The Big Picture

  • Midsommar's most terrifying scene doesn't involve gore — it's the haunting murder-suicide scene at the beginning of the movie.
  • Ari Aster skillfully exposes the horrors of depression in Midsommar, leaving audiences disturbed.
  • Terri's suicide in Midsommar sets the stage for a dark journey of mental health struggles.

Despite having only two scary features in his filmography, Ari Aster is one of the most beloved horror directors currently active in Hollywood, thanks to his unique talent to conjure nightmarish imagery that scars the audience’s brain. For instance, people still toss and turn at night when remembering that decapitation moment in Hereditary. When it comes to Midsommar (which is now available to stream on Max), there are multiple scenes that might ruin you forever, like the bloody elder farewell ceremony, the disgusting bear autopsy, or even the madness-inducing collective wailing when people are set on fire. Still, the most terrifying scene of Midsommar is a lot quieter, subtly creeping under our skin and making us squirm due to the unnerving way it exposes the horrors of depression.

Midsommar Poster Movie
Midsommar
R

A couple travels to Northern Europe to visit a rural hometown's fabled Swedish mid-summer festival. What begins as an idyllic retreat quickly devolves into an increasingly violent and bizarre competition at the hands of a pagan cult.

Release Date
July 3, 2019
Director
Ari Aster
Cast
Florence Pugh , will poulter , William Jackson Harper , Jack Reynor , Julia Ragnarsson , Björn Andrésen
Runtime
140
Main Genre
Horror
Writers
Ari Aster
Tagline
Let the festivities begin.

'Midsommar’s Most Disturbing Scene Is the Murder-Suicide at the Beginning

Long before Midsommar visits the Hårga and shows their brutal rituals, we follow Dani (Florence Pugh) as she struggles with a toxic relationship with Christian (Jack Reynor). Dani is also dealing with her sister’s Terri (Klaudia Csányi) fragile mental health. Terri suffers from severe depression, and through the messages she exchanges with Dani, we can tell the young woman also has to deal with intrusive thoughts. Christian, as the a-hole he is, tries to convince Dani to ignore her sister more often, as he thinks Terri is only doing everything she does to get attention. Dani tries to make her boyfriend happy, dismissing her concerns for her sister. Unfortunately, life becomes too unbearable for Terri, who decides to kill herself and take her parents with her.

Related
People Still Don't Realize 'Midsommar' Is About White Supremacy
Ari Aster's cautionary tale of community and tradition is scarier than you think.

Instead of letting the audience hear Dani's screams when she receives the sad news of Terri's murder-suicide, Aster sadistically focuses on Pugh’s heartbreaking acting while snuffing the sound of her voice. Silently, Aster’s camera also wanders the corridors of Dani’s parents' home, showing how Terri connected tubes from the garage to both bedrooms, collecting the toxic fumes coming out of the car exhaust. The tubes split midway, with one delivering the miasma to the unaware couple lying in the bed. The second tube exit was turned into a mask, strapped to Terri’s face to ensure she would not survive. We watch as Aster zooms in on Terri’s lifeless body, with the mask still attached to her face. The firemen and police officers walking around the house underline how the quiet suburban refuge is now a crime scene.

Especially after Hereditary, we all knew what to expect from Midsommar. We went to the theaters fully aware that Aster would create new terrible images to wreck our nerves and challenge our will to watch horror movies. However, nothing could prepare us for Terri’s suicide. Through his methodical editing and chilling control of the camera, Aster has created one of the most terrifying scenes in cinema’s history, without needing to use gore to amp up the impact of Terri’s death. And while Terri’s demise is tragic for anyone watching Midsommar, that moment hits even harder for those of us dealing with depression and mental health issues.

'Midsommar' Explores Mental Health Struggles

What makes Midsommar such a beautiful work of art is how Aster managed to weave so many themes into a cohesive and deeply disturbing cinematic experience. Midsommar is about how white supremacist groups enlist new members with promises of community, preying on desperate people who are more likely to submit to peer pressure. It’s also about toxic relationships and how we need to let go of bad partners in order to rediscover self-love. However, as Terri’s suicide scene makes clear, Midsommar is also about struggling with mental health and dealing with the horrifying feeling that life might never get better.

Terri’s suicide is terrifying because Aster found the exact tools he needed to force people to confront the cruel consequences of ignoring mental health issues. While depression can often be treated as a minor thing, not everyone can have the luxury of having balanced brain chemistry. Some of us actually have to make an active effort to deal with the idea life might not be worth it, and maybe it's best to just give up. Terri’s suicide is a raw and inescapable reminder of the horrors unleashed by suicide, and the way it unexpectedly opens Midsommar will be remembered for a long time as the most shocking scene Aster ever made. Considering how twisted the director’s work can be, that’s saying a lot. Still, Terri's scene is also scary because it foretells Dani's dark journey for the rest of the movie.

Terri's Death Keeps Haunting Dani Until the End of 'Midsommar'

Terri's suicide and murders anticipate the decisions Dani will make after she meets the Hårga. After her parents and sister die, Dani spirals out of control, and her trauma feeds her mental health issues to the point she finds it hard to even get out of bed. Her boyfriend is no help, constantly minimizing Dani's mental health issues and showing how displeased he is with staying in a relationship he nevertheless chooses to keep. Still, while trying to pretend he's a good guy, Christian invites Dani to his friend's trip to Sweden.

Midsommar is all about a group of very bad people trying to convince Dani to accept their violent ways and be part of their community. In short, the Hårga wants Dani to give up her previous life and be reborn as something a lot more terrifying. They eventually get what they want because after being crowned May Queen, Dani decides to stay with the Hårga and chooses to sacrifice Christian in a gruesome way, burning her ex-boyfriend alive. So, at the same moment, Dani gives away her previous life to join the Hårga, and she also decides to murder Christian. It's a symbolic murder-suicide that echoes Terri's desperate, and terrifying, action at the beginning of the movie. And just like that, both sisters fall prey to mental health issues and lack of proper support. It's not random that Dani sees Terri in the Hårga crowd, watching the sacrifice of Christian, as in the final moments of Midsommar the movie's protagonist feels closer than ever to her kin. This ending only makes Terri's suicide scene scarier, as it gives it new meaning, underlining how depression is an ever-hungry beast ready to consume new lives.

Midsommar is available to watch on Max in the U.S.

Watch on Max