We loved getting freaked the fuck out by last year’s Hereditary, meaning that we’ll feast on just about any scrap of information we can get about Ari Aster’s follow up. Today, A24 tweeted out a teaser of sorts for the director’s next film, and, though it isn’t much, it does offer us an opportunity to gather everything we do know about the movie into one place.
First, though, the teaser: An animated GIF, it depicts several young girls around a maypole of sorts. Though they remain in place, a flower pattern blossoms on their dresses, which feature some freaky symbols that have us recalling some of Hereditary’s unnerving symbology. Though the film’s been referred to previously as Midsommar, this teaser appears to call it Sommar. That, of course, may simply be a reference to the movie’s release date, which, when last we checked, was August 9 of this year.
Here’s what else we know: The project’s been described both as “Scandinavian folk horror” and an “apocalyptic breakup movie,” with reports saying it follows “a couple that travels to Sweden to visit their friend’s rural hometown for its fabled mid-summer festival.” Unsurprisingly, “what begins as an idyllic retreat quickly devolves into an increasingly violent and bizarre competition at the hands of a pagan cult.” Also, the “recent death of the main character’s parents casts a sense of dread over the proceedings.”
Yes, this all sounds very, very Wicker Man (the original, you fools), especially when paired with the maypole imagery above. Aster is no doubt aware of this, however, so we’re very excited to see how his movie subverts its predecessor, as well as how its Nordic milieu feeds into the story’s paganism. The teaser, as well as its caption, is heavy on flowers, which makes sense as the mid-summer festival historically incorporates flowers in ways sartorial, magical, and even romantic.
Sing Street’s Jack Reynor and Fighting With My Family’s Florence Pugh star alongside Will Poulter, who recently made a splash with his enigmatic performance in Black Mirror: Bandersnatch. Vilhem Blomgren, William Jackson Harper, Ellora Torchia and Archie Madekwe round out the cast.
Fingers crossed the scares are there, but, if they’re not, rest assured. Aster told The Hollywood Reporter that this is the last horror movie he wants to make “for a long time,” adding that he hopes to “play in every genre.”
UPDATE: On Thursday, A24 shared the first poster for the film. See it below.