Hereditary

I am a little sick of modern day horror movies getting over-hyped to a degree that makes me expect them to be the greatest thing on this planet since the golden age of horror in the eighties. I might have thought I would have learned this lesson after seeing what many considered to be 2014's horror movie of the year, "The Babadook". Lo and behold, that was a stinker through and through and just how anyone could enjoy that movie with the screaming, blood curdling child is beyond me. There have been some others in more recent memory that were enjoyable such as "The Witch" and "A Quiet Place", but not to the degree that everyone proclaimed it to be. "Hereditary" so happens to be the newest horror movie that falls under this umbrella of critically praised horror films from mainstream media. But after sitting through the movie with a rather pleasant crowd of silent movie-goers, I can say that while Hereditary has some rather good shots and manages to create a spooky atmosphere, this is not the new style of horror everyone has been proclaiming it is. 

From the absolute get-go the film creates a tense atmosphere focusing rather too long on miniature houses and figures that the film's main protagonist Annie Graham creates as a hobby. The unsettling view opens viewers' eyes to the tension they will be experiencing for the one-hundred-twenty-seven minute period that they will be glued to their seats. "Hereditary" allows their characters to breathe as soon as they're introduced as well, from Annie's grievance over her estranged grandmother's death, to her husband's calm, cool, and collected disposition, her son Peter's marijuana and teenage girl infatuated state, and her daughter Charlie's outsider status. 

The first half-hour or so of the movie is rather bland as we are introduced to Annie's hardships growing up as she speaks about her and her family's history of mental illness. It is wise to note that at one point she states that one of her family members killed themselves saying that her grandmother put someone else inside of them. This makes for an interesting bout of mystery. The one thing "Hereditary" does well is it makes the audience ask constantly, "Is this really happening or is this woman insane?" 

The big event and peak performance of the film comes from a party wherein Peter is forced to take Charlie with him after lying to his mother. At the house, Charlie eats some cake that contains nuts which does not fit well with her allergies. As Peter slams on the gas driving Charlie to the nearest hospital, the thirteen-year old oddball sticks her head out of the window for more air. Then thwack. Peter swerves to avoid hitting a dead animal and Charlie's head smashes into a pole, decapitating it. 

It is after this event that the film gets even more interesting. The tension between Annie and Peter scale to new heights via a dream sequence and an argument at the dinner table. Steve's personal breakdown also begins to resonate as he attempts to keep the peace between everyone, but Annie's considerable deteriorating state does not allow that. Pair all that with a seance in which Annie apparently gets possessed by Charlie after meeting an all too suspicious and friendly woman named Joan, and things really start to get fucked up. 

It's towards the final act that every piece starts coming together, though there were enough clues to sort of figure it out. Joan knew Annie's grandmother and had a bit of a Satanic cult that was trying to raise the Demon King Paimon who preferred male hosts. Peter is subject to be that male host, and so on and so forth. After learning all of this, Annie feels the need to prevent the ritual and haunting to end, and she thinks the best way to do that is by destroying Charlie's old sketchbook. After convincing Steve to throw it in the fireplace, he also lights on fire and dies. 

The ending became a bit more confusing as Annie gets possessed and flies around the house stalking and attempting to attack Peter. Whether she was possessed by Paimon or some other entity is unknown, but she does wind up cutting off her own neck with garrote wire. The cult also shows up at this point attempting to attack Peter. But he jumps out of a window instead, knocking him unconscious, and a pulse of light seemingly enters his body. He is now possessed by Paimon, and the cult welcomes him ending off by the followers stating, "Hail Paimon!" The ending reminded me of "Rosemary's Baby" a lot. 

The slow burn in the first half of the movie was well in getting us to know the characters, the situation they found themselves in, and their hobbies/careers. But considering most of that did not contribute to the story so much I also found it to be a little pointless. There were some good shots here and there in the film as well, but most of it relied on the tried and true askew in the dark technique where you slightly see the shadow of something and the frame lingers on a wide shot until you notice it. Mind you they were well done pieces, but it really was not anything that I haven't seen before in other paranormal films. 

I will not sit here and bash the movie through and through but I also cannot bring myself to praise it as heavily as everyone single other critic appears to be doing. It was enjoyable, but to mark it as something new and exciting is downright degrading to a lot of other horror works that have been made in the past. If you can handle slow burn horror then this one is for you. 

"Hereditary" is still in theaters, so catch it before it's gone.