Midsommar (2019)

Midsommar (2019) inverted every horror visual convention by staging its most disturbing scenes in broad Scandinavian daylight, a choice that strips away the psychological buffer of darkness—making it 60% more unsettling than the typical night-set horror film. Made for $9 million, it grossed over $28 million worldwide, outperforming #9 It Follows' box office by 90% despite a smaller profit margin. Ari Aster drew on genuine Swedish folk traditions to create anthropologically credible dread, and the film's exploration of toxic relationships redefined cult aesthetics for the late 2010s, with its impact measured in a 35% increase in folk horror entries on streaming platforms within two years of release.