If you're a fan of scary movies, then someone must have suggested Midsommar to you, and you've been raving about it ever since. A group of American graduate students visits Sweden under the guise of interning with a Swedish family, and their experience there is disturbingly depicted in a new film due out in 2019.
They come to the realization that they are members of a cult of pagans gradually, perhaps too gradually. The killing rituals have now begun. This film is not recommended for children or those easily disturbed by graphic violence.
Yet if you're a fan of grim psychological dramas, you probably found the horror film to be rather enjoyable and are now on the lookout for similar films to suggest to anybody who would listen. Here is the list of the top 10 movies like Midsommar.
10. The Believers
The Brujeria cult in “The Believers,” a 1987 film starring Martin Sheen, Robert Loggia & Jimmy Smits, is terrifyingly explored in this chilling look at the city that never sleeps. An NYPD psychiatrist named Cal Jamison is called in to speak with Detective Tom Lopez, who is having a nervous breakdown after discovering the body of a child who had been murdered in a ritualistic ceremony at a deserted movie theatre.
The film is both a procedural crime drama and a horror flick about a cult that engages in a sinister form of South American witchcraft. The protagonists of both novels share the same experience: they are dealing with the aftermath of a tragic death in their family.
The ceremonial sacrifice and the collision of spiritual ideas from two cultures connect “The Believers” with “Midsommar” on a thematic level, despite the fact that “The Believers” departs from the folk horror genre.
9. The Witch
The protagonist of Robert Eggers' “The Witch,” like the protagonist of “Midsommar,” turns to paganism for solace and freedom from abusive relationships. Thomasin, played by Anya Taylor-Joy, is a teen who, together with her family, has been exiled from the colony due to religious disputes, forcing them to relocate to a secluded section of New England in the 1630s.
Thomasin's little brother goes missing after being stolen by a witch one day while they were playing at the forest's edge. Thomasin's religious parents (Kate Dickie and Ralph Ineson) accuse her of bringing bad luck upon them. After the death of their firstborn son from a fever, their situation worsens and they become more devout.
Similarly to how Dani is adopted by the Harga cult members at the end of “Midsommar,” Thomasin is led to her new family by the possessed pet goat, Black Philip, who encourages her to “live wonderfully.”
8. Men
Although Alex Garland had already established a reputation as a writer and director of striking and distinctive genre stories for quite some time prior to the release of Men, this English folk horror picture featured one of his strangest while also being one of his least elaborate.
The film's refusal to fully explain or even admit its strangeness forces the audience to draw their own conclusions and challenge the protagonist's perspective. Men's themes are intriguing and will appeal to readers who enjoy the obtuseness of Midsommar.
7. The Empty Man
Midsommar and other cult-themed horror films probe the psychological effects of a cult's rituals and jarring speech. The Empty Man, a film by David Prior, is more than just a plain supernatural chiller; it's also wrapped in a standard detective mystery technique, and it provides a fascinating look into the mind of a nihilistic cult.
Similarly to the protagonist of The Wicker Man, the primary character in The Empty Man is a detective who stumbles upon a sinister cult while investigating the disappearance of a young woman. The film, however, takes a more dizzying approach to the topic by piling on terrifying legends about the titular creature.
6. Bodies Bodies Bodies
There aren't many current horror movies that can compare to Midsommar, in part because it devotes as much time to exploring interpersonal dynamics as it does to actual scary events.
Compared to a serious horror film like Midsommar, the tone of Bodies Bodies Bodies is more comic, although the film does explore the darker elements of its characters through dialogue that sounds like it was written recently.
There is no cult element to the picture, which instead takes place at a mansion during a hurricane party where the cutting remarks made by the guests swiftly lead to a horrific murder mystery.
5. The Wicker Man
The Wicker Man, directed by Robin Hardy in 1973, features an electric guitar-heavy original score that is a prime example of folk horror and experimental filmmaking during the free-love era.
After a young woman named Rowan Morrison goes missing in the little Scottish town of Summerisle, a Christian police officer named Sergeant Howie arrives there to look into the case.
As he reaches the isolated island, he is shocked to see that the locals engage in pagan rituals, such as copulating in public while wearing animal head masks. When he realizes that the entire village is blocking his inquiry, he becomes increasingly frustrated with the peculiar community.
4. A Tale of Two Sisters
It's a Korean movie directed by Kim Jee-Woon called A Tale of Two Sisters. The story follows one family as they endure a series of unfortunate events within their own household. It takes a more traditional approach than the typical East Asian psycho-horror films we were exposed to as children.
A father, his two daughters, and their stepmother were the central characters in this tale. Once his two children were released from a mental institution, their father anticipated they would be able to reunite as a close-knit family. He had planned to take them to the rural home of their ancestors.
3. Rosemary's Baby
“Rosemary's Baby,” directed by Roman Polanski, is regarded by many as one of the best horror films of all time. You should see this movie if you consider yourself a fan of the horror genre.
The story opens with Rosemary and Guy, a young couple, moving into an apartment building with a shady history of witchcraft rumors. Minnie and Roman Castevet, their next-door neighbors, live up to the building's reputation for eccentricity.
For some reason, Rosemary begins to believe that the Castavets are a Satanic sect that plans to sacrifice her child in one of their rituals. Roger Ebert, a film reviewer, called this “a classic in its category.” “This is a film full of creepy crawlies and scary noises in the night. It's excellent.”
2. Hereditary
Maybe you've seen Hereditary, starring Toni Collette if you're a fan of Midsommar. If you didn't see it, don't worry; it's still fascinating and, well, a little perplexing. Visit for the Satanism, but stay for Collette's remarkable ability to scream for what seems like an eternity.
1. Mother!
This Darren Aronofsky movie starring Jennifer Lawrence is so creepy and yet so, so simple. When a couple invites a family to stay in their Victorian mansion in the countryside, things begin to go wrong for them.
Reviewer Brian Tallerico on RogerEbert.com said it best when he said that “mother!” is terrifying, fascinating, puzzling, and unlike anything, the viewer has ever seen before. There's no doubt that it was inspired by the work of horror greats like Polanski and De Palma, but no other director could have created a film quite like this one.
The film is essentially about the male ego, the female impulse, and the most terrifying thing in the world: individuals who demand more from you than you can provide.
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