Hereditary

Hereditary, released in 2018, is a supernatural horror film, but it is too complicated to simplify it into a simple genre. The film has an amazing cast featuring Toni Collette, Alex Wolff, Milly Shapiro, and Gabriel Byrne. This is a film is the directorial debut film of Director Ari Aster. If this film is any indication, Ari Aster has a promising career ahead of him.

Hereditary is at its heart a family drama, but as we learn more and more about the family we learn that there is something very weird going on with this family. The family has a very bizarre history of trauma and mental illness, and as we learn more, devil worshiping. As the film progresses it becomes more and more supernatural, in a way that works really well, and doesn't really ever come off as cliche or predictable.

The family has a great dynamic that creates the atmosphere, and the terror of the film. Toni Collette plays Annie Graham, the mother of the family. The film follows here decent into madness, and honestly Toni was perfectly cast for this role. She plays the role in a way I don't think any other actress ever really could. Her facial features expressions and body language makes her descent so believable and realistic. Her daughter Charlie is played by Milly Shapiro, in her film debut. Shapiro is so perfectly cast for this role, that I I could not imagine anyone else playing it. She doesn't even seem like an actress playing a role, but she IS the role. She is detached, she is quiet, and her character is not played through dramatic dialogue but by actual acting and body language. Gabriel Byrne plays Steve Graham the father of the family, who looks like he is quietly struggling to keep his family together. He is quiet, and a man of few words. He is often the voice of reason, and reserved. He struggles to always have patience, and often times comes off as emotionally detached. I as a viewer could feel his pain, and anguish as he is watching his family descend into madness, while powerless to stop it. And then there is Alex Wolff as Peter Graham, Charlie's older brother. This is a complex character, and Wolff so expertly played the role. In Peter I see elements of Donnie Darko, in his quiet awkwardness, odd facial expressions, and mannerisms, though that comparison does not detract from how well the character comes across on screen. There is so much depth of emotion in this character. Along with Colette's character this is the character that we also see the greatest decent into madness. All of these characters are perfectly cast, and they play their characters absolutely perfectly, and honestly I feel like this entire cast deserves awards for how well they played their characters.

The film it self I would best describe as a psychological, family drama, that descends into supernatural horror. The film has a smooth pacing that perfectly works for this film. The tone continues to get darker, but it is not afraid to use shots in bright daylight, which creates a juxtaposition of light and dark, giving the film an even more insane tone. This is a film about a family descending into madness, and the tone is set so flawlessly and never breaks from that, it never loses its direction, and never pretends to be something it isn't. This is a film that breaks new grounds of terror. The effects are seamlessly done, the only real disappointment with the special effects are the flies in the attic, when you watch it I feel like you will understand what I mean. The flies are so fake looking that it actually bothered me when it got to those scenes. Other than that the effects are beautifully done. The sets of the house and trees house are done on a sound stage with removable walls, creating a great practical way to film the house from more angles than would be possible with remodeling the actual house, this also ties in to the dollhouse effect, that is first created in the miniatures that Toni Collette's character makes.

There are many scenes that were deleted, and some of the scenes I feel gave more insight on Peter and his loss in the film, which I feel is just awkward in the theatrical release, I feel that he is even more human if some of the deleted scenes were restored. I would actually love to see a directors cut of the film with some of the deleted scenes restored, it would be a much longer film, but I feel like some of them are important and almost creates a whole new depth to the story, and almost makes a bit more sense, but I also wonder if they were restored if it would become a different move and lose some of its effectiveness. Steve plays a bigger role in the film if the deleted scenes were to be restored, and I feel like that gives his character more humanity.

This may be one of the best new horror films that I have seen in recent years, and there are a lot of great ones that have come out recently, such as A Quiet Place, and Us standing out at the forefront, but I would definitely say that this is among one of the best. The film was a huge success in the box office becoming one the biggest films that A24 films has ever released, even beating out films such as The Witch, and It Comes At Night. The critics gave this film a lot of high praise, and many ranked it among the best horror film of the year. The fans however seemed to have less praise for the film than the critics. I for once am 100% in agreement with the critics on this one. I look for ward to seeing more from this young director, I have been told his follow up film Midsommer is even better.

Would I recommend this film? Yes, I honestly would say that this film is one of the best modern horror films that I have seen. I feel like anyone who appreciates a well done film should see this film, even if horror isn't your forte, I feel like this film is enough of a well done drama. This is a horror film that will stick with you, and I don't recommend watching it before you go to bed, this is a film that might actually follow you into your dreams, and wake you up dripping with sweat, looking around your room. If you loved Donnie Darko, and mix that with a psychological, supernatural, family drama, and i think that this film will be perfect for you. I not only recommend watching this film, but watch it at least twice, and the second time watch all of the deleted scenes to get even deeper depth into this psychological film.