Review of Hereditary (2018) by Theholyclyde — 01 Oct 2018

Hereditary is a unique horror movie and a breath of fresh air to the genre. The acting is amazing and everyone did a great job. Toni Collette's and Alex Wolff's performances blew me away. The dialogue is a little bit expository, but it kind of works in the movie's favour. The camera work and overall look of the movie are great and it's very hard to believe that this is Ari Ester's first time directing a feature film.

The story is full of metaphors and it's so original, it hurts. You never know what's going to happen next, you never know when it's going to scare you, and it never falls in its genre's tropes. It even feels weird calling it a horror movie cause the horror we're used to seeing nowadays is so much more flashy and "in-your-face". Much like Robert Eggers' The VVitch, Hereditary doesn't need to rely on jump-scares to show us how horrifying it is. Sometimes, it doesn't even need to 'show' us how horrifying it is, because it 'tells' us with its sound.

The soundtrack and the sound design are what really bring Hereditary to life. The creepy and eerie sounds that we hear throughout the movie, paired with its ghastly soundtrack, help the movie keep you on edge. The movie tricks you multiple times, knowing that you're expecting a jump scare and building.

Tension, but cutting to a wide shot instead, making you feel all the more afraid. Little things like that are what make Hereditary such a special horror movie.

When you're watching a horror movie, your brain always tries to guess what's going to happen. What's going to happen next, when's the next scare who's going to die. But when your brain can't even try to predict what's going to happen, or when it tries countless times and fails miserably every single time, you know the movie is in complete control. You know the movie is so original, it's free to do whatever it wants. You're not scared because the movie tells you to be scared, you're scared because you're afraid of how the movie is going to scare you. And that is a scary feeling. Hereditary is a refreshing horror movie but it's not for everyone. Some people are not going to like this movie because it is being marketed as the "scariest movie ever". So people go into this movie expecting a different kind of movie, not knowing that it lacks the more traditional "scare" and it has a slower pace. But putting the "scariest movie ever" title aside, you can't deny that Hereditary is one of the weirdest and boldest horror movies of the decade, and a must-watch to any hardcore horror fan.