When it comes to the face-melting resume of gifted filmmaker Ari Aster, this aspect is consistently crawling with a collection of bizarre horror movies which have long stressed out moviegoers for nearly a decade. From dysfunctional family values in Hereditary to a crazed festival in Midsommar, Aster’s films have often been thought to be the human equivalent of ingesting psilocin drugs. At least, that’s what star Joaquin Phoenix has insisted about Aster’s latest horror experience Beau Is Afraid.
In a recent interview with Fandango, the 48-year-old actor gushed about the film’s anxiety-inducing elements and insisted that fans need to experience the project in IMAX. Amid his stark recommendations, Phoenix did warn audiences to not consume shrooms before watching the film, sneakily hinting at the fact that the movie’s extreme mind-numbing quality will leave viewers exhausted. Phoenix said:
“I just wanted to make a public service announcement and say, do not take mushrooms and go see this f**king movie. But if you do it, film yourself. But don’t do it!”
Then again, this level of artistic insanity was undoubtedly displayed on the big screen back in 2019 with Joker, which Phoenix went on to eventually score an Oscar for. And while we’ll never be able to prove if audiences took shrooms for those screenings, we’re nevertheless ecstatic about Aster’s latest projects and the absolutely insane impression it’s set to leave on the genre as a whole.
For those interested, Beau Is Afraid is available to watch in theaters now.