Jordan Peele accomplished one of the most difficult feats in the movie world by living up to the expectations placed on him after his wildly successful directorial debut (GET OUT) with an equally acclaimed second feature (US). After earning mountains of praise for last year’s HEREDITARY director Ari Aster is experiencing similar pressure for his second feature, this year’s MIDSOMMAR, and the two directors sat down for a chat about the movie, with Peele going on off about how much he loved the director’s latest horrific outing.
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The full discussion between the two directors can be read in a full issue of Fangoria coming out on June 10, but EW was given an exclusive excerpt wherein Peele praises Aster’s follow-up feature. The Oscar winner told Aster how much he loved how the movie subverted expectations and played with the entire concept of what horror is.
When I texted you after the screening, I wrote, “I think you’ve made the most idyllic horror film of all time.” You’ve taken Stepford Wives and shattered the attractiveness of that movie with this one. That alone is a feat. Also, there are some obvious comps out there, but this movie is just so unique. This hasn’t existed yet, and anything after Midsommar is going to have to contend with it. I mean, this usurps The Wicker Man as the most iconic pagan movie to be referenced.
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Peele continues, saying that the story acts as an “ascension of horror,” which arrives at a horrific finale that that threw him for a loop given the nature of what was on screen versus how he was reacting to it.
It plays a weird sleight of hand, where it transcends the horror of itself. It is an ascension of horror. I didn’t feel victimized; I felt like I was being put up on this pedestal and honored through the eyes of the protagonist. It’s a very unique feeling for a film to conjure because after it ended, I found myself looking back at the final act like, “Holy s???.” That was some of the most atrociously disturbing imagery I’ve ever seen on film, and yet I experienced it with this open-mouthed, wild-eyed gape.
Peele is one of the leading figures in horror today with a stunning depth of knowledge in the genre. If he's saying MIDSOMMAR blew him away and pushes the boundaries of what horror can be, then I'm probably going to trust him. Aster's latest looks incredible from the first trailer, with the ambient lighting a key element, and something Peele also talked about as a fascinating element of the film. HEREDITARY may be hard to match, but perhaps Aster found a way to top himself.
MIDSOMMAR is in theaters July 3.