Hereditary Review

 

        Closing out this month of horror movies, I was dreading this one because the overall mystique of it was interesting to me. Since it received the notoriety of “This generation’s The Exorcist” which I’ll talk about. Ari Aster wrote and directed Hereditary and it’s quite possibly one of the best horror films of the 2010s. Additionally, one of the best films of the decade. It scared me; the whole approach is vastly different from its contemporaries. Which I feel its needed in most horror movies. Boy, did I love it. SPOILERS will appear in the review. 

1. Story

        The film starts with the family going to a funeral for Annie’s mother. Annie played by Toni Collette gives a eulogy where she reminisces on her mother, explaining that she and her had an odd relationship. She goes to a therapy session where she elaborates by saying she would blame her problems on her mother. 

        Her husband Stephen played by Gabriel Byrne gets word from the cemetery that Annie’s mother’s grave was desecrated. Meanwhile, the daughter Charlie acts strange when she sleeps in the treehouse. One odd moment is when she’s at school, a bird hits the window. She goes to the dead bird and cuts its head off with a scissor. 

        Peter played by Alex Wolff is invited to a friend’s party. His mother makes him take Charlie to the get together. Unfortunately, things start to go downhill, not in a bad way. Charlie accidentally eats a cake that has peanuts. Earlier, her Dad makes sure that she isn’t eating a chocolate bar with peanuts. She starts to choke, and Peter takes her to the hospital. 

        This part really freaked me out, Charlie sticks her head out. Peter sees roadkill and swerves, Charlie has her head decapitated. Peter arrives home but doesn’t tell his parents. Annie finds out and she is bawling about losing Charlie. Later in the film, she meets a woman named Joan who tells her about contacting the dead through a séance.

        Annie attempts to do the séance but something more violent arrives and plagues the house. Throughout the film, Annie’s entire family is slowly falling apart due in large part with the grandmother’s connection with the occult.  

2. Mental Illness

        This is the second film that involves mental illness with occult happenings. I will probably say just through some interpretations, most of the happenings can be traced from Annie’s lineage. Since the film is titled Hereditary, the most central motif is mental illness. When Annie is at the group therapy session, she explains that her mother and father had a history with illness. Including her brother who died by hanging himself. 

        With the paranormal events happening around the family. I can contribute it to mental illness. Since the Dad is so dismissive of it and thinks that Annie is not mentally well. For instance, when the journal of Charlie’s is being drawn on. Annie wants Stephen to be the one to burn it since she believes that it’ll cause the activity to stop. 

        I think my favorite moment is when Peter is sleeping and has his head grabbed by a pair of hands. Annie runs into his room and the son accuses her of choking him. She denies it but it can be left up to anyone’s guess whether he was attacked or Annie attacking him. It works since, it’s never entirely clear if the mother or son are imagining it or if it’s really happening. I like that its vague on purpose.

3. Miniatures

        Throughout the film, Annie is working on miniature’s in her workshop. She mostly creates tiny versions of her life such as her mother’s funeral. In the beginning, the movie starts in the workshop and slowly pans and zooms to the house replica. It feels like a Wes Anderson film since when it zooms in, the placement of the room is always centered. 

        In context with the film, she creates the dioramas to escape from her life. She states to her husband that the creations are a “neutral” view of what happened. I feel that it gives her control to the narrative to what happened. Since she created a view of Charlie’s death to mourn her daughter. The whole thing feels weird especially with how Annie inscribed a word in Charlie’s room.

        I think it just highlights just the overall control Annie’s mother has throughout the film. While she doesn’t have a scene dedicated to her, everything just feel that it’s predetermined. Meaning that whatever that is going to happen, will happen. The whole treehouse the family has acts like a miniature since it lights up and most of the weird stuff starts to happen. More so when Annie creates them, it feels like it was supposed to be like that.  

4. This Generation’s “Exorcist”

        I will admit that this movie in comparison with the others that I have seen throughout the month has scared me more. Probably it’s the subject matter such as the paranormal or anything demonic and having no control is what scares me. The real horror I think is just not knowing what’s going on. With the genre, there’s a spectrum where one section is dedicated for the best movies. The middle is good. Lastly, the other side is mostly bad horror movies that are borderline exploitive.

        With Hereditary, it’s in the same league as The Exorcist since it’s very procedural, play it straight type of horror film that doesn’t rely on jump scares. With the films that I watched throughout the month; this method is instantly the go-to. Since, for it to work you need to have your guard down and without any loud noises or a simple bang. The music is what works in tandem with the freakiness. 

5. Toni Collette Should’ve Been Nominated

        It’s an absolute crime and terrible shame that Toni Collette was not nominated in the Academy Awards for her performance. Easily, the main highlight of the film is when she’s giving her monologue to Peter. You can just feel the anger and frustration being directed at him, since he was responsible for Charlie’s death. 

        More so when she starts to feel disconnected with the entire family. For instance, when she has the remaining family start the séance. We believe that in her mindset that it’s the only thing that can make her family feel at peace but her husband is completely dismissive. Her faces that she makes when seeing something horrifying completely has me sold that the actress made a good pick for starring in the film.

 

        So why did she get snubbed? Well just to put it bluntly, it’s a horror movie. You can ask why The Exorcist was nominated back in the 70s, and that was when nothing like that had ever been screened. Additionally, in order to be nominated it has to be voted by the academy voters. From there, it can be assumed that Collette was not nominated. Although, it’s entirely subjective if an actor deserved to be the best in a specific year. That’s a topic for another day. 

 

6. Overall

        Without a doubt, Ari Aster is an up and coming director. He knocked this one out of the park with a very unique and fresh film in the genre of horror. No one could’ve imagine just how effectively scary and creepy Hereditary was when it came out in 2018. I haven’t seen Aster’s second film Midsommar though it’ll probably be unfairly compared with this one. This is the absolute scariest film in the 2010s.

Hereditary gets a five out of five.