A24 has been gained some strong grounds both in the awards circle and in horror, especially; it’s like the rival twin competitor with BlumHouse Productions. The variety that they use with this genre, while has hit or miss chances, ends up becoming a film that has something about it worth talking about; from body horrors like Tusk to intense period dramas like The Witch, they can work with just about anything. And with the rise in critical popularity with horror films today, with movies like Get Out opening the door for award seasons, discussions have been brought up on Indiwire and Collider for Hereditary to be the next big thing.
Hereditary is the story of the Graham family, who after losing their grandmother, end up with hauntings and occurrences that slowly takes them one by one; the mother, Annie, tries to figure out what the main cause is, all while she and the rest of her family try to cope with each passing tragedy. That’s all the info I can give without going into spoilers, because the marketing team behind this were at least kind enough to keep spoilers to a minimum.
This has become one of those films like The Witch or The Babadook, where people are kind of disinterested in high praised horror films that critics swallow at festivals every year. Sometimes, you’re either upset that it wasn’t what the marketing promised, or it’s a matter of having too high of expectation to really give it fair assessment. And from my point of view, Hereditary is not a fantastic horror film, but it is easily one of the scariest films I have seen this decade. The experience I had watching this movie reminded me a lot of how I felt watching The Babadook, especially when it tackles mental illness; throughout most of the movie, the horror comes from witnessing the family fall apart and seeing whatever hope suddenly fade away. You can also notice things in the frame that you may not catch until your eyes wonder the frame a bit and you realize there’s something worse there. And by the end, you start to realize just how horrifically wrong everything can go.
For a film that’s advertised more for the horror aspect, Aster makes the decision to put more emphasis on the family drama, and luckily this cast delivers that perfect. Toni Collette as the mom gives the best performance I’ve seen this year, and one worthy of an Oscar nod. You realize just how messed up her life has been with her mother, and as the film carries on at the halfway point, you see just how badly her desperation for normality has driven her down to a similar road. With her, and Emily Blunt’s performance in A Quiet Place, horror films have definitely been getting the best from female leads as of late. Milly Sharpio, for her film debut, gives a creepy performance; when you start to pick up on her trait of tongue clicking, that sound is going to haunt your dreams. Despite the film heavily advertising her in the posters, the film does quite a 180 with her character that I was not expecting it to go. Gabriel Byrne and Alex Wolff as the rest of the family are also spectacular, with Byrne being the dad trying to help keep some form of sanity, and Wolff being chilled and haunted with guilt through the whole runtime.
Ann Dowd is also deeply chilling, playing a character connected with the grandmother and who is introduced at a support group meet; you definitely get that unsettling feeling of whether or not to trust this person, even if they have a history with a recently passed family member.
When the film ended, I felt like I was watching the film that people expected Darren Aronofsky’s mother! (2017) to be, especially with the similarities to Rosemary’s Baby (1968); I don’t want to go into spoilers on this one, but needless to say, it ends up being a lot more messed up than I was expecting it, but not as chaotic as mother!
Hereditary is the kind of horror film that has its scares come more from the family drama; while it does carry supernatural elements, everything else from the atmosphere, paranoia, and guilt, consuming our characters that makes it one of the most memorable debuts I’ve seen. It’s one of my favorites this year, and I’m proud to call it a true horror classic.
Rating: A+
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