ARI ASTER’S FIRST
Watch The Strange Thing About The Johnsons
Two of the most-recommended films available now for streaming are Hereditary and Midsommar, both from the brilliant, twisted mind of Ari Aster.
Before he was making heads roll (or get smashed by ceremonial hammers), though, Aster was a grad student at the American Film Institute. There, he honed his craft as a shock cinema auteur and created his first-ever horror show as his thesis. That film, The Strange Thing About the Johnsons, is available online and is the perfect 30-minute diversion for fans of Aster’s features mentioned above.
The Strange Thing About the Johnsons was born from a discussion among Aster and his peers about premises so disturbing and impossible to fathom that they failed to even qualify as taboo. The most uncomfortable of these, a young man, sexually abusing his father, won out and the controversial short was born.
When this film first premiered, it was immediately the subject of debate. Did Aster go too far seeing his twisted vision through? Watch The Strange Thing About the Johnsons here on PROVOKR and decide for yourself.
