Modern-day horror movies have seen a turn for the worse in recent years. While certainly not ALL horror movies in recent years should be dismissed, a majority of them are either studio cash-grabs or are found among the straight-to-video movies deep in your Netflix feed. There is certainly a level of entertainment value that these types of horror movies hold, and they have their place. Most horror films have turned into what seems like a haunted house. The film will follow characters through certain events and will play really loud noises together with a sudden image or action to get you to jump in your seat. You then go about your life and never really think of the experience again. I am of course referring to films such as Truth or Dare, Happy Death Day, The Bye Bye Man et al. But every so often a horror movie is found in the midst of these cookie-cutter films that truly floors you. That movie this year is, of course, Hereditary.
Directed by Ari Aster and starring an Oscar-worthy performance given by Toni Collette, this is the greatest horror film to come out since The Shining. The story centers around a family of four dealing with the loss of their grandmother. The film opens with the funeral of the deceased grandmother where Annie (Collette) notices a few unknown faces in attendance. This is just the first of many strange occurrences. Their young daughter starts to exhibit aberrant behavior, like cutting off a bird’s head with a pair of scissors. Annie slowly loses her mind (or does she?) and seeks out some unconventional methods to help her cope with her loss, which is not without its consequences. Aster is bold in his construction of the narrative; he definitely separates this film from your conventional horror story. Describing what happens beyond the first thirty minutes of the film would be giving too much away, and that says a lot for a two-hour film.
I have never seen a movie tackle the horrors of losing a loved one as audaciously as this one. It effectively blends reality with the supernatural. The consequences that actions have on posterity are scrutinized. I draw the comparison to Kubrick’s The Shining because like Hereditary, it accomplishes the task of leaving one leg in a reality much like ours, but allows just enough room for the supernatural to creep in. Both are also able to effectively display the horrors that surround the slow destruction of a family. The way that Aster is able to keep you on edge throughout the entire film by withholding any jump scares and loud music to break the tension is masterful, and is comparable to how Kubrick handled the tension in The Shining. Watching a family deal with grief and anger to the point of resentment has never been so frightening. But more than all of this, the film continues to haunt those who give into it. The underlying themes and frightening images stay with you long after its viewing. That is not something that your average horror film is able to accomplish.
Hereditary is like the kind of haunted house that will follow you home, so to speak. It is not a place that you go to get your jump-scare fix and then simply go back to your day-to-day life completely unaffected. This film stays with you. It lingers long after you leave the theater and begs you to further discover what lies below its surface. With a truly stunning performance from Toni Collette and confident direction from Ari Aster, along with one of the most intense and uneasy endings, Hereditary is a must-see that will leave you speechless as the credits roll.
