Despite being just 33 years old with only two full-length features under his belt, Ari Aster has already well and truly established himself as one of the horror genre’s leading lights. Hereditary and Midsommar aren’t exactly straightforward horror movies, and both have proven to be pretty divisive among certain critics and audiences, but it can’t be denied that they’re clearly the singular vision of a filmmaker who wants to put their own unique stamp on a genre that’s been done to death a hundred times over.
Those that got a kick out of his previous two movies have been desperate to know what Aster’s been cooking up next, and it certainly sounds like they won’t be disappointed. As well as confirming that his recently-formed production company Square Peg are working on a remake of 2003’s South Korean sci-fi comedy Save the Green Planet!, which isn’t exactly the sort of thing you’d expect given Aster’s previous output, he also confirmed that a draft has been completed for his follow-up to Midsommar, which he’s described as a “nightmare comedy.”
“All I know is that it’s gonna be four hours long, [and rated] over 17 [years of age],” Aster teased.
Although he didn’t offer much in the way of specifics, the idea of someone like Ari Aster working on something that they’ve described as an NC-17 rated nightmare comedy with a running time of four hours is certainly an intriguing prospect. That brief description alone is probably more than enough to let people know if they’re interested or not depending on how they felt about his first two movies, but in a genre as overly-saturated as horror, a fresh perspective is always more than welcome.
With Hereditary and Midsommar earning almost $130 million at the box office on combined production costs of just $19 million, Aster’s proven track record of success will have no doubt given him the creative freedom to do whatever he wants for his third movie. And if he wants to make a four-hour nightmare comedy with a rating that will severely limit its chances of commercial success, then that’s what he’s going to do.
