Product Code Database
Ari Aster (born July 15, 1986) is an American filmmaker. After garnering initial recognition for the short film The Strange Thing About the Johnsons (2011), he became best known for writing and directing the feature films Hereditary (2018) and Midsommar (2019), both released by A24, making a name as a filmmaker of Art horror. After pivoting away from the genre with Beau Is Afraid (2023), his next film, Eddington, premiered in competition at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival. His films have been noted for their unsettling combination of Horror film, dark humor, and depictions of graphic violence. He co-founded the production company Square Peg with Danish producer Lars Knudsen in 2019.
Aster originally aspired to become an author and became interested in filmmaking through screenwriting; although he would not begin actually making films until college, he had written six feature-length screenplays during his high school years. As a child, he became obsessed with and frequently rented them from local video stores: "I just exhausted the horror section of every video store I could find. I didn't know how to assemble people who would cooperate on something like that. I found myself just writing screenplays." In 2004, he began studying film at the Santa Fe University of Art and Design, where he began making several short films and also wrote for the local Weekly Alibi arts magazine. He graduated in 2008 and debuted as the writer and director of the short film Tale of Two Tims, which he submitted to the American Film Institute (AFI). This led to him being accepted into the 2010 class of fellows at the AFI Conservatory's graduate program, where he earned an MFA with a focus in directing.
Aster made his feature-length directorial debut when he wrote and directed the supernatural horror film Hereditary (2018), which follows a family haunted by a mysterious presence after the death of their secretive grandmother. The film premiered in the Midnight section at that year's Sundance Film Festival, and was theatrically released in the United States on June 8. It was acclaimed by critics, with Toni Collette's performance receiving particular praise, and was a commercial success; it grossed over $80 million on a $10 million budget, becoming A24's highest-grossing film worldwide. Peter Travers of Rolling Stone named it the scariest film of 2018.
Aster next wrote and directed the folk horror film Midsommar (2019), which was also produced by A24. It follows a group of American university students who travel to Sweden for a festival that occurs once every 90 years and find themselves in the clutches of a cult claiming to practise paganism. Midsommar was theatrically released in the United States on July 3. The film received positive reviews from critics, with many praising Aster's direction and Florence Pugh's performance. Aster's original 171-minute cut of the film, which A24 asked him to trim down for a wide theatrical release, had its world premiere at the Film Society of Lincoln Center in New York City as part of its Scary Movies XII lineup on August 20. For his work on the film, Aster received a nomination for Best Screenplay at the 29th Gotham Independent Film Awards.
In June 2019, Aster and Danish producer Lars Knudsen announced that they had launched a new production company called Square Peg. In June 2020, Aster said his next film would be a "nightmare comedy" that lasts for four hours. In February 2021, A24 announced that Aster would write and direct Beau Is Afraid (2023) as its third partnership with him. The film follows an anxiety-fueled and paranoid middle-aged man who must venture out on a surreal odyssey to visit his mother's home. It was originally titled Disappointment Blvd. It was released in theaters on April 21. The film received positive reviews, with some critics and viewers praising Aster's direction and Joaquin Phoenix's performance, but the film was not a commercial success as it earned around $10 million at the box office against a budget of $35 million.
In 2021, Aster signed a first-look TV deal with A24. In August 2022, it was announced that Aster would reteam with A24 to produce Kristoffer Borgli's third feature film Dream Scenario, with Nicolas Cage attached to star. The film would be produced by Square Peg, which also expanded its slate to include films by Kantemir Balagov, Guy Maddin, Don Hertzfeldt, and Sebastián Silva, as well as television adaptations of J. G. Ballard's The Drowned World, Nick Drnaso's Acting Class, and Junji Ito's Uzumaki.
Hertzfeldt and Aster are collaborating on an animated feature film called Antarctica, described by Hertzfeldt as "big" and "very expensive".
Aster wrote and directed the upcoming contemporary Western black comedy film Eddington (2025), which was co-produced by A24 and Square Peg. The film debuted on May 16th, 2025, at the Cannes Film Festival.
| 2018 !scope="row" | Hereditary | ||||
| 2019 !scope="row" | Midsommar | ||||
| 2023 !scope="row" | Beau Is Afraid | ||||
| 2025 !scope="row" | Eddington | ||||
| TBA !scope="row" | Acting Class |
| 2008 !scope="row" | Herman's Cure-All Tonic | |||||
| 2011 !scope="row" | The Strange Thing About the Johnsons | |||||
| 2013 !scope="row" | Munchausen | |||||
| 2014 !scope="row" | The Turtle's Head | |||||
| 2016 !scope="row" | C'est la vie |
| 2021 !scope="row" | Los Huesos | ||
| 2023 !scope="row" | Dream Scenario | ||
| 2024 !scope="row" | Sasquatch Sunset | ||
| 2025 ! scope="row" | Death of a Unicorn | ||
| TBA ! scope="row" | Antarctica | ||
| 2018 | Hereditary | 90% (8.4/10 average rating) (384 ratings) | 87 (49 reviews) | $10 million | $87.8 million |
| 2019 | Midsommar | 83% (7.4/10 average rating) (411 ratings) | 72 (54 reviews) | $9 million | $48 million |
| 2023 | Beau Is Afraid | 68% (6.0/10 average rating) (271 ratings) | 63 (51 reviews) | $35 million | $11 million |
|
|
