Hereditary
Directed by: Ari Aster
Release Date: 2018
Folks, I wanted to like this. I really did. Alas, I did not. I'm okay with knowing a large community of horror fans enjoyed Hereditary more than I did. However, while I won't be re-watching this flick anytime soon, there are a ton of great things this film did right.
Annie's mother passes away. Her eulogy at her mother's funeral is filled with statements about how her mother was private and didn't share herself with a ton of people. Annie doesn't know how to handle grieving for a mother she was estranged from for years and starts attending a support group. She looks through her mother's things and comes across this letter that essentially sets up the film. It reads:
"My darling, dear beautiful Annie,
Forgive me all the things I could not tell you. Please don't hate me and try not to despair your losses. You will see in the end that they were worth it.
Our sacrifice will pale next to the rewards.
Love, Mommy."
While an unsettling and tragic event occurs, the viewers are led down a rabbit hole of family dysfunction and grief that is effective, until that goshforsaken ending.
Alright, so can I just say how stellar the acting from Toni Collette and Alex Wolff was? They were stellar in this film! Milly Shapiro as the young sister with the peanut allergy did so much with not a ton of screen time. She was just as stellar as her other cast mates. David Bryne though - poor guy - he was the guy on the out. The person that thinks his wife is losing her marbles and not at all in tune to the chaos occurring in his own home, attributing it to sadness and loss. Byrne didn't have much to do and played the "straight man" well in this film.
Pacing. Similar to The Haunting of Hill House, Aster's pacing skills had me invested in this drama that also doubled as a horror film. The drama part of the film was great. I was sad and angry and grieving with the family and kept waiting for the horror to appear. Similar to the OG films like Rosemary's Baby and The Exorcist, the atmosphere lent itself to the horror. You knew something was amiss. With that letter Annie's mother left and running into Joan who ends up talking to her grandson via a seance, we know something's coming.
However, for a film with the running time of two hours and change, I think Aster got too involved in this drama because the pacing was perfect until (like me) you are just waiting for this big horror to reveal itself. The third act, like I read on another website, wasn't satisfying. There was no emotional impact and whatever I was supposed to feel wasn't earned, not one bit. I was enjoying the film until I wasn't. And then the film ends like that? If others like that sort of thing, go for it. I couldn't get down with it.
I wanted to watch The Exorcist, The Omen and Rosemary's Baby instead. Honestly, the director did his best but these old school films, simply did it better.
Annie's mother passes away. Her eulogy at her mother's funeral is filled with statements about how her mother was private and didn't share herself with a ton of people. Annie doesn't know how to handle grieving for a mother she was estranged from for years and starts attending a support group. She looks through her mother's things and comes across this letter that essentially sets up the film. It reads:
"My darling, dear beautiful Annie,
Forgive me all the things I could not tell you. Please don't hate me and try not to despair your losses. You will see in the end that they were worth it.
Our sacrifice will pale next to the rewards.
Love, Mommy."
While an unsettling and tragic event occurs, the viewers are led down a rabbit hole of family dysfunction and grief that is effective, until that goshforsaken ending.
Alright, so can I just say how stellar the acting from Toni Collette and Alex Wolff was? They were stellar in this film! Milly Shapiro as the young sister with the peanut allergy did so much with not a ton of screen time. She was just as stellar as her other cast mates. David Bryne though - poor guy - he was the guy on the out. The person that thinks his wife is losing her marbles and not at all in tune to the chaos occurring in his own home, attributing it to sadness and loss. Byrne didn't have much to do and played the "straight man" well in this film.
Pacing. Similar to The Haunting of Hill House, Aster's pacing skills had me invested in this drama that also doubled as a horror film. The drama part of the film was great. I was sad and angry and grieving with the family and kept waiting for the horror to appear. Similar to the OG films like Rosemary's Baby and The Exorcist, the atmosphere lent itself to the horror. You knew something was amiss. With that letter Annie's mother left and running into Joan who ends up talking to her grandson via a seance, we know something's coming.
However, for a film with the running time of two hours and change, I think Aster got too involved in this drama because the pacing was perfect until (like me) you are just waiting for this big horror to reveal itself. The third act, like I read on another website, wasn't satisfying. There was no emotional impact and whatever I was supposed to feel wasn't earned, not one bit. I was enjoying the film until I wasn't. And then the film ends like that? If others like that sort of thing, go for it. I couldn't get down with it.
I wanted to watch The Exorcist, The Omen and Rosemary's Baby instead. Honestly, the director did his best but these old school films, simply did it better.
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