It can't be worse than The Wicker Tree or Nicolas Cage in a bear suit so let's hope for some good old-fashioned Summerisle-style creepy fun!
That looks great! I really liked Hereditary (and I'm surprised by a lot of online disdain I've seen for that movie and its fans).
Definitely going to see this in the theater ! I really liked Hereditary a lot, very disturbing film overall . I don’t get all of the online hatred for it at all, but to each his own. I am very excited to see what this director does next !
Just realized this is currently in the theaters. Anyone plan on catching this holiday weekend? 140 minutes though.
I have tickets for Sunday. I'm avoiding all trailers/reviews/online belly-aching until I can experience it myself.
A coworker saw it and said (not giving away any plot spoilers but just in case): Spoiler To temper my horror expectations but he viewed it as more of a dark comedy.
I'm not really sure what to make of it yet, but I liked it. It's definitely 2 1/2 hours and it probably doesn't need to be. Hereditary is scarier and faster-paced, this is much more of a slow-burn. Yet even during the slow parts, it's visually gorgeous. Florence Pugh from Fighting With My Family gets to go all Toni Collette here. Dark comedy is mentioned above, and maybe it is, but I think the humor could come more from uncomfortable WTF moments and awkward sex stuff (there's a lot of frontal nudity towards the end). I lucked out and must have gotten an audience of arthouse fans because no one made a peep the entire movie (not even a crinkled candy wrapper or a crunching popcorn kernal) and no one even got up to use the restroom during the hefty running time. Once the movie started, I didn't even realize anyone else was there. I imagine mainstream audiences will be giggling at inappropriate times. I'm really glad I went when I did because my audience was perfect. The director keeps referring to it as a break-up movie, and I saw it more as a Possession-like catharsis of a dissolving relationship. When the movie starts, Reynor is on the verge of breaking up with Pugh's character before a tragedy forces him to stay with her. She's tagging along on the trip even though he doesn't necessarily want her there. As things at the commune progress, the allegory becomes clearer and clearer. It's just wrapped in A24's version of The Wicker Man. As usual with A24, they're kind of crazy for giving this a wide theatrcial release, as the response is going to be as polarizing as their releases of Hereditary and It Comes At Night. Like those movies, love-it or hate-it, I think it's worth the risk for more adventurous horror fans, and to support A24 for taking a chance on something so outside of the norm. That said, I'm not going to guarantee you'll like it... This isn't an easy movie.
I liked Midsommar, but didn't love it. It just didn't hit me or engross me as much as Hereditary did, but this is quite a bit a different film and there's still plenty to digest. It's got some fantastic moments, and visually it's stunning; from it's locations and sets, to costumes and production design, and cinematography. However, I think it gets weighed down a bit by the fact that it's Spoiler owing quite a large debt to The Wicker Man and I couldn't help but feel there were just too many shared similarities with the Pagan world it has built and events that unfold culminating in a similar climax - which to be fair are rooted in historical facts so The Wicker Man isn't wholly original there either. I was intrigued by the A-story of our main character's loss and the weight of her strained relationship with her boyfriend and his friends, as well as the jabs at academia and 'societal leeches', and the allegories the A-story and B-story of the Pagan rites combine to create, but felt it wasn't as concretely constructed as well as Hereditary was. t also was at least 15 to 20 minutes longer than it probably needed to be, though I was never bored, but I did find it fell prey to some over exposition here and there and some not-so-subtle foreshadowing. Ari Aster is definitely a great new director with talent and I'm looking forward to what's next, and it's great to see this kind of stuff get a mainstream release so more films of actual substance can get wider releases. Still I recommend checking it out, especially in the theatre.
I found this more creepy than actually scary. It certainly has some shocks but also maintains a darkly amusing vibe, at times feeling like a jet black comedy of manners. The cast is good and the art direction and (especially) the sound design are great. If you enjoyed HEREDITARY this is certainly worth a look but it's got a somewhat different vibe.
