New horror flick Midsommar has left critics claiming "Satan himself" directed the "disturbing" movie.
The chilling film by Hereditary director Ari Aster follows a pack of college student who trek to rural Sweden to observe and participate in a midsommar season festival following their classmate Pelle's invitation.
However, the festival in Pelle's hometown is far from the whimsical Scandinavian custom of celebrating the solstice with dances and feasts as couple Christian (played by Jack Reynor) and Dani (played by Florence Pugh) soon find out.
After Dani is rocked by an unspeakable family tragedy at the beginning of the film, the couple are barely holding onto their relationship when they arrive to the peculiar communal village.
But things are about to get worse for them and their pals when the horrors of the Swedish solstice unfold in broad daylight.
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The folk-horror film also stars Black Mirror's Will Poulter, The Good Place's William Jackson Harper and newcomer Vilhelm Blomgren as Pelle.
Aster's sophomore film has gained much buzz following simultaneous press screenings in New York and Los Angeles on Tuesday night with critics branding Midsommer as "disturbing".
Bloody Disgusting's Trace Thurman called the film: "a mind-f*** of the highest order".
"Midsommar is a mind-f*** of the highest order, channeling (yet again) a young woman's journey through grief," Trace wrote.
"Deliberately paced but never boring (those 140 minutes FLY by). Pugh is excellent. There is some imagery that I want plastered on my wall. Don't miss this one, folks."
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While FreshFictionTV's Preston Barta shared: "[I'm] pretty sure it was directed by Satan himself. F***, that was fascinating! A mad descent into What-the-F***sville."
Slash's flim critic Chris Evangelista wrote: "#Midsommar: I loved every second of this nearly 3 hour movie. Holy S***. Yeah, it's disturbing. But it's also surprisingly hilarious. An absolutely crowd pleaser. Long live @AriAster."
Another critic for Slash added: "Aster has gifted a new generation their The Wicker Man".
British actress Florence commented on her experience of making the film and admitted it "extracted sweat, tears and PTSD."
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She wrote on Twitter before the screenings: "Tonight is the first time people will see Midsommar. A) I'm so sorry I can't be there to join the Q&A.B) this film extracted sweat, tears and PTSD from the making of it.
"C) the film made me wiser, bolder, stronger AND weaker during and after the film. D) we are proud #Midsommar".
Speaking at the US screening, filmmaker Ari said: "I wrote Midsommar while I was going through a breakup, four years ago. Now it's a movie. This is, down to the last detail, exactly what happened."
The film releases in the UK and Ireland on 5th July. We have a feeling we'll be watching this behind our hands.
Featured Image Credit: A24Topics: TV News, TV Entertainment
