Aspirational Dying: Midsommar (dir. Ari Aster, 2019)

“Elevated horror” is a contradiction in terms. It comes up every so often, these days, because of the aesthetic promoted by A24 and Blumhouse, or because of socially conscious directors like Jennifer Kent and Jordan Peele. Horror movies, these days, look much better and costlier. They aspire to be intelligent on topics about which their predecessors wer…