Review of Hereditary (2018) by The3Academysins — 12 Jun 2018

Hereditary is an incredibly well crafted first effort from director Ari Aster. If you like psychological horror, arthouse horror, or thrillers with elements of horror, then Hereditary is the film for you.

The direction and cinematography are painstakingly beautiful, and the shots truly drive the story. The acting performances are incredible as well, with Toni Collette and Alex Wolff really shining. Ann Dowd is a treat as always, and Milly Shapiro and Gabriel Byrne are also a delight to watch.

The weakest point of Hereditary however, is it's script. While 70% of it is really well written and well done, some scenes and some lines of dialogue will leave you scratching your head. The rules of this horror world are really not set down, and some scenes take place in the forests of the Pacific Northwest, and others in the desert, and others in the midwest.

I'm not sure if this was purposeful or not, but it would be nice for a few more clues. The sound design mostly sticks to cliches, unfortunately, but there are one or two moments of perfect horror sound design.

There is also not one jumpscare in this movie, which is a real pleasure, and the tension building is incredibly fun.