226 | Beau is Afraid

• Written & Directed by Ari Aster

• Stars Joaquin Phoenix, Patti LuPone and Amy Ryan

• Rated R

• Runtime: 2hr 59mins 

• Released April 21, 2023 

• RT: 68% critics, 71% audience 

  Synopsis 

  A man learns of the death of his mother and then experiences the subsequent complete destruction of his life.

Join us next time when we’ll be reviewing The Boogeyman, opening in theaters June 2nd.

---

Theme music: "Secret of Tiki Island" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

129 | Midsommar

Director/Writer: Ari Aster

Stars: Florence Pugh, Jack Raynor, William Jackson Harper & Will Poulter

Rated: R, Runtime: 2 hours 27 min

Released July 3, 2019; Available in Theaters

Synopsis: A group of grad students from the US travel with their friend to his hometown in Sweden to experience their mid-summer festival. Among them is Dani, who has recently experienced a terrible tragedy, & her boyfriend Christian, who was considering breaking up with Dani just before said tragedy. Not only is their relationship on the rocks, this festival seems a little strange, too...

Various artists whose work was included in this film: Mu Pan, Ragnar Persson (he did all the art in the bunkhouse), and John Bauer.

---

Next up, recent festival favorite I Trapped the Devil. Check out that trailer. Cool premise, no? Rent it on demand & meet us back here in a couple weeks to discuss.

Theme music: "Secret of Tiki Island" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

101 | Hereditary

Writer/Director: Ari Aster

Stars: Toni Collette, Gabriel Byrne, Alex Wolff & Milly Shapiro

Synopsis: We meet the Graham family shortly after the death of Annie’s mother, a strange & private old woman who had been living with the family during her illness. Annie is conflicted over her mother’s death, since they had been estranged on & off. Days after the funeral a horrible accident happens, & there is another loss in the family. This one hits everyone much harder, & they also have to contend with horrible nightmares & terrifying visions & sounds. As Annie copes with her grief she starts to suspect that unseen forces might be at work, guiding the events in their lives for some mysterious purpose.

---

For our next episode, we're dipping into our bag of listener suggestions and reviewing The Poughkeepsie Tapes. Join us in a couple weeks to discuss this cult classic found footage flick.

Intro/Outro music courtesy Peter Perfect. Check him out on Instagram | Soundcloud