Midsommar Director’s Cut Debuting This August

Midsommar had its work cut out for it when vying for the attention of horror fans this summer, as familiar franchises had new entries land in theaters last month with Annabelle Comes Home and Child’s Play. Rather than delivering the traditional tropes audiences might have been expecting from the film, writer/director Ari Aster offered an exhausting experience whose terrors were just as emotional as they were otherworldly. While the film earned positive reviews from critics, audiences didn’t entirely connect with it as strongly, having only taken in $20 million since its release. Fans who appreciated Aster’s ambition will be thrilled to learn the director will be screening a director’s cut in New York next month, with a potential extended cut to be released in the future.

Fans can check out the director’s cut screening of the film at the Lincoln Center on August 17th, which will also include a Q&A with the director. The theatrically-released film was nearly two-and-a-half hours long, with this director’s cut being 30 minutes longer.

Midsommar follows a graduate student (Jack Reynor) who wants to break up with his girlfriend (Florence Pugh), however, holds off after a personal tragedy. This emotional build-up happens to be occurring as both are headed to a crazy nine-day festival, which only happens every 90 years, a Swedish-puritan type celebration of love and glee — with some horrific results.

In addition to Reynor and Pugh, Midsommar stars Will Poulter, Vilhem Blomgren, William Jackson Harper, Ellora Torchia, and Archie Madekwe.

Aster previously revealed details about one of the bigger scenes that he ultimately cut.

“There [was] a very big argument between Dani and Christian in the middle,” Aster shared with GameSpot. “That was the only time that we see Dani fight back and argue with Christian, and that was a big debate in the edit room, about whether we keep that or lose that. If you told me that I would have cut that scene before we went into production, I would have told you that you were crazy.”

The director also revealed that his original cut of the movie was nearly four hours long, which included more bizarre rituals being depicted. Devout fans of the filmmaker will surely be excited to see a longer cut, but Aster promised that he was still proud of the theatrical cut.

“We did find that by cutting that, we were able to maintain the tension between them even more successfully,” the filmmaker shared. “I was in love with that scene, because it felt like an argument that I’d had with partners before, and I think it felt like the kind of argument that people would relate to. But it also felt like the movie could survive it being cut, which was a shock to me, and I didn’t make peace with that until very recently.”

Midsommar is in theaters now. You can head to the Lincoln Center’s website to learn more about the screening.

Would you be interested in seeing the director’s cut of the film? Let us know in the comments below or hit up @TheWolfman on Twitter to talk all things horror and Star Wars!