'Hereditary' Review: As Unnerving as its Aesthetic

Hereditary Directed by Ari Aster | Drama, Horror | R | 2h 7m

By Sam Hwang

Dec 7, 2018

Dubbed one of the best horror movies of the year by Vulture.com, Ari Aster’s Hereditary is a masterpiece from a cinematic perspective. With a run time of two hours and seven minutes, production studio A24 successfully combines intense psychological elements with subtle supernatural undertones in order to create a horror film that is truly terrifying, and that will keep audience members up at night replaying scenes in their heads. Hereditary does have some loopholes that appear to have been incorporated more for cinematic value and shock factor rather than for the integrity of the plot; However, Hereditary’s incredibly powerful aesthetic elements are enough to leave audience members satisfied when the film ends - at least, until they find themselves still turning things over in their minds at three o’clock in the morning, unable to shake that subtle sense of unease that accompanies any well-produced horror film.

The overall premise is a rather simple one - after the death of her elderly mother, whose life was shrouded in secrecy, model-maker and mother of two Annie Graham (played by Toni Collette) begins noticing strange occurrences around her house, which appear to be centered around her 13 year old daughter, Charlie (played by Milly Shapiro). But, in a family plagued by mental illness and interpersonal tensions running just below the surface, are these events simply the result of a collective descent into madness following a traumatic event, or something far more sinister that may have began before Charlie was even born?

One aspect of Hereditary that allows it to stand out among other horror movies is the quality of the acting. Each character is remarkably well-designed, and contributes in some way to the plot or atmosphere of the film - Milly Shapiro’s portrayal of Charlie, the family’s inexplicably creepy daughter, is spot on, while Toni Collette’s portrayal of her mother, Annie, is emotionally-charged and incredibly dynamic. Other notable characters are Steve Graham (played by Gabriel Byrne), who serves as an anchor of sanity as the rest of his family falls into chaos, and Peter Graham, Charlie’s teenage brother (played by Alex Wolff), who evokes the sympathy of the audience.

Additionally, the film’s soundtrack is memorable, and contributes greatly to the mood of the work as a whole - every note is hair-raising, and hints at a jump-scare just around the corner. It functions extremely well as a means to keep the audience on the edge of their seats, considering the fact that the musical score is present throughout a large part of the movie, but there are only a small handful of jump-scares. Also compelling were the actual cinematics and shooting strategies present in the movie. There are several shots that are so well-composed that they could be still photographs - one that comes readily to mind is a shot of the family’s car stopped in the middle of an empty road at night, mountains silhouetted in the background and a thin mist curling through the headlights. Furthermore, Hereditary makes expert use of its transitions, particularly those from day to night. On several occasions, the shift is portrayed like the flick of a light switch, with the lighting dramatically changing while everything else remains in place. In another scenario, Peter is sitting on his bed, when, after another blink-and-you’d-miss-it cut, he’s suddenly sitting at a desk in school, in the exact same position that he had been in before. These transitions are jarring, but even to the untrained eye it is clear that they required immense skill to coordinate.

In spite of all of this praise, the film was not perfect - there were parts that were extremely confusing, and, while after a thorough explanation some of them may make sense, in general this does not sit well with the viewer. There are scenes in which the line between reality and hallucination become blurred (and not necessarily in a good way), and others where the rules surrounding the lore and superstition established throughout the film seem to be cast aside so that a surprising twists can be added - in reality, they are only surprising because they shouldn’t be possible at all given the audience’s understanding of the film as they watch. Finally, the ending can be perceived as a little disjointed from the rest of the movie - the audience is whisked from one of the most terrifying and heart-pounding scenes in the movie to a conclusion which seems almost comical in comparison. Personally, I went from having my heart in my throat, my soul hurting for poor Peter, to laughing quietly to myself, perplexed, as ominous angelic music began to play while the credits rolled. The seed of terror that had been planted within me at the start of the film, which had been carefully nurtured with every floorboard that creaked, every door slam, every tongue click, that had grown into a small tree in the last 15 minutes of the film, was trampled upon by the final scene, leaving me feeling a little underwhelmed, and not nearly as fearful as I had been minutes earlier. While I was grateful at the time, in that respect I would say that Hereditary may have fallen a little short in its attempt to terrify its audience until the very end. In spite of this, A24 still produced a profoundly psychologically disturbing piece of work that was as artful and atmospheric as it was horrifying - a true accomplishment in this day and age.

Image credits to A24