Hereditary Review: 6 Ups And 3 Downs
No one is safe from their family's darkest secrets.
2018's most anticipated horror movie has finally arrived. Does it live up to its impressive Rotten Tomatoes score and ongoing hype train? Simply put: yes.
What writer/director Ari Aster and his cast were able to accomplish here is something that's unlike any theater-going experience you'll have this year. Instead of a standard haunted house storyline with jump scares and a straightforward plot, Aster elects to go several extra steps further. He takes the story of a dysfunctional family trying to cope with a troubled history and turns it into a disturbing, hard-to-watch (but equally hard to look away from) exploration of the underlying evils passed down between family members.
This is a horror movie that easily stands out from others within the genre, approaching the genre in a way that'll send chills down your spine without making a single noise, and led by a powerhouse performance from Toni Collette that will terrify, depress, and shock you. The film's overbearingly bleak atmosphere then complements it all to make a thoroughly disturbing experience. When it comes to what makes Hereditary special, there's plenty to praise.
Hereditary is a horror movie that deserves to be seen in the theater: it's an engrossing experience watching it, and has plenty of subtext to get you back for a second viewing.
However, before the praise continues, let's examine Hereditary's problems...