Hereditary (2018)

An instant classic masterpiece horror film. It’s the only way you can describe Hereditary. Ari Aster is the most hyped up-and-coming filmmaker of the past two years. Hereditary was his debut, and holy hell, is it a debut. Aster is now two feature films deep into what we definitely know will be a long and prolific film career for him, and yet, it feels as though he’s been with us for a long time already. That’s because Hereditary does just about everything right in a horror film. Right out of the box, that’s incredibly rare for any filmmaker. Even the greatest ones of all time (Scorsese, De Palma) had to work out a few of the kinks in their earlier works. Hereditary is nearly flawless in that sense. A student of horror going all the way back to the originals, Ari Aster has it down to a science just how effectively terrifying a horror film can be. Hereditary is a terrifying movie, in a time when not much can scare us anymore.

A family grieves. First, they grieve the elder matriarch who’s passed on out of old age. It’s a sad day for them, but they just don’t feel a true connection to the dead. At least not like they will in the end. Strange things begin occurring. Visions of the grandmother begin appearing around the house. The young daughter, Charlie, begins doodling disturbing images in her note pad and even cuts off the head of a dead pigeon. One night, her older brother Peter takes her to a teenage house party since her mother can’t babysit her. After ingesting a slice of chocolate cake (with nuts) she has an allergic reaction, and is rushed to the hospital. On the way, and nearly choking to death as she gasps for air, she rolls down the window in a desperate attempt to breathe, only to be decapitated by a metal pole. It’s the worst, bloodiest, cruelest accident anyone can imagine and Peter is culpable. Shattered, and emotionally spiraled, Annie (the mother) consults a spiritual medium that she meets at grief consulting, who teaches her how to perform a seance. When Annie tries to perform it at home, she contacts the spirit of Charlie, along with tremendous evil from the other world. All hell, literally, breaks loose. 

Hereditary gives a nod to some of the greatest supernatural horror films. Rosemary’s Baby, The Shining and Poltergeist just to name a few. But the amount of natural unease and sheer terror this film is able to produce really reminded me of The Exorcist, perhaps my all-time favorite horror film. The scares aren’t uneven. They build and build, and crescendo at the end. They thrive on shock value, and never relent. But in the case of this film, there’s a post-modern edge it masters. Aster recognizes that it takes a lot to break a desensitized audience. So, as a result, he absolutely goes for broke. Charlie’s death and the reaction to it is well enough to shatter your nerves entirely. It’s obscene, and graphically grotesque. Aster has the audacity to leave nothing to the imagination on that front. At first, that struck me as a bit unnecessary. It’s far more terrifying in what you don’t see in horror, as opposed to what you do see. But yet, what you see here is entirely the point. What follows next builds on that visual horror, similarly to what psychological horror already accomplishes. The psychological and visual horror builds on top of each other here. That’s what makes Hereditary so unforgettable. 

But, if that weren’t enough for you, then there’s Toni Collette. She gives, arguably,  the best horror performance of the 21st century so far. Pure, raw, hysterical terror. Think of the final girl from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre or the mother in The Exorcist. Annie represents a terror that breaks a person entirely. A psychological torment that drives you mad. She’s so scared, she’s crazy. That’s what truly makes for unforgettable horror acting. Toni Collette deserved, at the very least, an Oscar nomination for Best Actress in 2018. 5 Stars.