29 Enigmatic Ritual Horror Movies Like 'Midsommar' To Truly Creep You Out

If you’re a scary movie buff, someone undoubtedly recommended Midsommar to you and, upon watching it, you’ve been recommending it to fellow horror fans ever since. This unsettling 2019 film follows a group of American graduate students who travel to (or are lured to) Sweden under the premise of staying with a local community. They slowly, maybe too slowly, realize that they’re among a pagan cult. And the ritual murders begin. We’re talking slashing, burning, torture — this movie is not for the faint of heart. But if you’re into dark psychological dramas, you likely loved the horror movie and are on the hunt for other movies like Midsommar to watch and recommend to anyone who’ll listen.

The movie is somewhat bizarre and hard to follow, sort of like creator Ari Aster’s other buzzy film, Hereditary. There seems to be meaning in everything and nothing, which is kind of what makes it fun. The New York Times wrote of the film, “Horror depends on the spectacle of human frailties, on the good and foolish choices that bridge the distance between the viewer and the screen (or blow it to smithereens). But when characters are as stupid as the visitors in Midsommar, it only encourages your sadism, which is presumably the point.”

So, in the mood to be totally unnerved? These movies like Midsommar will scare you and send you down a Wikipedia hole looking for clues you might have missed.

Enigmatic Ritual Horror Movies Like Midsommar

1. Mother! (2017)

This Darren Aronofsky movie starring Jennifer Lawrence is so creepy and yet so, so simple. Life for a couple starts to go awry when they let a family come into their remote Victorian home to stay as guests — and, well, let’s just say things aren’t always what they seem. Brian Tallerico put it best on RogerEbert.com in his review, writing, “mother!” is at times horrifying, at times riveting, at times baffling, and at times like nothing you’ve ever seen before. It both owes a debt to horror masters like Polanski and De Palma and is so distinctly a movie that no one else could make. At its core, it is a film about the male ego, the female instinct, and the most horrifying thing in the world: people who want more from you than you can possibly give.”

2. Hereditary (2018)

If you love Midsommar, you maybe already watched Hereditary starring Toni Collette. But if you somehow missed it, it’s just as mesmerizing and, let’s be honest, a little confusing. Come for the satanism; stay for Collette’s impressive ability to shriek for minutes on end.

3. The Ritual (2017)

Like Midsommar, this is another flick that takes place in Scandinavia (something that the tourist board there should really take note of, now that we think of it). In the suspenseful movie, a group of friends travels in the region and ends up in a creepy Norse forest, where legends and evil are hunting them.

4. The Witch (2015)

A period piece set in 1630s England, this eerie film starts with a family losing their son to some supernatural cause. Although they initially think it was their eldest daughter at the root of their son’s vanishing, the twins of the family get to work and dig into witchcraft for the answer — and it’s not pretty as the family delves deeper and deeper into the how and why their son went missing.

5. The Lighthouse (2019)

Like Midsommar, you might leave this gothic psychological movie shaking your head, wondering what the heck you just watched. It’s gruesome and involves a violent bird murder as well as a lot of drinking in the rain. Robert Pattinson and Willem Dafoe deliver some great performances as their characters operate a lighthouse while trapped on an island (even if you have to listen to them farting now and again).

More Movies Like Midsommar to Watch

1. The Wicker Man (1973)
2. Apostle (2018)
3. The Other Lamb (2019)
4. The Invitation (2015)
5. As Above, So Below (2014)
6. Population 436 (2006)
7. The Skeleton Key (2005)
8. Midsommer (2003)
9. It Follows (2014)
10. Climax (2018)
11. Danika (2005)
12. The Alienist (2018)
13. A Dark Song (2016)
14. The Believers (1987)
15. Vivarium (2019)
16. Ready or Not (2019)
17. The Crimson Rivers (2000)
18. Daniel Isn’t Real (2019)
19. Get Out (2017)
20. The Sacrament (2013)
21. The Lodge (2019)
22. Unsane (2018)
23. A Cure for Wellness (2016)
24. The Turning (2020)