Beau Is Afraid terrified Olivia Rodrigo and Phoebe Bridgers

When JoBlo’s own Chris Bumbray wrote his review of Hereditary and Midsommar writer/director Ari Aster‘s latest film Beau Is Afraid (you can read the review HERE), he struggled to figure out which genre label best described it. He wrote, “While Aster is known for his horror films, this isn’t so easy to classify. It has horror elements and striking scenes of graphic violence, but it’s also blackly comedic. Yes, in some ways, you might call this a comedy, albeit not the ‘haha’ type. It’s also a Freudian psychodrama.” But as far as singer/songwriters Olivia Rodrigo and Phoebe Bridgers are concerned, Beau Is Afraid was a terrifying horror film, as they both talked about being scared by it during a conversation published by Interview Magazine.

Beau Is Afraid follows the mild-mannered but paranoia-ridden Beau as he embarks on a surreal odyssey to get home to attend his mother’s funeral, realizing his greatest fears along the way. The film stars Joaquin Phoenix, Nathan Lane, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Patti LuPone, Amy Ryan, Parker Posey, and Kylie Rogers.

Here’s how the subject came up in the conversation between Rodrigo and Bridgers:

BRIDGERS: Are you a scary-movie guy or what?

RODRIGO: I’m a big thriller girl, but I watch a few scary movies here and there. Is that your jam?

BRIDGERS: Surprisingly, no. I hate a scary movie. If there’s any excuse for my brain to have intrusive thoughts it’ll take it.

RODRIGO: Oh, definitely. I convince myself that I see shit after I come home from watching Insidious or something. [Laughs] Also, I watched that new Ari Aster movie Beau Is Afraid and I got so scared. I literally had to walk out of the theater. I have never had such a visceral reaction to a movie in my life. It felt like a bad acid trip.

BRIDGERS: [Laughs] I’m so glad you brought that up, because you are right. That is the scariest movie I’ve ever seen, but I was laughing the entire time.

RODRIGO: That’s the only reasonable reaction. Your body just can’t process it. You have to laugh.

I haven’t seen Beau Is Afraid yet myself, but I have to admit that I’m more likely to get around to watching it soon after hearing how freaked out Rodrigo and Bridgers were while watching it.

Have you seen Beau Is Afraid? If so, what did you think of it? Let us know by leaving a comment below.