It is difficult to fully understand the appeal of horror films. Like riding really big rollercoasters, people seemingly watch horror films to feel nauseatingly anxious for minutes at a time, and then scream loudly in a room full of strangers. A good horror film, then, creates such an intense atmosphere of anticipation that filmgoers can barely sit still in their seats. Likewise, the jump scare is so clean and spontaneous that every shadowy corner of the cinema seems to fill with its own ghouls and ghosts. We were invited to review Hereditary, a supernatural horror film directed by Ari Aster. Touted as one of the scariest films of 2018, we were eager to see whether the hype was itself a fleeting spirit.
Hereditary is fronted by the Horror film queen herself; Toni Collette. Her expressive features can at one instance signal warm, maternal affection, and at the next, inevitable destruction. She portrays Annie Graham, a miniature artist living with her husband, Steve (Gabriel Byrne), son Peter (Alex Wolff), and daughter Charlie (Milly Shapiro). The film commences with the funeral of Annie’s recently deceased mother, Ellen, a deeply private and eccentric woman with whom Annie had become estranged. Among Ellen’s possessions, Annie finds a book on spiritualism, and a necklace with an intricate pendant.
After Ellen’s funeral, the Graham home is increasingly plagued by strange going-ons. Charlie, Ellen’s favourite grandchild, seems especially influenced by these unexplainable occurrences. Annie must uncover Ellen’s shrouded past to save her family from these unseen, malevolent forces. This film is incredibly scary. Not relentlessly so like The Conjouring, but the tension kept building and building until everyone in the cinema was silent, waiting, almost begging for the guillotine to drop. And this was despite the fact that many scary scenes occurred in broad daylight. It is hard to expound how fascinating this film was without divulging in greater plot detail. So, really, all you can do is watch the film yourself and experience its eery, pervasive effect.
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