Hereditary Movie Review

Hereditary (2018)

Watch the trailer
Written by: Ari Aster
Directed by: Ari Aster
Starring: Toni Collette, Milly Shapiro, Gabriel Byrne
Rated: R

Plot
After Ellen passes away, her daughter's family is haunted by tragic and disturbing occurrences as they unravel dark secrets about their ancestry and the sinister fate they've inherited.

Verdict
It's certainly unsettling but not so much scary. The meandering first half left me skeptical, but the last half manages to fulfill the promise as the intensity ramps until the final scene. I wondered was this a haunted house tale, a story of possession, or some kind of cult. You're left wondering almost until the end, and I liked the conclusion. At first you may wonder if it answers all the question presented, it does even if you think it didn't.
Watch it.

Review
I love the way this starts with an obituary. It sets a directly morbid tone. I like the directing, using very deliberate movements, though at times it becomes a bit distracting when you notice the camera snaking around a scene.
It's a horror movie, but well made. Horror movies have had a resurgence lately of being good instead of just a lazy gore fest. The biggest question is what kind of horror movie is this. I wondered if we'd get a haunting from grandma or if she would some how possess one of the family members. It's neither, but this keeps you guessing.

One of the scale models Annie built.

While it's intense and unsettling, this isn't as scary as I was expecting. Half way in not a lot had happened. It's a lot of set up, and I wasn't sure it could deliver. With this kind of set up the ending makes it or breaks it. From the half way mark to the end this ramps up without stopping. The ending delivers. As an elderly woman sitting a few rows in front of me in the theater commented to her husband, "This is a weird one, innit it?"
There are some really neat scenes. I won't spoil them, but this avoids jump scares. We were told earlier about how the mom poured paint thinner on the son in a sleep walk trance. In a scene she's arguing with him at night, cutting back and forth, and then they're wet, you make the connection that it's paint thinner and wonder if it's a dream. It's so quick, but really slick. I imagine a few people missed it.

Toni Collette plays Annie.

This is a lot of things and you're never sure what exactly it is until the end. At that point you can go back and think about this. I wasn't sure if this answered all the questions, but it does while generating many more.
How much of what Annie did was of her own will and how much was a controlling force? Her family has experienced a lot of tragedy, and the how/why has big implications. Her brother died, and I'm willing to bet there is more to it. Annie states she kept her son away from her mother, but gave her mom the daughter. She commented how her mother insisted on feeding the daughter. That seems innocuous enough, but in one of the dioramas Annie built, it looks like the grandmother is baring a breast ready to feed a baby. Is that the daughter, cause that's just weird but it fits with what happened.
It's an interesting thing, the mother making scale models of her life and of different things. I really thought the movie would leverage that more to be creepy.

While this throws a lot at you, it's more making you guess than hoping something sticks. Collette is amazing, as is Alex Wolff who plays her son. The ending reminded me a little bit of The Witch (read my review), in the way it ramps up and ends in a flash. Of course Hereditary didn't have a talking goat.