Hereditary Movie Ending Explained

However, Paimon stands for more than the clear supernatural element of the movie, acting as a representative of grief as much as an evil overlord to a nudist colony. None of the characters throughout the film communicate their feelings about aspects of their lives, deaths, and experiences, to the point where Annie only finds out about Charlie's death through finding her decomposing, headless body in the back seat. Not cool Peter.

The constant need to reach out into the unknown before reaching out to each other invites something dark and uncontrollable into their lives, killing and maiming them and eventually taking over - much like unchecked mental anguish that obviously smears the entire family's experiences. Annie will only communicate her pain through recreating scenes in models, Peter is afraid but unwilling to speak about it, choosing to cry and lock himself up instead, and the father, Steve, wants to keep any sign of emotional turmoil as far away as possible - himself not showing any kind of remorse for his daughter's death throughout the runtime of the film. Even Charlie, when she was alive, would only respond with 'that's okay,' even if it wasn't - forced into her own death sentence for a party she had no interest in attending.

It's these emotions that end up killing the family as much as it is Paimon. Steve is left to burn in the fires of hell, Annie is left worshipping the rotted corpse of her daughter, and Peter is hollowed out and used as a puppet for an otherworldly entity. They're consumed by their inabilty to reach out as much as by a creature from Hell - and maybe both are one and the same.