Hereditary - Le radici del male

In many ways, Hereditary is the horror movie I've been restlessly waiting to see for so many years. Despite my avid fandom for the genre, I really feel that modern horror has lost its grasp on how to make a film that's truly unsettling in the way the great classic horror films are. A modern wide-release horror film is often nothing more than a conveyor belt of jump scares strung together with a derivative story which exists purely as a vehicle to deliver those jump scares. They're more carnival rides than they are films, and audiences have been conditioned to view and judge them through that lens. The modern horror fan goes to their local theater and parts with their money on the expectation that their selected horror film will "deliver the goods", so to speak: startle them a sufficient number of times (scaling appropriately with the film's runtime, of course) and give them the money shots (blood, gore, graphic murders, well-lit and up-close views of the applicable CGI monster etc.) If a horror movie fails to deliver those goods, it's scoffed at and falls into the "worst film I've ever seen" category. I put that in quotes because a disgruntled filmgoer behind me broadcasted those exact words across the theater as the credits for this film rolled. He really wanted us to know his thoughts.

Like similarly fantastic and crowd-displeasing horror films of the past few years, The Witch and It Comes At Night, Hereditary is a film that largely deals in atmosphere and emotional horror. The Shining, which happens to be my favorite horror film, is a clear touchstone and I would go as far as saying that this is the first modern horror film I've seen that genuinely captures a similar tone and ethos. Much like that film, it delivers its horror through an intensifying sense of unease and dread that becomes nearly suffocating by its conclusion. Rather than startling you with cheap scares, it offers haunting and upsetting images which are often delivered without any of those overused sonic jolts. Perhaps most importantly, it anchors everything in an emotional core with nuanced characters who experience relatable family struggles and grief. And that is absolutely critical to what makes the movie effective and resonant: it works on a metaphorical level, using the supernatural story as a vehicle to explore the very real way in which a family can be absolutely ravaged by tragedy, and furthermore how trauma and mental illness are passed through the generations. I'd be remiss not to mention that Toni Collette gives a mesmerizing performance in this film that is absolutely unhinged and truly difficult to stomach at times.

For all that praise and as excellent as I think it is, Hereditary isn't quite a masterpiece. Despite the fact that I was very much invested and riveted throughout the length of the film, there were some detectable pacing issues. I feel conflicted in saying that because I'm very much a fan of the slow-burn horror style which benefits from a deliberate pace, but I did get the occasional nagging sense that things could've been tightened up just a tad without losing the effect. Some of the scares in the film, often the more "traditional" horror moments, also struck slightly the wrong note with me on a first viewing and were just a hair too campy or on-the-nose given how visionary and restrained the majority of the film is. And in its ending few minutes, the film really shows its full hand when a bit more ambiguity may have served it better.

The positives far, far outweigh the negatives here though and Hereditary is ultimately a remarkable debut horror film which showcases what the genre is capable of when it's taken seriously by a talented director. Here's hoping we'll continue to see more like it.

Light 4.5/5

I was alone and browsing for a movie to watch. Stumbled across this one and set out to casually watch a basic scary movie, with no clue of what I was about to experience. I barely moved the entire movie, and sat in stunned silence for 20 minutes after the credits started rolling, and hardly slept that night. I was petrified.

The absolute commitment that Toni Collette gave to this role as Annie is beyond description. She grabbed me and held me, and I'm not being hyperbolic. She found the deepest pain and distress inside herself that I've ever seen portrayed on screen. Her beautiful FACE revealed ugly and tragic feelings that words could never. She played mental illness and pain as real and as raw as I've ever seen it. Ever.

Hereditary has officially surpassed The Shining and The Exorcist as MY scariest and most disturbing movie of all time. And it's not even close.

This film starts off intriguing, then something happens midway through; the writer gave up. He quit. Or got lazy. Or both. He had the audience with him and then...poof, he completely allowed this to veer into absolute ludicrousness. And the ending is one of the all-time dumbest I've ever seen. It's difficult to fathem why Toni Collette and Gabriel Byrne signed on to this other than the possibility that they share a genetic link to the director.

Have always had a lot of appreciation for horror, even though it isn't my favourite genre, and 'Hereditary' was a film that immediately held my interest in seeing it with such an arresting concept. Although more polarising with audiences it was very positively received films critically, having more than once seen and heard it described as one of the year's best.

Despite reviewing it only now, 'Hereditary' was another film viewed weeks ago but with so many commitments and such a big to watch and review list it's taken a long time to get round to reviewing it. While the polarisation is understandable, count me in as another person who was really impressed by 'Hereditary', very nearly loving it even. Of my recent 2018 viewings, it definitely stands out as one of the better ones and it is not hard to see whether it is considered in as high regard as it is. Can also see why it has been compared to 'The Exorcist' and 'The Shining', having just as much the same amount of dread and hellish atmosphere, and also couldn't help thinking of another slow-burn horror from this year that divided opinion but was also critically acclaimed 'A Quiet Place'. Not in concept and they're different films, but in that they're polarising but mostly positively regarded and both films that were very well made, well acted and unnerving.

It is hard to know where to begin praising something with so many positives. 'Hereditary' is incredibly well made visually, one of the most audacious and best-looking films in the genre in recent years. The photography is both dream-like and nightmarish, while the film is slickly edited, atmospherically lit and the spacious house, with a mix of the audacious and the ghoulish, is like its own character.

The music is haunting and adds to the unnerving atmosphere as does some of the most effective sound editing and design of the year, never being obvious or cheap and providing a lot of eeriness. The writing flows well and never becomes corny or overly-wordy, sometimes even thought-provoking in particularly in what it has to say about grief and trauma.

While a deliberate slow-burn for me 'Hereditary' was not dull at all, helped enormously by the atmosphere and the near-perfect balance of family drama, which was often very poignant and packs a powerful emotional wallop, and horror, where there is not any over-reliance on predictable horror tropes and cheap scare tactics and actually was frightening and suspenseful. It always is interesting seeing film debuts and there are some fine ones out there, Ari Astor's directing is remarkably well accomplished with a fine eye for detail and an adeptness for how to pace such an atmosphere.

Characterisation-wise, 'Hereditary' is quite compelling and there is a realism to it. The performances are near-perfect, with Gabriel Byrne occasionally slightly under-playing but generally it is one of his best performances in a while. The star here is Toni Collette in a truly marvellous and often moving turn that calls for a mix of grief and terror, Collette grieves with pathos and conveys terror with intensity. Alex Woolf is the other standout for similar reasons though Milly Shapiro is not to be neglected.

It is a shame that the ending is rushed and that plausibility loses its way at this point, instead coming over as silly and like the film had run out of steam.

Otherwise, a very good film that was very nearly excellent. 8/10 Bethany Cox

This is a bit of an old fashioned horror movie. Something that plays as a dramatic movie first and then slowly becomes something else. Like "Rosemary" or "Exorcist" but without the high profile clout of those directors. This is two hours of an exploration of family tragedy and grief through characters struggling to cope.

To say much of this film is to ruin it, so lashing praise onto certain aspects of it is the best one can do. Not to say this is a film with a big twist, it isn't. Toni Collette is fantastic as is no surprise at this point in her career. All the performances carry their own, including one I was unsure of at first but grew on me throughout -- Alex Wolff. The cinematography, rhythms and pacing, sense of place and space, and sound design are all superb and work in conjunction to create atmosphere and dread -- like a pit in your stomach that continues to grow and grow throughout.

It turns into a genuine nightmare that absolutely worked for me. See it blind, see it as a movie first and foremost (not as a horror show with jump scares), but just see it.