is a Satanic cult, so it has a bit more in common with Hereditary than Midsommar, but Mia Farrow’s character is almost like a somnambulist in that the story has a dreamlike quality, courtesy of Roman Polanski’s skilled direction.
Fans of Midsommar will find interesting parallels between how Rosemary and Dani deal with their situations, and how the two films nosedive into darker territory by the end of each movie.
Stream it on Netflix: Netflix
Where to rent it online: Amazon
mother! (2017)
How to explain Darren Aronofsky’s mother!? Well, in a nutshell, it’s about a young wife with a poet husband whose life gets flipped upside down when people come to visit the home until it is entirely taken over by unwanted guests. There are several allusions to the Bible with many people even saying that the entire film is an allegory for the story of creation.
Fans of Midsommar will enjoy mother! for all the creative risks it takes. The story of a woman forced into a position she doesn't want is also very similar to Midsommar’s. The religious cultism (this time, Christianity) is felt throughout, as well as a woman’s place when it comes to a patriarchal society.
Where to rent it online: Amazon
Children of the Corn (1984)
Based on a Stephen King short story, Children of the Corn is about kids who murder adults in a small town in Nebraska for the good of the harvest because of an evil presence referred to as He Who Walks Behind the Rows. Terminator’s, Linda Hamilton, is one of the leads as an adult who gets stranded in the town. There are several sequels, but the first one’s the best one.
Fans of Midsommar will want to check out this famous film because it also deals with human sacrifice. Plus, it’s interesting to see fanaticism in children, which makes for a good counterpoint to the older pagan followers found in Midsommar.
Stream it on Hulu: Hulu
Where to rent it online: Amazon
The Village (2004)
Depending on who you ask, The Village is either M. Night Shyamalan’s last great film for a very long dry spell, or his first major misstep into mediocrity. Either way, The Village tells the story of a village (get it?) of people spooked by monsters in the forest. Bryce Dallas Howard places a blind woman, and Joaquin Phoenix plays a young man who's braver than most of the people in the village when it comes to the darkness in the surrounding woods.
Fans of Midsommar will likely enjoy the setting. Similar to The Witch, The Village is a period picture… sort of, and it also deals with the idea of fanaticism, and how it can drive people to madness, and possibly even murder.
Where to rent it online: Amazon
The Cabin in the Woods (2011)
Okay, now hear me out on this one. The Cabin in the Woods is a horror comedy starring Chris Hemsworth that plays with pretty much every horror convention in the book to create something wholly new and unique. It’s about a group of teenagers who head off to a cabin in the woods where… well, I don’t want to spoil it, but there’s a lot of foul play involved and you’ll never see that ending coming. Not in a million years.
Fans of Midsommar will enjoy The Cabin in the Woods because, like Midsommar, it doesn’t really get pigeon-holed into one specific genre of horror and actually becomes its own unique thing. Plus, it’s funny, and a lot of people, I don’t know why, find Midsommar hilarious. Especially that scene where all the women are commiserating with Dani when she finds out that her boyfriend is cheating on her. So don’t tell me Midsommar doesn’t have a sense of humor. It certainly does.
Stream it on Hulu: Hulu
Where to rent it online: Amazon
Suspiria (2018)
Honestly, I wanted to direct you to the 1977 original Suspiria, but would you believe that it’s not streaming or available to rent anywhere? That’s okay, since the remake is enough like the original (minus the awesome, surreal colors) that you can just watch this one instead. Like the original, it’s about an American dancer who goes to train in Berlin (in the original, it was Germany) only to find that the dance troupe is led by witches! Tilda Swinton takes on three roles, one of them being an old man.
Fans of Midsommar will love how Suspiria delves deeply into madness. The original does a better job of it, but the remake also has its qualities of what’s real, and what’s not real, and how the female protagonist (Dakota Fanning in this one) copes with it all. Plus, witches!
Stream it on Amazon: Amazon
I Spit on Your Grave (2010)
Like Suspiria, I wanted to send you to the original, 1978 movie, but it’s also not available to stream or rent anywhere. Unfortunately, the remake is not as good as the original, but it has a similar story. It’s about a woman who is brutally raped and then exacts her revenge against her rapists and murders them in violent ways.
Now, I’m actually not sure if fans of Midsommar will enjoy I Spit on Your Grave since it’s a super divisive movie, and some might be too put off with the rape aspect to find any pleasure in the film’s later revenge aspect. But in a lot of ways, Midsommar is a revenge picture, though of a much tamer sort (Dani’s boyfriend cheats on her and isn’t always there for her when she needs him, but he doesn’t viciously rape her). Still, if you like the aspect of Dani coming out on top in the end, you might (might, I say!) like I Spit on Your Grave.
Stream it on Amazon: Amazon
Midsommar, as I said up top, is a modern classic and one that will likely inspire other movies in years to come. Hopefully this list, if anything, will give you even more appreciation for what Midsommar has to offer.
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