Hereditary

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Here we have yet another case of a movie claiming to be something along the lines of the "most terrifying thing you'll see this year". The reviews have come in, and they are generally positive, looking at how the movie works with the horrors of emotion, loss, coping, etc. Its partly symbolic, partly psychological, and truth be told, altogether really quite creepy. But at the same time, I have to admit, pretty over-hyped in my mind.

The film starts out with the Graham family heading to a funeral for Annie's (Toni Collette) mother. We find out that the family wasn't entirely close with her, save for the daughter of the family, Charlie (Milly Shapiro), who was her "favourite".

After the events of the funeral, however, strange events start to unfold, beginning with the desecration of Ellen's (Annie's mother's) grave. However, with that said, if you're going by trailers, this movie doesn't turn out the way you'd expect... like, at all. So if you're the kind of person who needs to be fed what the trailer feeds you, you're in for some disappointment. But what does this movie have going for it that makes it so special?

Well, to be honest, this one turned the tables on me as well, but mostly in a good way. Not that far into it, there is an unexpected even that happens, which I won't spoil for you here, but it makes the movie change its track pretty abruptly, and then starts working on what makes the movie really cool.

This is one of those horror movies where its also sort of a supernatural mystery that keeps you guessing as to whether or not it actually IS a supernatural horror movie, or a psychological horror movie. It kinda kills two birds with one stone in that regard.

I think for the most part, I can end up giving this a positive review from my own perspective, but I won't lie in that there were a few choices made that I wasn't much a fan of. Not the least of which involved the overacted crying scenes. When tragedy hits home for Annie and her son, Peter (Alex Wolff), they kinda go off the rails in a big way with a sense of overacting. And I really hate to say that because when they aren't losing their shit, they're both doing fantastic acting jobs.

On top of that, this is another one of those horror movies that has a pretty original and interesting ending, but it's so out there that not everyone is gonna just accept it. In fact, it might even ruin it for some. I felt the same way here than I did coming out of 'Cabin in the Woods', trying to analyse whether or not I loved or hated the ending. But whereas 'Cabin' had something I eventually considered bad ass, and made the most sense for what the movie was doing, this was quite a bit slower and stranger and creepier.

As far as horror, where this movie does well is mostly lies in its psychological scares. It does do a great job at getting various emotions and feelings across, but does so in a successfully creepy way. We start to wonder if its all in a certain character's head the whole time. The end result is... well, interesting to say the lease. It all comes together, but it's up to you whether you like how it goes or not. All in all, a solid, slow-burning horror flick for this day and age, but not one I'd personally rave about to the masses on its awesomeness, either. I'd like to have given it full points but the parts I didn't like kinda brings it down. Still, I could see this becoming a cult hit for some.

3/5

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