The appeal of A24 movies
In an era dominated by films with superheroes, bombastic explosions, heavy sensationalism, choreographed fights, striking visuals, and a trend of never-ending sequels that take center stage at the box-office, A24 fills the role of the weird cousin of the movie industry. Their movies stand to represent just how much what viewers want to see have changed.
Founded by Daniel Katz, David Fenkel, and John Hodges, the American independent entertainment company started off with film distribution before moving onto producing films, and now A24 has become somewhat of a genre in and of itself.
It feels like diving into a world of unorthodox style of film-making with experimental styles, genres, and risk-taking narratives. Their hits include a three-hour long portrayal of a dysfunctional couple losing and then rediscovering their true selves at the hands of a Swedish pagan cult in Midsommar (2019), a glaringly obnoxious group of TikTok-making rich teens hiding from a killer in a mansion in Bodies Bodies Bodies (2022), and a young aspiring African-American boy finding inspiration and guidance from a drug dealer in Miami in Moonlight (2016).
What sets A24 apart from the production houses is that it's almost as if it lets your eyes rest and your minds wander with its unique style of videography. With A24, you are unlikely to see blockbuster superstars, action-packed scenes, bloody horror, or predictable jump scares. It subverts expectations and reimagines what on-screen entertainment can be.
A24 arthouse horror is one of its most widely enjoyed elements. It showcases psychological horror and paints fully fleshed-out fears of the human condition. For example, in It Comes At Night, instead of relying on revolting imagery and cheap scares, it plays with the unseen and the anxieties that come with the inscrutable. As an A24 horror, you may not get to see adrenaline filled jumpscares but rather, you will be able to make Martin Scorsese have trouble falling asleep at night.
The innovation that goes behind A24's marketing is when A24 was releasing Ex Machina, they made a fake Tinder chatbot to help promote the movie. As part of the campaign for The Witch, they made Twitter accounts for various characters in that film, including a satanic goat. For Hereditary, they put out real life dolls on Etsy and sent them to critics, creators, and journalists. Since A24 is characteristically low budget, they go above and beyond to show the audience just how much engagement you can garner using out-of-the-box methods. The same is reflected in their films.
The directors who work with A24 like to put new up-and-coming actors on the rise to stardom, and their grappling story-telling is so immersive that it rejects the need to build mega-sets or spend millions on post-production. Even Green Knight, which anyone could say is one of their most ambitious films in recent memory, was made for a measly 15 million dollars. Compared to other contemporary movies, this is a relatively low budget.
With A24, it feels like they have mastered subverting expectations and pushing boundaries of what cinema can be. It will refresh your palate, and serve you a movie subversive enough to make you forget about the ongoing Marvel versus Scorsese discussions.
Koushin Unber has an on-and-off relationship with STEM. Send her bad video essays on pretentious films at koushinunber27@gmail.com