“I don’t like this, Dad, I don’t like this.”
Once in awhile, a horror movie comes along that is instantly burned into my memory, for better or worse. The quality of these movies can vary widely, and the impact which they have upon me is mostly based on my age at the time I watched them. Hereditary is an instant addition to the horror shrine. I have lots of opinions regarding this movie. To say it’s scary is an understatement. I haven’t been creeped out by a movie to this extent in a long, long time. I won’t use the word “scarred”, but I won’t NOT use it, either, nomesayn? Many of the images and themes will stick with me. Good times!
Hereditary, released in 2018 and written and directed by Ari Aster, is, to me, a very affecting horror movie that bases itself around perennial family trauma and the grief that it can bring, wrapped up in the story of a woman dealing with not only her mother’s death, but ongoing issues within her own immediate family, which consists of two teenage children and a husband. The mother is played by Toni Collette, who absolutely carries the movie with her performance, and her milquetoast husband is played by one of my favorites, Gabriel Byrne, but he isn’t given much to do in this movie. And that’s okay, because it’s not really about him. It’s about Collette’s character, Annie, who has unfinished issues with her son Peter (played by Alex Wolff) and her daughter Charlie, (played by Milly Simon). After watching Hereditary, I went to Ari Aster’s imdb page to see what other movies he’s created, and was surprised to learn this was his first feature film (he has a few short movies on his resume, which I want to get my hands on). The patience he displays in Hereditary made me think for sure this was a seasoned director, and perhaps he has a lot more going on than his resume shows, but I’m in for anything he makes going forward. He’s on my list.
I honestly can’t give too much of a breakdown of this movie, because there are incidents that happen early in the movie that aren’t portrayed in the trailers or other descriptions I’ve read, and I don’t want to lessen the impact of those incidents, should you choose to watch this movie. These incidents are done especially well, and almost break the rules of character traits in movies, yet somehow are more realistic to how I would expect a person to act like in real life. Denial is powerful, and sometime for the best, and this movie shoves that in your face very early on. The performances are great. I won’t be surprised if Toni Collette gets nominated for everything she can this award season, and most deservedly so, I think. The fact that it’s horror will probably lessen her chances, which is a shame. She’s amazing. The “kids” are great, as well, especially given how much heavy lifting they have to do.
Hereditary is almost broken into two pieces, with very distinct halves, but each one is equally effective. As I said, some things happen early on and I remember almost reacting physically, as if my body said “Holy shit, did that just really happen?!?” The first half is very slow, aside from “that” sequence, and feels like the horror movies of the ’70’s, when they took time to build the framework around the story so that once the ball gets rolling, you have everything you need to be completely invested. The second half…the second half. I remember, about 75% of the way through the movie, thinking “Well, this is OK, but not that scary. I’m worried it’s been overrated a little”. Aaaaand then they hit you with some of the most effective horror imagery I’ve ever seen, and I’m getting goosebumps as I type this. It’s rare for me to NOT want to see what’s coming. Usually, I DO want to see it, because my imagination is often thinking up something worse than what’s actually onscreen, and I can easily handle what’s coming. Not here. What they thought up and portrayed onscreen is waaaaay worse than what I could come up with in the deepest darkest recesses of my mind. When a character turns around, sees something, and freezes in this movie, and I know the eyeline match/reveal I would think “Please, just don’t show me what he is seeing. I don’t want to see it.” THAT is rare for me, and I frigging loved it.
I’ve beaten the “jump scare” drum enough on this blog, but I do want to point out that you don’t need them when you have thought about what’s really scary, and want to portray that onscreen, as they do in Hereditary. When something is scary enough, you can simply show it, in the background, without a sound at all. Isn’t that so much worse than playing a loud noise to get a physical response out of your audience? Wouldn’t you rather get a visceral response? The audience quietly saying to themselves “Oh, no, that’s not right”. Again, not a sound onscreen, just the image. I loved it. Full disclosure, I’m hearing from friends and reading online that a lot of people have a problem with the ending to Hereditary. I had no such issues, but I did want to point that out. Their arguments are valid, obviously, but they’re not enough to persuade me to change my rating. Just throwing that out there.
Hereditary is near the top of the horror genre, in my opinion. I feel like, and maybe it’s my own ignorance to what has been coming out before these last few years, but I feel like we’re in the middle of a horror renaissance right now. Going back about five years, we’ve had It Follows, The Babadook, The Witch, A Quiet Place, Get Out, The Wailing, and A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night. All great horror, to varying degrees, in my opinion. I’m sure I’m forgetting something, but my point is that we’ve got horror movies right now that rival some of the greatest stretches in cinema history, in my opinion. I think the ’70’s were probably the best ever, with Rosemary’s Baby, The Exorcist, Alien, Jaws, etc. But I think what we’re going through now is just below that, and someone other than myself could make the argument that it’s just as good. Movies like Hereditary strengthen that argument.