Ari Aster names the “perfect” David Lynch movies
With genuinely unsettling horror movies to his name, like Hereditary and Midsommar, Ari Aster has announced himself as one of the masters of the contemporary horror world. While his third feature, Beau is Afraid, marked a slight change in thematic direction, Aster’s early films have afforded him the position of being considered one of modern horror’s most prominent names, and high anticipation hangs around the future chilling narratives he will deliver.
There are several fellow filmmakers who comprise Aster’s favourite directors of all time, including the likes of Ingmar Bergman, David Cronenberg, Stanley Kubrick and Roman Polanski, but there are few cinema artists who occupy a place as close to his heart as the legendary David Lynch, who Aster shares a particularly passion for.
When appearing on Eli Roth’s History of Horror Uncut podcast, Aster noted: “I mean, Lynch is just one of those who opens the medium up for you. You watch a Lynch film, and you realise there’s so much that can be done. His stuff is so textural, and what he’s always done with sound design since his shorts, it’s so exciting.”
Aster continued: “What he was doing with ambient sound, it’s really unlike anything I’ve ever seen from anyone else. There are a lot of imitators.” From there, the director pointed out his favourite Lynch movies, drawing attention to two classics from his back catalogue: “My favourites are Blue Velvet and Mulholland Drive. Those, for me, are the perfect emblems.”
Blue Velvet is Lynch’s 1986 mystery thriller that combines psychological horror with the film noir genre. Kyle MacLachlan plays a young college student who comes across a severed ear, which leads him into a strange conspiracy and a romantic relationship with a lounge singer. The film also stars Isabella Rossellini, Dennis Hopper and Laura Dern.
Mulholland Drive arrived in 2001 with the surrealism of Lynch’s typical work cranked up to eleven. Starring Naomi Watts, Laura Harring and Justin Theroux, the film focuses on a young actress who befriends an amnesiac woman recovering from a car accident injury whilst trying to become an actress in Hollywood.
Aster also spoke of Lynch’s 1977 surrealist body horror Eraserhead, noting, “I know he says that Eraserhead is his ‘most spiritual’ film, and that makes a lot of sense to me, but you can’t really articulate that, and he certainly won’t. The world-building in that film is unlike anything else except for maybe other Lynch films.”
