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7.7 IMDb

60 Rotten Tomatoes

Where To Watch The Strange Thing About the Johnsons

The Strange Thing About the Johnsons is a deeply unsettling 2011 psychological horror short written and directed by Ari Aster. The story initially presents the Johnsons as a successful, affectionate upper-middle-class family: Sidney Johnson (Billy Mayo) is a respected poet, Joan Johnson (Angela Bullock) is a devoted mother and homemaker, and their charismatic son Isaiah (Brandon Greenhouse) appears to be living a happy life after marrying Marianne (Danièle Watts). Behind that polished family image, however, lies a horrifying secret. Sidney has endured years of sexual abuse at the hands of Isaiah, while the family struggles to confront the reality hidden behind their seemingly perfect suburban life. When Sidney attempts to document his experience in a memoir called Cocoon Man: Confessions by Sidney Johnson, the fragile balance inside the family begins to collapse.

Comedy Drama Horror Psychological Thriller

Release Date: January 22, 2011
Director: Ari Aster
Genre: Psychological , Horror, Drama, Thriller, Comedy
Duration: 29 minutes
Language: English
Starring: Carlon Jeffery — Young Isaiah
Box Office: N/A
Where To Watch: YouTube , Netflix , Prime Video , Apple TV , Disney+

More details about The Strange Thing About the Johnsons and where you can watch

The Strange Thing About the Johnsons is one of Ari Aster’s earliest and most provocative works, created while he was a student at the American Film Institute Conservatory. Unlike conventional horror shorts that depend on supernatural creatures or jump scares, Aster builds discomfort around an extremely disturbing family secret. The film’s ordinary suburban setting makes the story even more unsettling because the Johnson family initially appears warm, successful, and completely normal.

One of the film’s most memorable techniques is its deliberate tonal contrast. The Johnsons’ home is filled with bright interiors, family celebrations, smiles, and seemingly affectionate interactions, while the reality behind those scenes is horrifying. This contrast became an important characteristic of Aster’s filmmaking style and can also be seen in his later films such as Hereditary and Midsommar, where beautiful surroundings coexist with deeply disturbing events.

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Did You Know

The alternate title gives an especially dark twist to the film’s central father-son relationship. Aster has also described the project as an exercise in asking himself what the most provocative film he could make at AFI would be—and then figuring out how to make such an extreme premise function dramatically.