Well, this isn’t what I thought it was going to be.
Whenever it comes to one of these independent horror films that become critical darlings during its festival run, only to crash and burn once it gets unleashed on a mainstream audience, you generally know what you’re getting into with films like It Follows, The Babadook, The Witch, or It Comes At Night. It’s usually a very highbrow and self-serious genre exercise that typically strips the more indulgent elements in favor of mood and metaphor. I’m not saying that as a negative, I love most of these movies, the point simply is, these movies usually aren’t…quite like this.
Hereditary is the debut from writer/director, Ari Aster, and it’s about a family that suffers a tragedy when Annie’s (Toni Collette) estranged mother passes away. The death takes an emotional toll on her, which is increased exponentially when she begins uncovering various secrets and deals with her own demons.
There’s a whole lot more to the movie than that, but that’s really all I want to give away since the various surprises and reveals are a huge part of the fun here. And by the way, that’s something I wasn’t really expecting here. This movie is really fun! And also, kind of hilarious. Though, I’m sure most audiences will find themselves maybe a little too tensed up to feel that, but there is definitely some intentional humor at play here. Sure, it’s mostly that awkward, uncomfortable, “I don’t know if I should laugh right now or not” style of humor, but it’s a sense of humor nonetheless. I spent a good chunk of the movie with a big goofy grin on my face, and giggling to myself at some of the imagery, which is still horrifying, but it rides that line between scary and silly remarkably well.
Though, I don’t want to downplay the horror here because it’s present and it means business. It’s constructed with two distinct halves, but it works. It’s like with a lot of great horror movies where it presents you with a situation that is already painful and nerve wracking before it even throws the more overt horror elements at you. The first half of this mostly plays as a straight, slow burn family drama with splashes of creepy imagery that is mainly about the struggles that come with dealing with the loss of someone who didn’t have the most healthy relationship with other members of the family. It’s complex, it deals with a lot of conflicting and deep seeded emotions, and explores the harsh truths and anxieties about certain undesirable things being passed down from generation to generation.
The second half is where it doubles down on all the horror elements, and blows up the tension that the film had been previously building up. What’s cool about it is how Aster really swings for the fences here. After a while, it becomes scary imagery, one right after another, with great attention to detail and playful camera movements. It’s the kind of film where it’s less about things coming at you, and more about the things in the background watching you. There’s a number of great, creepy background moments. It’s the kind of stuff that honestly wouldn’t feel totally out of place in a James Wan movie, which is why I think this will have more mainstream appeal than the other indie horrors I mentioned before. Plus, the sound design is wonderful, and brilliantly utilized to keep you on edge.
As a debut, it’s good stuff. Aster clearly has a great understanding on how to realize ideas in a very cinematic way. His direction and the editing quirks on display here border on flashy, but it’s all the more welcome since there is purpose behind seemingly everything on screen. It’s stylish, but without the urge to pat itself on the back for being so. I can’t wait to see what this guy does next.
If there are things that don’t work, they’re mostly minor, or at the very least, unobtrusive. I feel like the whole thematic thread of familial anxieties doesn’t really connect with where the film eventually goes in the second half. The connective tissue doesn’t seem to be there, and it comes across like that whole idea is just dropped. And also, a lot of the scares in the film don’t seem to follow any particularly observable logic or set of rules. It felt like anything goes in terms of what kind of a scary moment Aster wanted to build to. The final thing that I found a bit strange was how the film slowly but surely shifted away from Annie’s point-of-view, for reasons that will be left unspoiled, and a part of me felt like it lessened the emotional impact it should’ve made on me once it hit the ending. Like I said, these are fairly minor, and don’t really detract from the overall experience. Plus, it’s certainly possible my feelings about these could change upon a second viewing.
I don’t know if I would go as far as to say that I loved Hereditary, but I had a really great time with it. It’s a smartly and artfully constructed horror film, but it’s surprisingly fun in its approach, has a number of awesome scares, a killer atmosphere, and nifty stylistic flourishes. Plus, it goes without saying that the cast, which consists of Toni Collette, Gabriel Byrne, Alex Wolff, Milly Shapiro, and Ann Dowd, is stellar across the board. Collette, in particular, gives not only one of her very best performances, but also one of the best I’ve seen this year period. As far as the film being “one of the best horror films ever,” I’m not too keen on making such bold claims, but Hereditary is a damn great horror film that deserves to be seen in a packed house and playing big and loud. Take the family, I’m sure it’ll be a great bonding experience.