By: Claudio “El Mayo” Cortés

From what I have seen of the feature length films of Ari Aster there are particular throughlines that find their way on screen that serve to intensify the horror viewing experience. One element is a family with a dark secret and the other element is something a bit more experiencial, something that will penetrate your soul as a human, the use of the pained guttural scream of anguish. This animalian sound is not the high pitch 80s scream queen squeal, its a very very real anguished noise that if we think back into our lived experience we too have made at one point, in hearing it out empathy receptors open. In using it, we are able to better connect with the protagonists on a deeper level, we root for them because we have felt their pain. 

Today’s film is, in my opinion, one of the best modern horror films of the last 10 years. It is a part of the new horror film revolution that includes the likes of Get Out, The Witch, Hereditary, and Us. These are high brow horror offerings with career making performances, breathtaking cinematography, and stories that stick to your bones. Today’s pick is Midsommar. If you liked the 1973 classic The Wicker Man, this is a better homage than the 2006 remake. On paper, the plot can be summed up as, creepy white villagers doing creepy white people shit its a tale as old as the genre itself. But in execution it goes beyond that, Midsommar takes the learnings gained from its predecessors and builds on them to create a horror tapestry as ornate as a gown made of flowers. 

You can watch Midsommar on Amazon Prime Video free with your subscription, or your homies subscription. 

Today’s song accompaniment is Burn Your Village by TV Amerika 

Keep up with the playlist as it builds Here

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