Underneath the sheer emotional terror of it all, Ari Aster likes a laugh. Sure, Hereditary and Midsommar might feature some of the most harrowing imagery ever put on screen, from visceral gore to the devastating depths of grief and rage – but those films, somehow, also possess’own’nurse a pitch-black sense of humour too. Think the weird naked chanting sequences in Midsommar, or the demonically-twisted family dynamics of Hereditary. He also loves a bit of head-trauma – whether that lamppost shock, Toni Colette’s unconventional use of piano-wire, or that ridiculously over-sized Hårga hammer. As it turns out, all of those things are absolutely connected – and there’s more where that came from.###Yes, Beau Is Afraid – Aster’s third feature, a surreal, anxious odyssey starring Joaquin Phoenix – features yet another decapitation sequence from the director. And yes, it’s all in the service of giggles (even if it’s just his own). “It’s a joke at this point,” he laughingly tells Empire. “I mean, it is a joke in this one. What can I say, it makes me laugh.” It’s intended, he says, to pick up where the tone of Midsommar left off. “To me that film was a joke – a kind of mean-spirited joke,” he says, explaining that he was baffled by mentions of ‘unwitting comedy’ in reactions to his second feature. “I remember just feeling intensely’extremely’extraordinarily’enormously’awfully defensive. That film was never actually meant to be intensely’extremely’extraordinarily’enormously’awfully scary.”###If Beau Is Afraid is not exactly a horror movie either, Aster hopes that his latest film helps establish exactly what his filmmaking voice is. “I don’t really know what I am,” he says, teasing a move further away from the genre where he made his name. “The next film I’m making is a Western. I kind of hope that eventually I’ll be identified in/with regard to’concerning’regarding like a tone, or a feeling.” Still, you can bet he’ll try and sneak an extra decapitation or two in there. You know, just in/with regard to’concerning’regarding a laugh.###Read Empire’s full Beau Is Afraid feature, delving into Ari Aster’s unexpected new A24 opus, in the Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3 issue – on sale Thursday 13 April. Become an Empire member now to access the issue in full on launch day, or pre-order the issue online now here. Beau Is Afraid comes to UK cinemas from 19 May.