Review of Hereditary (2018) by Mallory B — 19 Jun 2018

Hereditary-- so much to say.

This movie is scary. It's gross, it's creepy, it's down right f****ed up. But it's GOOD. A movie about grief, the loss of loved ones, the struggle to accept facts or take responsibilities... oh, and a demon king.

SPOILERS:

This movie is amazing. It is exactly what the horror movie industry needed. It's a fresh, new way of scary, and it nails it.

While it is slow-paced, it isn't bad because of it. The movie relies heavily on visual symbolism with audio cues. Not jump scares (thank you). Quick shot changes to scary images, decapitated heads covered in bugs, just enough light to see mom standing in the corner behind the main character, and watching her silently crawl across the damn wall... That's creepy and it just gets you. The slow pace is like a slow-cooking pot; you add a few ingredients slowly over time, and by the end, you have this delicious (and horrifying) ending that you've been hungry for. And the SYMBOLISM, oh man, the symbolism. When Charlie cuts the pigeons head off and draws it with a crown? She's the pigeon. The biblical implications of the name Peter, and the attempted fighting off of Paimon? if I were a chef I'd kiss my fingertips. And while I love the ending if viewed literally, it can 100% be argued as a metaphorical acceptance of responsibility for Charlie's death by Peter. Think about it (if you've seen it): he struggles with Charlie's death. Is it his fault? Not really. But will he blame himself? Of course! In the final scene, Paimon represents this guilt Peter feels. So Peter becomes Paimon because it consumes him. Charlie represents, well, her own death. She's dead, but she's always with Peter. He hears her, he sees her, he feels her everywhere. Once he either accepts his tragedy, or once it consumes him, Paimon/Charlie and Peter become one. The film is called Hereditary, and Naive (the mom), the grandmother, and Annie's brother all had mental illnesses. Annie was possibly schizophrenic, but suffered from depression and anxiety after the loss of Charlie. Her mother, Peter and Charlie's grandmother, had DID (dissociative identity disorder). And Annie's brother had schizophrenia and killed himself (I like to think he was a failed Paimon possession, but this is if we're purely looking at the movie metaphorically). But I think it's much more fun to view the ending literally. Naked cultists and piano wire decapitations is jusst brutal! That scene was so grotesque and unique I just ate it up.

Some people truly hated the ending (my parents are in this group). They wanted something more rewarding, all this buildup for just some demon possession? But that ending was such a refreshing ending. Sure, demon possession is not new to horror movie making, but we got CLOSURE. There hopefully won't ever be a sequel because we don't need it. Joan, the second-in-command of the cult, gives the audience all the information we need to understand the ending. We get confirmation that the demon won, and we see why and how. It's not some found footage of a child standing over a dead body, or the cameraman being pulled into the darkness before credit roll, it was information, and very interesting world-building that connects hints from the rest of the movie.

I could talk about this movie for hours. A masterpiece. But... Don't let reviews ruin it for you. Just go see it.