Good-freaking-night! This is my kind of horror film!
Let’s talk a little about slow burn horror. I’m going to get cliche here and define it first…or allow the internet to do that for me. Slow burn is defined as a “state of slowly mounting anger or annoyance.” Yet, when you add this format to a finely-crafted horror film, what you get is slowly mounting dread. You are never sure why you feel so tense/anxious/off, but the feeling cannot be ignored. In fact, it only builds over time.
Some great examples of films in this genre include The Witch, The Changeling, The House of the Devil, Burnt Offerings and Audition, among many others.
Well, now we have Hereditary to add to that list.
Writer/Director Ari Aster brings a terrifying tale about a family dealing with grief and loss. The Graham family quietly deals with the death of the matriarch and grandmother as this movie begins. However, it’s immediately clear that something isn’t right. Her death brings a sense of slow-moving dread.
This is Toni Collette at her finest. She gives the role everything and displays such a range here that she’d be my favorite for awards season if this is in contention.
In fact, the entire Graham family is great. Alex Wolff plays the disenchanted teenage son to perfection. Even when tragedy strikes, his character feels so incredibly sincere in a state of grief, even if it’s not what you’d expect. Milly Shapiro plays the young daughter Charlie in the movie and could easily stand with the upper echelon of the strangest kids in horror history. Gabriel Byrne plays the dad to a family that is suffering and does what he can to bring some type of normalcy.
Honestly, if you weren’t guaranteed that strange things are afoot, Hereditary would be a great drama that focuses on how families deal with tragedy.
Those scary movie fans who love jump scares and quick thrills, be warned – This is not that kind of movie. Instead, dread and unease are the name of the game. All of this tension leads up to the final 10 minutes that I can’t remove from my head and haven’t been able to since January (when I first saw it at Sundance).
Hereditary is thankfully now in wide release. If you’ve ever considered yourself a horror fan in any way, you owe it to yourself to see this movie. It may be overhyped by the time you actually see it, but you won’t be able to ignore just how effective it is. You will not be disappointed. A-
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