Midsommar Fans Can Now Buy Their Very Own Bear In A Cage
The villagers in Midsommar may want to play it cool, but the folks at A24 do not want us to just ignore that bear in the cage.
Point of fact, they want everyone to have a bear in a cage of their own. That's right, kids, the mad geniuses in the A24 marketing department are at it again, this time seeking to build excitement around Ari Aster's latest horror show — the grueling, trauma-inducing, "break-up movie" nightmare Midsommar – by, um, making children's toys? It's a bit of a confusing tactic to be sure, especially considering that no child on Earth should ever be subjected to the gruesome, unholy spectacle that is Midsommar. But hey, the nutty group at A24 have never met a marketing campaign they didn't like, so here they are, pushing their bear in a cage toy via a bright and shiny, '80s-tinged commercial that wholly betrays the ultimate fate of the bear in Aster's film.
Don't worry if you haven't yet seen Midsommar, we're not here to spoil that bear's fate. But if you're at all familiar with Aster's general aesthetic (see the demonic beast that was last year's Hereditary), you can imagine that fate is quite grisly. Regarding the unlikely toy it inspired, well, it looks like the A24 team went all out in putting it together, actually taking the time to fit a resin figurine with a hand-stitched, one-of-a-kind flower garland inside a hand-stained pinewood cage, complete with Midsommar engraving. So yeah, whether or not you really want to have a reminder of Aster's soul-shaking shocker staring back at you from your mantle forever and always, you at least have to admire the craftsmanship that went into it.
Of course, this is hardly the first time Team A24 has taken the gonzo route in marketing difficult films. Just last year, they launched a fully functional Etsy shop (stocked full of unsettling handmade dolls in the vein of those made in the film) to support of Aster's Hereditary. They even went so far as to select 666 theaters to screen 2016's masterful The Witch for the film's second theatrical run. As if on cue, the A24 team has also just announced they'll be offering free screenings of some of their more popular films via roadside billboards within the cities that said films were shot.
Those screenings are set to include free showings of Lady Bird deep in the heart of Sacramento; The Witch somewhere in Ossipee, New Hampshire; Barry Jenkins' Oscar-winning Moonlight down in Miami; and of course, a super gritty screening of The Safdie Brothers' Good Time on an underpass billboard somewhere in Queens. So if you happen to live in any of these areas, be sure to keep an eye out for groups of people standing on the side of the road and staring at a billboard, 'cause it's a safe bet their getting an eyeful of some A24 goodness. Though if you happen upon one of these groups in rural Sweden, we'd advise you to drive on past. Trust us.
As for that Midsommar-inspired "bear in a cage" toy, supplies are apparently super limited. If you want to try and land one for yourself, head over to the A24 shop and scoop one up immediately. And if you haven't yet found the courage to wander into the sun-bleached succubus that is Midsommar, you should know that it's currently playing in a theater near you — and that it really will mess your head up for few days after.