Hereditary, 2018.
Directed by Ari Aster.
Starring Toni Collette, Gabriel Byrne, Ann Dowd, Milly Shapiro, and Alex Wolff.
SYNOPSIS:
When Ellen, the matriarch of the Graham family, passes away, her daughter’s family begins to unravel cryptic and increasingly terrifying secrets about their ancestry. The more they discover, the more they find themselves trying to outrun the sinister fate they seem to have inherited.
People complain about trailers for big blockbusters giving too much away, like the Doomsday reveal in Batman v Superman, but in my opinion it doesn’t get any worse than trailers for horror movies. The past few years have seen some of the best horror films in decades, like It Follows, The Witch, and It Comes at Night. However, the trailers that were supposed to sell the movie did so by showing these movies are pure nightmare fuel and fast-paced jump-scare factories. This resulted in audiences being disappointed when they found out these movies were slower and not filled with jump-scares. This year that film is Ari Aster’s feature film debut, Hereditary, the trailer of which sells this as the scariest film of all time.
So, is it scary? Let me put it this way. It’s been four days and about 12 movies since I saw it, and I still have an image and a sound from the film burned into my brain that keeps me up at night despite already having only 4 hours of sleep each day.
A lot of people came out of Sundance comparing this film to The Exorcist and they are absolutely right, but not because of what you think. Yes, this will terrify you to the bone, but at the center of all the horror lies a heartfelt and sad family drama full of real fears and emotions that we haven’t seen used this effectively in horror since William Friedkin’s masterpiece.
And like The Exorcist, there’s a lot of haunting but beautiful imagery in Hereditary. From the design of the house, which was apparently built from scratch on a sound stage – to the use of miniatures that Toni Collette’s character builds in her house to give the appearance of control. The miniature isn’t just a cool image to put on the poster, but it represents everything the film is trying to say. Ari Aster has crafted a story about grief and the loss of control that will resonate with everyone that’s ever lost a loved one. And the sound design is exquisite. One particular sound effect will haunt audiences in their sleep for days.
Toni Collette’s performance in Hereditary is a force to be reckoned with. She effortlessly gets in the role of a Annie, a woman who’s been cursed by tragedy throughout her life. Mental health isn’t strong in her family, and when her estranged mother dies, she finally breaks. Annie isn’t a likeable character, but she is relatable. One particular scene where she lashes out and tells one of her kids she tried to get an abortion is particularly heartbreaking and awe-inspiring because you can’t believe she’s acting.
Director Ari Aster said repeatedly during the Q&A that this film was foremost a family drama, and listed Ordinary People and Don’t Look Now as big influences, and it shows. This movie takes a while to get to the scary stuff, but it does so meticulously to make you care about the family that’s about to go through hell. You feel for Annie when she discusses the history of mental illness in her family, and for her son when tragedy hits the family. Alex Wolff gives the film’s most emotionally heavy performance and the My Friend Dahmer star makes it look easy to act scared shitless for two hours.
And yet, the film hides a creeping sense of dread in every scene, slowly crawling into your brain and burning every piece of disturbing imagery it can think of. The camera hardly moves and never goes handheld, to show the coldness of what’s happening in front of you.
Hereditary is terror at its most vile. A story that will rip you apart and eat your insides. You sill feel your stomach turn and you will be seated completely still because of utter terror of what you’re seeing will freeze you to your seat, and you’ll never fully recover from it.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Rafael Motamayor
Originally published March 16, 2018. Updated April 11, 2018.
