If you are a fan of horror movies you must go and see Hereditary, because it is everything and more than you could expect. From terrifying and disturbing family drama scenes to paranormal and hellish moments, Hereditary delivers it all. I could only argue that the ending was too much but only for like 1 minute. It is a first full meter movie of Ari Aster and I have high hopes for this young director if he keeps up with the pace he just set.
Actors were also great in creating that uniquely disturbing atmosphere. I would say that Tony Collette stood out the most - one could easily feel all the pain she felt as a grieving mother on an edge of insanity.
The Plot
It is a classic horror movie if we only talk about the plot - a family loses someone dear and go into the grieving process which involves some bad decisions and messing with higher paranormal powers. There are some pretty unexpected twists and turns of course, especially when you consider that all the introduced actors should survive for at least half of a movie before dying. Those twists make this movie great. Apart from that, Hereditary is all about the life of a grieving mother who cannot come in terms with herself and only brings misery to the rest of her family by doing somewhat stupid decisions.
My Thoughts
Nothing is scarier and more disturbing than seeing a mother screaming in pain after losing her child. All the ghosts are nothing compared to that.
The soundtrack was pretty amazing and always kept me on the edge of the seat. Hitchcock was the master of creating horror through sound and he would be proud of Hereditary's achievements in this area.
Trying to talk with dead people is never a great idea. I still wonder why some people think that things can go right while doing that. Inviting some random spirits to your house is literally the worst thing you can ever do. It does not add any feng shui whatsoever.
Why do horror movies directors still make all their victims run somewhere to the attic instead of outside of the house to a busy street full of people? That I will never understand.
Every single situation can be shown as horrifying, funny, inspiring or whatever else. It all depends on storytelling. That is a little disturbing because it means that in the end, our emotions are quite random and irrational.
Gross. All you need to do to make a perfect horror movie is to make it gross. That is and will be a new trend I suppose. People are tired of silly spirits running after innocent people. They want something that is gross and disturbing now. That cannot mean good things for ones who hate horror movies.
Never trust people who are too nice to you for no particular reason. Human beings are not made like that and that can only mean overly-friendly people are probably going to cut you in pieces or at least steal your soul.