With just two movies, Ari Aster has captivated fans of horror cinema. His first movie, Hereditary, has been described as this generation’s The Exorcist, while his second movie, Midsommar, has been compared to The Wicker Man. Aster’s style is marked by using horror tropes, like pagan cults, to portray real human suffering. In Hereditary, that suffering takes the form of a dysfunctional family dealing with unimaginable loss. In Midsommar, it takes the form of a failing relationship marred by grief.
As a result of tackling serious emotional issues, Aster requires breathtaking nuance from his actors. The casts of his movies have given fantastic performances, even generating Oscar buzz — although garnering no nominations, because of the stigma surrounding scary movies.
Hereditary: Milly Shapiro As Charlie
Whether Charlie is cutting the head off of a dead bird or asking her mother what’ll happen when she dies, Milly Shapiro walks a fine line between childlike curiosity and super creepy. She even convincingly sold Charlie’s allergic reaction, which is tough to pull off.
Shapiro didn’t appear in Hereditary for anywhere near as long as the trailers made out. Charlie was touted as the movie’s lead protagonist, which made her first-act accidental decapitation all the more shocking.
Midsommar: Jack Reynor As Christian
As a breakup movie, Midsommar frames Dani’s boyfriend Christian as a villain, since he desperately wants to get out of a relationship with a girl who needs him now more than ever.
Jack Reynor committed wholeheartedly to playing the character. He even suggested Christian’s full-frontal nudity as a way of counteracting the female nudity that is often seen in horror films.
Hereditary: Gabriel Byrne As Steve
Best known for his roles in Miller’s Crossing and The Usual Suspects, Gabriel Byrne brings his usual degree of poignancy to the role of Steve Graham in Hereditary.
Byrne doesn’t try to steal the spotlight from his co-star Toni Collette or match her energy; instead, he plays Steve as a sounding board through Annie’s journey.
Midsommar: William Jackson Harper As Josh
Like his co-star Will Poulter having to shake his image as Kenny from We’re the Millers, William Jackson Harper had to overcome his image as Chidi from The Good Place when he appeared in Midsommar.
Josh can’t help himself from disobeying the commune’s rules and meets a grisly end as a result. When Josh goes, it’s sad to lose Harper from the movie.
Hereditary: Ann Dowd As Joan
Joan is a friend of Annie’s mother who feigns sympathy for her recent losses in order to talk her into performing a séance to speak to Charlie from beyond the grave.
There’s something suspicious about Joan from the beginning, but Ann Dowd plays her believably enough as a sweet old lady to offset those suspicions ahead of the plot twists.
Midsommar: Gunnel Fred As Siv
Ari Aster deliberately decided not to subtitle a lot of the Swedish dialogue in Midsommar in order to keep English-speaking audiences in the protagonists’ shoes, unable to understand what the members of the commune are saying to one another.
All throughout the movie, before the cult’s sinister intentions are revealed, Gunnel Fred does a terrific job of playing Siv as seemingly friendly. Something’s not quite right, but until it’s revealed, the audience can’t put their finger on it.
Hereditary: Alex Wolff As Peter
After Charlie’s death, a lot of the emotions among the Graham family go unspoken. Alex Wolff was required to portray the immense guilt a teenager would feel after accidentally decapitating their little sister almost entirely non-verbally.
On top of that guilt, he had to play Peter succumbing to demonic possession. Wolff had a lot of tricky acting to do in this movie, and he pulled it off spectacularly.
Midsommar: Vilhelm Blomgren As Pelle
Pelle is the Swedish friend who invites Christian and the guys — and later Dani — to fly out to his home country to stay at his ancestral commune for the summer. At first, he seems like a perfectly nice guy who’s just enthusiastic to share his culture with his friends.
However, throughout the movie, it becomes apparent that he’s only lured them out to Sweden in order to sacrifice them. Vilhelm Blomgren played this tightrope walk masterfully.
Hereditary: Toni Collette As Annie
There’s been a lot of talk about how Toni Collette was snubbed for an Oscar nomination for her performance in Hereditary, but come on, she was. She nailed her portrayal of a mother reeling from the loss of her own mother and then suffering the unfathomable tragedy of losing her daughter.
From her monologue at the support group to her outburst at Peter during dinner, Collette’s acting in Hereditary was more powerful and nuanced than the acting in most dramas, let alone other horror movies.
Midsommar: Florence Pugh As Dani
With Fighting with My Family, Little Women, and above all, Midsommar, Florence Pugh has quickly made a name for herself as one of Hollywood’s most exciting new movie stars — and that’s before she joins the Marvel ensemble in Black Widow.
At the beginning of Midsommar, Dani goes through the inconceivable pain of losing her entire family in a murder-suicide. Throughout the movie, Pugh goes through the stages of dealing with that pain, all while concurrently depicting a long drug trip and a culture shock. Her whole performance is mesmerizing.
