WHO'S THE TOXIC PARTNER IN 'MIDSOMMAR'?

Ari Aster’s next horror film, a story about a vacation gone violently wrong - as a couple travels to Sweden to visit their friend’s rural hometown for its fabled mid-summer festival. What begins as an idyllic retreat quickly devolves into an increasingly violent and bizarre competition at the hands of a pagan cult.

Studio: A24
Release date: July 3, 2019
Director: Ari Aster
MPAA Rating: R
Screenwriter: Ari Aster
Starring: Jack Reynor, Florence Pugh, Will Poulter, Vilhem Blomgren, William Jackson Harper, Ellora Torchia, Archie Madekwe
Genre: Horror

Looks can be deceiving, which is portrayed in several different ways in the occult horror film Midsommar .

Four American students travel to Sweden to observe the private festival of their friend's childhood community. The people are friendly and welcoming. They wear traditional, handcrafted white clothes. The sun is always shining. The community goes out of its way to appear innocent. However, they are far from innocent.

Red flags riddle the festival, so glaring that the outsiders should understand that something dangerous lurks. They should flee at the first sign of trouble. Yet, their ambition drives them to stay, and they don't realize the horrific side of the community until danger is staring them directly in the face.

• The commune feeds drugs to their guests at every waking moment in order to keep them slow and easily influenced

• The double ritual suicide is the biggest red flag of all. The sheer violence should be enough to make them flee in terror. Instead, their curiosity and ambition grounds them.

• People disappear without warning and with little explanation.

• Odd behavior greets the visitors around every corner. The entire commune mimics the emotions of the people around them: pain, grief, and pleasure. They are also eerily open to strangers with unsolicited hugs and kisses. They use unsanitary methods of seduction.

• Nothing stops the rituals. Two major tragedies occur during the festival: the desecration of a sacred tree and the disappearance of the Holy Book. Yet, the elders carry on with the next tradition without missing a beat. They act as if the offenses against their people do not faze them. Their motivation is suspiciously strong.

Much like the festival, the relationship between Dani and Christian is layered and confusing. Dani becomes a burden upon the Christian's group as soon as her life turns to tragedy. They call her dramatic, needy, and even abusive. Yet, she cannot control the tragedy that surrounds her. She can't help craving a place to belong.

With each passing day, the couple proves that the relationship is not so simple. While Dani has her set of problems, including bipolar disorder that runs in the family and extreme anxiety, Christian has low self-esteem and deep insecurity. This is more difficult to see in comparison to Dani's consistent meltdowns. This could be why he stays in the relationship in spite of the obvious signs its instability. His friends constantly urge him to break up with her. He keeps her around to hide his flaws.

Throughout the festival, he can see Dani's status elevates. The community welcomes and empowers her. As she finds independent joy and his friends slowly disappear, he finds himself alone and lacking purpose. His insecurity drives to infidelity with a woman who shows interest in him. He has a need to be needed.

She is not only his strategic company. His friends are also severely flawed. Josh, the ambitious workaholic, and Mark, the vulgar "fool". Yet both of them are better student. In the beginning, Dani is on academic leave and the two friends are hard at work on their theses. Meanwhile, Christian irresponsibly procrastinates. Lacking direction, he struggles with cementing a topic until he steals Josh's thesis idea out from under him.

Sadly, neither of the theses would escape that festival. In all of their interviews and research, neither researcher is able to see the outcome of their study. Blinded by their ambition, they fail to identify the danger. While one group of people see a suffering woman as a burden, another may crown her a queen. They perceive a welcoming community while murderers lurks beneath the surface. They consider an academic opportunity, but it leads to their downfall.

All because they fail to proceed with caution .