Review of Hereditary (2018) by Mikoh — 04 Jul 2018

The character of Annie Graham was played exceptionally well with astoundingly realistic and profound facial expressions and body language helping paint a sharp picture of the character. The fear and angst was well expressed and the character’s body language was overall very persuasive.

I strongly disliked the moment when she levitated up into the tree house as it took away from the realism and felt very detached from the rest of the movie however I am aware of the movie’s budget and the sacrifices that must be made to ensure that the storyline progresses (although it would be more effective if she just crawled up the tree quickly).

There was no way around it. I felt as though Peter’s character could’ve been developed more and the bond between him and the family could’ve been strengthened. Because of the poor relationship he seemed to have with Annie I think that reduced the effectiveness of the ending.

The characters seemed slightly distant from each other. In order to increase the fear factor I don’t particularly like how early on in the movie Charlie died. Because of her forbidding appearance I feel as though there was a lot of potential to increase the fear factor by including more scenes of her later on (which wouldn’t drastically alter the plot).

I would also like to know more about Ellen and an explanation as to why Charlie possessed Peter’s body and became the king of hell. Why would she want to be in the body of the person that killed her? I really liked the camera work and sound effects which sustained the suspense throughout the movie although I believe the lighting could’ve been improved and some of the props seemed to lack symbolism or the rooms felt maybe a little bit bare with nothing to foreshadow.

The twist with Joan didn’t seem to work, it seemed pointless as she didn’t add much to the story. Overall it was a good movie with interesting ideas and had plenty of disturbing scenes and anticipation.