WE HAVE TO TALK ABOUT ARI ASTER (HEREDITARY, MIDSOMMAR, BEAU IS AFRAID)

HEREDITARY (2018) d. Ari Aster (USA)
MIDSOMMAR (2019) d. Ari Aster (USA)
BEAU IS AFRAID (2023) d. Ari Aster (USA)

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From his Sundance smash debut, Ari Aster has been a rising star in the "elevated horror" firmament, challenging audiences with features packed full of adult themes, metaphor-laden subject matter, superlative performances, and gorgeous attention to production design. Polarizing as his works might be, there's no denying that he is a filmmaker who deserves and demands our full attention and stamina. (Three-hour running times, amirite?)

GHOST SHIP (2002) Blu-ray Review

SCARE-A-THON Totals to Date:

Total Movies Watched: 9
Total First Time Views: 5
Amount raised for BOXVILLE: $601.38

Ghost Ship (2002) d. Steve Beck (USA) (93 min) (3rd viewing)

In 1962, a young girl (Emily Browning, six years from playing Babydoll in SuckerPunch) witnesses a horrific accident on board the luxury ocean liner Antonia Graza that leaves its entire crew and passenger list on the R.I.P. list. The action then flashes forward a few decades to Captain Murphy’s (Gabriel Byrne) salvage crew being enticed by Canadian weather spotter Ferriman (Desmond Harrington) into tracking down the floating tombstone, with the promise of a big payday in gold bullion waiting within its deserted hull. Of course, being that this is a haunted house movie on the briny waves, as soon as they arrive at their destination, all manner of bizarre and macabre imagery begins to crop up, much of it ultimately lethal to their existence.

STIGMATA (1999) Blu-ray Review

Stigmata (1999) d. Rupert Wainwright (USA)

When a statue of the Virgin Mary begins to cry tears of warm, red blood following a Brazilian priest’s death, Vatican investigator Father Andrew Kiernan (Gabriel Byrne) is assigned to validate the miracle. When the priest’s rosary beads find their way into the possession of sexy, young (and atheist) urbanite Frankie Paige (Patricia Arquette), she begins to exhibit the first of the Five Wounds of Christ, bleeding from her wrists, ankles, and forehead. Problem is, only the most devout capital-B Believers are supposed to possess the stigmata, so Kiernan is sent to Pittsburgh to “investigate” (i.e. disprove) the incidents.