What age is Midsommar appropriate for?

Midsommar is rated R and PopcornCheck recommends it for ages 18+, based on reading the actual screenplay. The film depicts an elderly couple graphically jumping from a cliff with visible head trauma during the Attestupa ceremony, reveals that nine people (including four outsiders) are being murdered as ritual sacrifice, and forces Dani to choose which man will be killed as the final offering.

Does Midsommar have swearing or bad language?

Midsommar has Moderate language. 'Fuck/fucking' is used 47 times throughout the script, primarily in casual conversation among the American visitors

Is Midsommar violent?

Midsommar has Extreme violence. Two elderly community members ceremonially jump off a cliff during the Attestupa ritual; their bodies are shown on the ground with graphic head trauma

Is Midsommar scary for children?

Midsommar has Extreme scary scenes. The Attestupa ceremony, where an elderly couple jumps from a cliff as a 'joyful' religious ritual, is presented as disturbing rather than shocking-for-effect, with graphic aftermath shown

Is Midsommar OK for Kids?

Name: Midsommar
Director: Ari Aster
Genre: Horror, Drama, Mystery
Released: 2019
Duration: 147 min
Cast: Florence Pugh, Jack Reynor, William Jackson Harper, Will Poulter, Vilhelm Blomgren

HorrorDramaMystery

18+

R⭐ IMDb 7.1 / 102019 · 2h 27m

Ari Aster● Script verified

Where to Watch

United States

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What's In It

Based on the actual screenplay

🗡️Violence

Extreme▼

Moments in the script, mildest → most intense

Cartoon / Comedic

Action & Peril

Injuries & Death Shown

Graphic & Disturbing

Two elderly community members ceremonially jump off a cliff during the Attestupa ritual; their bodies are shown on the ground with graphic head trauma
The commune announces that nine people will be sacrificed, including four outsiders (visitors) and five community members, with the killings implied rather than fully depicted
Pelle reveals his backstory that his parents died in a house fire, referenced as a formative trauma
Mark urinates on the community's sacred ancestral tree, an act treated as a serious social violation that escalates tension with the group
Overall tone: the violence is ritualistic, calmly presented as 'natural' by the cult, which makes it more disturbing than action-style violence

💬Language

Moderate▼

Moments in the script, mildest → most intense

Mild Words

(damn, hell)

Moderate

(ass, b**ch)

Strong

(sh*t)

Extreme

(f**k)

'F**k/f**king' is used 47 times throughout the script, primarily in casual conversation among the American visitors
'S**t' is used 8 times and 'hell' is used 3 times
'Da**' is used 2 times and 'a**hole' is used once
No slurs are present, but the sheer frequency of strong language (especially f-words) is high for the film's runtime

👻Scary Scenes

Extreme▼

Moments in the script, mildest → most intense

Mildly Tense

Startling Moments

Genuinely Scary

Deeply Disturbing

The Attestupa ceremony, where an elderly couple jumps from a cliff as a 'joyful' religious ritual, is presented as disturbing rather than shocking-for-effect, with graphic aftermath shown
The revelation that nine human sacrifices are planned, four of them outsiders, is delivered as a calm cultural announcement, which is unsettling in its normalcy
Dani is forced to choose between two candidates for the final sacrifice, a genuinely scary moment of psychological horror and complicity
The discovery that the commune's oracle child was deliberately created through inbreeding is disturbing on a conceptual level
The midnight sun sequence causes temporal and psychological disorientation for characters (and viewers), adding to a persistent sense of unease
There is no clear 'resolution' relief — scary content builds cumulatively and the ending itself is the culmination of the horror, not a release from it

💕Romance

Moderate▼

Moments in the script, mildest → most intense

Crushes & Holding Hands

Kissing & Dating

Suggestive

Sexual Content

Pelle gives Dani a rune necklace on her birthday in an intimate, tender moment
Pelle later kisses Dani and they share an intimate conversation about feeling 'held' by the community
Maja is revealed to have been 'approved' by the elders to mate with Christian, and Inge and Mark are implied to have spent intimate time together — depicting the commune's practice of elder-arranged mate selection
There is a suggestive reference to Mark unknowingly eating a pubic hair baked into meat tarts
Christian and Dani's relationship deteriorates throughout the film, with underlying tension about intimacy and commitment
No explicit sexual content is shown, but themes of mate selection and 'pants license' rituals are referenced

🍺Substances

Moderate▼

Moments in the script, mildest → most intense

Mentioned in Passing

Shown Casually

Featured Prominently

Glorified or Abused

Psilocybin mushroom tea is consumed by all main characters and drives a prolonged, disorienting midnight sun trip sequence
Dani is given a special flower tea explicitly described as designed to 'break down defenses and open for influence' before the May Queen ceremony — substance use as manipulation, not recreation
Herring and other festival foods are implied to contain additional substances
Mark casually mentions smoking resin with friends at the film's opening, and Christian is casually offered sleeping pills
Substance use is not glamorized; it is portrayed as a tool of control and psychological vulnerability within the cult

⚡Stimulation

Extreme▼

Moments in the script, mildest → most intense

Gently Engaging

Exciting

Intense

Overwhelming

The psilocybin trip sequence during the midnight sun includes hallucinations, paranoia, feelings of being watched, and time distortion — intense and disorienting
The Attestupa ceremony is an overwhelming sequence with graphic cliff-jump deaths, screaming, and a sense of helplessness
The May Queen dance competition is an intense, emotionally manipulative sequence with heavy sensory and psychological pressure
The final sacrifice ceremony, revealing nine planned deaths and forcing Dani to choose a victim, is the film's most overwhelming sequence
Festival games and competitions across the nine days offer brief exciting, lighter moments amid the tension
This film would be highly overwhelming for sensory-sensitive viewers of any age due to sustained psychological and visual intensity

Parents also checked

Halloween movies that aren't too scary

Midsommar — Heads Up for Parents

Despite looking like a bright, sunlit folk festival, the film includes an extended graphic scene of an elderly couple jumping off a cliff to their deaths (with visible head trauma) that many parents may not expect from the film's daylight aesthetic and marketing.

About Midsommar

Midsommar follows Dani, a young woman reeling from a family tragedy, who travels with her boyfriend Christian and his friends to a remote Swedish commune for a once-in-a-lifetime midsummer festival. What begins as a sunlit folk celebration slowly reveals itself to be a pagan cult practicing ritual death and human sacrifice, blending psychedelic visuals with slow-building dread. The tone is deeply unsettling arthouse horror rather than jump-scare horror, dealing with grief, manipulation, and cult indoctrination.

⚠️

Watch with your child

This is adult horror content with graphic ritual death (the Attestupa cliff-jump), drug-facilitated psychological manipulation, and a forced choice of who dies in a human sacrifice — even mature older teens (17-18) should watch with a parent present to process the disturbing themes around cult control, grief exploitation, and death.

Family Takeaways from Midsommar

What it gets right

✓The film honestly portrays how grief and isolation (Dani's family crisis at the opening) can make someone vulnerable to manipulation and false community
✓It shows early relational care, such as Pelle comforting Dani by sharing his own trauma about his parents' death, illustrating empathy through shared loss

Midsommar Cultural & Values Guide

Cultural & Values Guide

Faith & Religion

●Religious mockery depicted

The film deliberately contrasts and mocks Christian beliefs through the Hårga's pagan rituals, with Christian characters' faith being systematically undermined and destroyed. The cult's practices are presented as a direct alternative to and rejection of Christian values.

Cast:Florence PughJack ReynorWilliam Jackson HarperWill PoulterVilhelm Blomgren