Review of Hereditary (2018) by Kevin M — 08 Jun 2018

What forces rule the world of Hereditary? Forces as black as coal. And they (and their minions) are in control all along. If Rosemary's Baby and Oedipus Rex had a homicidal kid addicted to crack, that human mess would be Hereditary.

You catch the foreshadowing of tragic destiny clear enough though. From the little note left as a parting shot to Gramma, to the talk of hubris and fate in Pete's high school English class, to the first fledgling severed head, know what is coming.

Knowing won't help you get out of this unchanged.

Plot driver: There is a clear sense that nobody, NOBODY in that horrifically screwed up family is willing to even try to correlate the lifetime of horrors and see the pattern. The mom, Annie, as much as says so, screaming that something good could have come of their collective losses if any of them even once faced them honestly together. Feeble lessons here: 1) ignore the impact of Gramma's grimoire collection and (Annie) to your peril, don't drive home with a mess in the back seat and go to bed without telling mom and dad, and 3) if you are an adult with a stable mind, don't play along with a tornado of madness, get everyone out before it is too late.

What to expect: my theater audience companions, no set of bibliophiles looking for deeper meaning, were as breathless as I. The last 20 minutes doesn't let up for one second. By the time the credits are rolling, expect stupor from a 2 hour and 7 minute cocktail of bewilderment, exhaustion, and thoroughly disturbed. Or to let out a hysteric laugh in sheer just because it is over.

This is a horror movie done right. No happy ending. No formulaic build-up that craps out. Every adult with a stable mind should go see this movie because everybody needs to be freaked out once in a decade or so. It will take a decade or so for some twisted mind to up the stakes on this one.