Review of Hereditary (2018) by Joshua S — 09 Jul 2018

A24 has quietly become the most reliable independent film studio in business today. It has transformed into the cinephiles' source of quality, off-beat content that would never be greenlit by major Hollywood houses, while having greater visibility and general audience access than foreign cinema. Hereditary is the most recent hit of the fledgling studio and provides a powerful family drama with a horror twist. Note that I did not primarily call it a horror film - it's not. This is similar to another A24 film, The Witch, that was an allegorical seventeenth century family period drama first, horror film second. And that, in its own way, distinguishes it from the crowd, even before you talk about pacing, dialogue, or thematic material. Hereditary takes a basic horror premise, an upper middle-class family living in a large house with a creepy daughter and unexplained phenomena around her - and flips it on its head, settling for an uncomfortable and realistic look at grief, abuse, inherited vices. Oh sure, supernatural shit explodes in the third act, but the truly awful things that occur to this family had already taken effect. They are undone from within, long before they are undone without. And if it sounds like I have delved into spoiler territory, I assure you. I have told you jack shit.

While there are the obvious comparisons to be made - Rosemary's Baby, The Exorcist, and the Shining, the more direct and apt comparison would be Don't Look Now, another uncomfortable family drama that has a supernatural turn in the last few minutes of its runtime. If you've heard anything about Hereditary then you have no doubt heard of Toni Collette's showstopping take on an unstable mother with a hellish past. Whether or not this ends in Collette winning any awards a few months from now is irrelevant - it's hard to make a thoroughly selfish character so compelling, nuanced, and sympathetic. Milly Shapiro impresses as the creepy girl with...a bit more going on this time around. Alex Wolff and Gabriel Byrne give the less showy, quieter characters, but will surprise you as Hereditary kicks into gear. This is Ari Aster's directorial debut and you have to admire his restraint. The house itself is not the usual haunted house fare, but a real lived-in home. And the things in the background that may warn the audience of what is to come, don't advertise themselves. It's not perfect. That slow burn goodness that I love so much will no doubt turn off some, and its bleak and surreal ending is usually the kiss of death for general audiences. But the execution is so damn unique and off-beat, that you may not notice or care about that. Hereditary is a heavy film, but its probably the best horror picture of the year and one to look out for in the future.