Every so often a headline rolls across my desk that I have to read three times, and this is one of them. Ari Aster, the man who made a generation afraid of their own families with Hereditary and Midsommar, has made a movie about a chicken. It's coming to theaters this fall. That's pretty much all the confirmed detail that exists right now, and I'll admit it's enough to have my full attention.

What I appreciate about Aster, even when he loses me (and Beau Is Afraid absolutely lost me somewhere around hour two, though I respect the swing), is that nothing in his movies happens by accident. The man does not include a chicken casually. I don't know what the bird is doing in this movie, whether it's a victim, a threat, or something else entirely, and I won't pretend I do. No plot details have surfaced. All I know is the chicken is load-bearing. Never written that sentence before. May never write it again.

The fall window is interesting, though I'll keep my theorizing clearly labeled as theorizing. Fall is where studios and independents alike slot the movies they want people to take seriously, and it's also where counterprogramming lives, the weird stuff dropped in among the awards hopefuls. Which one this is I can't say. Nobody's confirmed a distributor or a strategy to me, so file all of that under speculation from a guy who watches too many movies.

I'll be there opening weekend, obviously. I've made peace with the fact that I'll watch anything this guy makes, even when the pitch sounds like a dare. Jess Wingo already texted me asking if the chicken dies, and my answer was the same one I'll give you: it's an Ari Aster movie. Something dies. That's not a spoiler, that's a business model.

No word yet on a trailer or a streaming date, and frankly this feels like one of those theatrical experiences you want with a crowd, half for the movie and half for the audible confusion rippling through the theater whenever the strangest beat lands. More once there's actually more to have. Until then, sit with the idea of an Ari Aster chicken movie and tell me you're not at least a little curious.