Horror? Think of it as a fairy tale

Midsommar director Ari Aster says his film is about outsiders who stumble on a community that they think is primitive

Director Ari Aster (left) on the set of Midsommar with actor Will Poulter.
Director Ari Aster (left) on the set of Midsommar with actor Will Poulter. PHOTO: MM2 ENTERTAINMENT
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In the horror movie Midsommar, a group of Americans travel to Sweden to take part in a midsummer festival being held in an isolated commune that is the last holdout of Nordic pagan beliefs.

Bad things happen, as they do in horror movies. But writer-director Ari Aster says it would be a mistake to think of his film as just a creepy-commune-versus-innocent-outsider conflict.

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on September 19, 2019, with the headline Horror? Think of it as a fairy tale. Subscribe