‘Hereditary’ Is A Game Changing Horror Masterpiece [Sundance Review]

Sometimes a horror film comes along that you just feel will change the game. Ari Aster‘s “Hereditary” is just that movie – a spooky, hypnotic film that feels like the culmination of the last 50 years of horror. Aster gives us a melange of “The Shining,” “The Exorcist,” and “Rosemary’s Baby,” three of the greatest of the genre, and creates his own masterpiece in the process.

The film opens with a funeral as Annie Graham (Toni Collette) prepares to say goodbye to a mother who has inflicted years of mental abuse upon her daughter. What Annie’s mom has done to her is only hinted at, but it has shaken her up considerably. Together with her husband Steve (an excellent Gabriel Byrne), Annie has raised a pair of peculiarly eccentric children: Peter (Alex Wolff) and Charlie (Milly Shapiro). The former is a pothead that can’t seem to fit in, and the latter, his sister, is a rather strange-looking, altogether spooky child that, unlike the rest of the family, had a very close relationship to grandma.

Annie starts attending a grief counseling group, and shares details about the self-destructive nature of her mother and how it took its toll on, not just her but, the entire family. Eventually, “Hereditary,” takes a surprise turn as Annie forces Alex to bring Charlie to a high school party, which kicks off the escalating horror to come. Then, Annie meets Joan (Ann Dowd), a grieving woman herself, who sucks our protagonist into the world of gothic spiritualism.

What makes “Hereditary” so brilliant is that much of the time, it’s almost impossible to describe what is happening on-screen. Just like the aforementioned “The Shining” and ” Rosemary’s Baby,” the film is infused with masterful images that prey on your senses even if you initially don’t understand their full meaning. There is nothing obvious in Aster’s film. He trusts the audience to follow him into the rabbit hole of the unknown. Aster’s film grabs viewers with a trance-like spell, showing us spirits and ghosts that feel all too real and unlike anything we’ve seen before.

What’s so special about this film, what makes it tower above any other horror movie we’ve seen of late are the characters. The family depicted in the film all have their inner demons, so to speak, much of which stems from the very top of the family tree. Aster, who wrote and directed this remarkable feature-directing debut, isn’t interested in gore as much as the depths of familial dysfunction. In his film, the spirits terrorizing the protagonists aren’t just random entities trying to wreak havoc on a seemingly quiet family. The haunted ghosts are actually family, in a story that unfolds in a creaky, haunted mansion stuffed with room after room, floor after floor of unique scares, and an attic that….well you can find out for yourself…..

The movie would not work without Collette’s awards-worthy performance. This is not just the best performance of her career but it’s also barrier-shattering work that sees the actress tackle rage, guilt, and fear into a single, unforgettable delivery.

This is a remarkable, triumphant, and confident picture by Aster, who gives the film an almost meditative-like sensation, as you feel every space you’re in, every emotion, every moment of grief. “Hereditary” refuses to employ cheap thrills, creating its cinematic scares with atmosphere, and continuously reinventing itself at every turn. [A-]

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