The Turtle's Head is a bizarre noir short from Ari Aster. With the arrival of his feature film debut Hereditary in 2018, Aster was instantly regarded as a new master of the horror genre. The movie was a blend of uncomfortable family drama with anxiety-inducing sequences of horror and some shocking twists. The film was a surprise success and Aster received praise for his work. His next film was 2019's Midsommar, which mixed a drama about a toxic relationship with folk horror efforts like The Wicker Man.
Ari Aster's work isn't for everyone, but he has a unique gift for conjuring dread and unease in his work. Before Aster's horror masterpiece Hereditary, he had a solid background in making short films that explored themes he'd utilize in later work. One of his most infamous is The Strange Thing About The Johnsons, which is a disturbing half-hour short about a father being abused by his son. Other shorts of note include Munchausen, another difficult family drama told without dialogue and 2014's The Turtle's Head.
The Turtle's Head is more comedic than most of Aster's work and is another cross-blending of genres and tones. The short stars Office Space's Richard Riehle as Bing Shooster, a misogynistic private detective who is far more interested in seducing his latest client than solving cases. The first half plays like an overblown parody of film noir classics - with added nudity and foul language - from the '30s and '40s, but around the midway point, The Turtle's Head takes a most unexpected turn.
The Turtle's Head Is A Very Ari Aster Take On A Detective Movie
The Turtle's Head has all the trappings of a noir detective tale, only to take a hard turn into dark comedy and body horror. Bing is a character defined by his machismo and his voiceover throughout confirms he has little drive in life outside of sleeping around. He's just as shocked as viewers when The Turtle's Head becomes something of a David Cronenberg-esque horror tale, as his appendage starts shrinking and begins to retreat inside his body.
While most directors may just leave that visual to viewers' imaginations, director Ari Aster takes delight in the finale of offering an extended close-up. The Turtle's Head, like many of Aster's early shorts, has polarised responses. Some find it an acidly comic take on the hardboiled detective genre and Aster's unique comic voice, while others feel it's an unfunny, bad taste short with a bizarre concept. Viewing Aster's work as a whole, this was likely the filmmaker's intention.