First and foremost Hereditary is a film about family. All the way through this evocative, eerie, and hauntingly terrifying film we follow Annie and her family as they try to come to grips with the death of Annie’s mother. At least, that is how it seems in the beginning and that is where Ari Aster, the director, so masterfully draws us in. You cannot take anything on the surface level in this film which is made very clear in the opening of the film.
Aster knows his genre and, although this may be his debut, it is definitely a powerful one. So many of the elements of classic horror are there: isolated house in the woods, death of a loved one, strange children, and a colour palette that leaves you feeling on edge the entire film. Yet, even with these tropes Aster was able to create something new in his homage to classic horrors such as Rosemary’s Baby and The Exorcist.
Hereditary is not a film for those who enjoy the current trend of gore and jump scares. Yes, there are a couple of moments of both, but it’s the fact that Aster relies on a slow burn, that makes the film terrifying. The slow decline of Annie’s mental state and her family trauma makes this film unsettling to say the least. Again, Aster knows how to build tension through making us question everything we’ve seen so far with his disorientating use of camera work which is unsettling to say the least. From the opening scene where we enter the house through a miniature of Annie’s son, Peter’s room, to the end scene in Charlie’s tree house we are left with a sense of unease. The rooms seeming to small and too big at the same time. There are several points in the film where Aster uses disorientating camera shots where we are turned around that further enhances the unsettling nature of the film.
It’s not just the scenery, setting, and camera work that make this film so terrifying - it’s the superb acting of the entire cast. Everyone is brilliant in their role. Newcomer Milly Shapiro, as the somewhat disturbed daughter Charlie, is a hauntingly tragic figure. Alex Wolff as Peter, Annie’s son, provides some minor comedic relief before becoming a focus for more than just Annie’s anger. But it’s Toni Collette’s Annie, that really steals the show. Collette brings Annie to life showing her vulnerability and desperation to figure out what is really going on in her family.
The fact that Aster keeps the supernatural elements at bay for as long as he does is another of the things that makes this film unsettling. In the beginning it plays out more as a psychological drama with the audience learning that Annie’s mother was mentally ill and both her father and brother had also succumbed to their own mental illnesses. Piece by piece we are given clues to the darker forces that are mixed up in Annie’s life and because it is done so artfully we can sympathise with the characters on a deeper level. Annie’s anguish, her husband’s confusion, and Peter’s helplessness. It is not until the very end that you finally learn the secret that Annie’s mother was hiding and it is then that all the puzzle pieces finally fall into place.
It has been a week since I watched the film and I haven’t stopped thinking about it. I watched Hereditary by myself. I was also the only one in the cinema. (Small town things.) I don’t know if that made my viewing better or worse...all I know is that I came out of that film feeling confused and more than a little terrified of everything.
My rating ... 7.5/10
What has been a film you’ve seen that’s left you questioning everything?
xJaime