Review of Hereditary (2018) by Imdoingmypart — 10 Jun 2018

We are living in the golden age of horror. After enduring all of the mediocre, anything-but-unsettling films of the 2000's, we finally get year after year of intriguing, unique, and genuinely thrilling horror productions. A24 should take a large portion of the credit after producing The Witch, It Comes At Night, The Killing of a Sacred Deer, and now Hereditary, which is possibly their strongest installment yet. While audiences will still have to endure commercials for quickly forgotten horror duds like Truth or Dare, they can find solace in this strong 2018 terror.

Hereditary follows a family living in somewhat isolation in the Rocky Mountains whose grandmother figure has just passed away. No one is sad. In fact, Annie (played by Toni Collette) seeks out grief counseling in order to understand her lack of sorrow for her mother's passing. Annie then reveals details of her troubled upbringing and troubles with her mother, making the audience realize that grandma's passing may be for the better. Annie also reveals her family's struggles with mental illness, illness that ultimately caused her brother to take his own life at the age of 16. Though Annie does not directly say it, she seems to have a burden lifted off of her in her mother's passing. The only person distraught over her death is Charlie, Annie's troubled daughter. Charlie and her grandmother were quite close, and Charlie is struggling to understand who will show her love the way her grandmother did. This film quickly devolves into madness, not unlike Eraserhead and The Shining; I often thought of Wendy running around the Overlook Hotel. Mental illness clearly plays a role in character actions and decisions, but so does the supernatural. The most interesting aspect of Hereditary (other than some fascinating camera work and set pieces) is its ability to blur clearly supernatural events and a reality altered by mental illness. Are the images that plague the family real events, or are they simply hallucinations? The answer is not clear. What is clear is that this family is about to go through some hardships, and grandma is to blame in one form or another. The film is genuinely terrifying, unpredictable, and filled with enough mystery and suspense to thrill the audience for a full two hours. Hereditary also adds an artistic touch to its brand of horror, which may polarize audiences but will certainly lead to some great discussion points.

By no means is Hereditary a "perfect" film. It plods a bit in early scenes. Some shots move quickly from terror to unintentional terror. Not all character motivations are entirely clear. No viewer should watch the film expecting perfection; the viewer, however, can expect two hours of tense, brilliantly crafted horror entertainment. Hereditary is a rare great film that ultimately more than makes up for its minor issues by keeping the audience guessing from scene to scene while conjuring up some of the most thrilling images and situations that the horror genre has seen in a long time.