Review of Hereditary (2018) by Jluis_001 — 29 Jun 2018

So Hereditary has received the same reaction that films like It Comes At Night and The Witch received from the so-called "mainstream audience".

It was to be expected and it doesn't surprise me in the least.

But it does have reaffirmed to me something that I've been considering for quite some time now and it's that these mainstream audiences believe that horror means mutilated bodies, gallons of blood and multiple jump scares.

Let's be honest it isn't for nothing that a franchise like Saw had so many sequels. It was practically porn gore but it leaves in evidence another interesting aspect of those audiences. They like to watch people die at a safe distance and especially knowing that nothing happened once they leave the movie theater.

Hereditary is indeed a horror film, but it's not a frontal horror film. Hereditary bases almost all its argument on the power of suggestion. What is hidden in the dark is there to stalk and torment you not to jump and kill you immediately.

Although the plot is nothing special and in the final part it gets lost a bit, the truth is that the film is pretty solid.

This film belongs entirely to Toni Collette because she's really good, intense and dark and she also carries pretty much the whole narrative. Some people talk about Alex Wolff's performance but I found him too frustranting and dumb.

The young Milly Shapiro makes her film debut and while she ends up playing a small role, she's disturbing enough to leave a big impression on you.

The truth is that I did enjoyed Hereditary. I don't think it's a horror masterpiece but I think it's one of the best bets that has come in years of a genre that is in terrible conditions.

In the end all verdicts or opinions will probably depend a lot of people expectations of what they wanted to see or what horror is to them but I've gotta say that if you get disappointed, is perfectly fine but as I've always said judge the film for what it is and not for what you expected it to be.