THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
Grief is the most unpredictable thing to exist within human emotion because people will react differently and will change them more than anticipated. It can make you stronger or it can tear you apart.
PLOT
Hereditary follows the Graham family who had lost their matriarch Ellen. The remaining family includes: Miniature artist Annie, her psychiatrist husband Steve, their 16 year old son Peter and 13 year old daughter Charlie. On the day of the funeral, Annie is surprised to see many people in attendance when remembering how secretive her mother was and had a distant relationship with her until Charlie was born. Some time after this mournful day, Steve would get a call revealing that Ellen's grave was desecrated. After this call, Peter would ask his mother to go out to a party he got invited to. To avoid him getting drunk, she allows him to go as long as Charlie goes with him. Their time would end in tragic fashion when Charlie would suffer an allergic reaction, eating a chocolate cake with nuts, the latter of which she's allergic to. As Peter would drive her to the hospital as fast as he could, she would stick her head out for air. However, when Peter swerves upon seeing a dead deer on the road, her head would be decapitated by a near telephone pole. In shock of what happened, he would drive her headless body home and not tell his parents of the incident until they see the body by morning. With another loss in the family, the remaining members are more distant than ever. Peter would relive the incident in any possible, whereas Annie would continue attending group therapy. This time, she would meet another lady named Joan (Ann Dowd) whose attended past sessions with her. The latter puts her hand out in friendship and gives her phone number to reach out, as she relates to personal loss. Annie would take up on continue talking to her and express that things have been restrained with her children for a long time because before Ellen had passed, she would be sleepwalking and be caught almost lighting them on fire with paint thinner and the kids never believed her. And at home, Annie would recreate personal moments of her family history with her art such as Charlie's death, rather than work on assigned upcoming gallery. During dinner, Annie would finally let out her personal feelings towards Peter, admitting how upset she feels for him to never have take responsibility and apologized for what happened to Charlie. Her son would end the argument with a low blow by reminding her that she didn't even want to go to the party in the first place. The next day, she would visit Joan again and witness her perform a seance where she contacts her late grandson. She gives her instructions on how to do it and insists to have her family participate as well. Annie is able to do it on her own when sleepwalking, but only frightens her family when objects would move & smash and she would speak in Charlie's voice. Steve would end the seance by throwing water in face, which would wake her up from sleepwalking. It is after this seance where Peter would become plagued by supernatural entities. When Annie hears what he is going through, she believes that Charlie's spirit has become demonic. When looking through her daughter's sketchbook, she finds images that act threatening towards her only son. Wanting to protect her son by throwing it into the fireplace, it would burn her sleeve instead and the fire would be put out once she pulls the book away. When she checks in on Joan again, she is not home but her house is filled with belongings related to the Graham family such as pictures of Peter and handmade toys that belong to Charlie. Noticing her doormat to be similar what her mother would make, she goes through Ellen's belongings to find the shocking truth of her past: Ellen and Joan were part of a coven and acted as followers of the demon king dubbed 'Paimon' who give wealth and rewards in exchange for a male host. As she finds her mother's body in the attic, Joan publicly hexes Peter at school. It is after this where an unseen force briefly controls his body and slams his face on a desk in the middle of class. Just when Steve brings him home, Annie explains what she saw and begs him to destroy the sketchbook, believing her sacrifice will save Peter. When he refuses, she does it herself but it instead burns him alive. In shock of losing her husband, Paimon would take advantage to briefly possess her. He would chase Peter at night, leading to the boy try to hide in the attic. However, it finds a way in and has him watch his mother decapitate herself with a piano wire. Terrified of what he's witnessing, Peter jumps out of the window of the attic. Paimon would officially take over his body and enter the treehouse nearby, where Joan and the coven are inside, as well as the bodies of Ellen, Annie & Charlie. The film would end with Peter being proclaimed by the coven as King Paimon.
THOUGHTS
When this film gained such hype upon the summer it was released, I was hesitant to check it out because I didn't want to create expectations that could've not been met. Going in blind when making the time during the fall, I was only sure I would scared. After sitting through two impactful hours, I was more than scared, I was blown away. I had a hard time catching my breath by the end of it because that's how stressful it was. But that was the whole point of it. Writer/Director Ari Aster makes a phenomenal debut by making a film that is bound to make you feel uncomfortable in any way he can. Whether it is Colin Stetson's highly compelling score or Pawel Pogorzelski's claustrophobic cinematography, you feel every bit of dread that the characters are succumbing to. All the bit of tension it builds up to in spectacular fashion and ensures you to be in shock of what comes from it. I couldn't predict a single moment that came from this, which only proves that originality is still striving. The reason this film earns all its flowers of praise has to go to its bold depiction on how vulnerable we allow ourselves to be when we are extremely emotional. The best part of grief can be to unleash all the pain you're carrying, but the worst of it will be how it can lead to you being manipulated without knowing until it's too late. Families can have the power to overcome this part of life, but I hate to say it that not everyone can pull it off. That is exactly what the Graham family is going through as they were so troubled that they couldn't imagine being manipulated the way they were. You don't even get to see Ellen when alive but when discovering the truth of how she plotted for her descendants to be Paimon's new host is so shocking to grasp because it's so terrible to fathom simultaneously. She literally thought of no one herself the whole time which has to hint at why her unseen son took his life. When rewatching this and getting to spot the sigil she wore is spotted not just in Joan's home, but also the pole that would be responsible for a long time. The shimmering lights imply where Paimon would be, the seance Annie tried is what activated the demon to possess her son and the small words on the walls of the house would be said by Joan during the hexing. The coven was plotting this possession for years and it's haunting to see how ahead they were for the sake of their own personal gain. The Graham family were not perfect individuals, but that never meant they deserved the pain they dealt with and when they had their downfalls one by one, it is all the more tragic to witness. And thanks to an incredible cast, you feel every bit of emotion they're going through. Starting with the youngest, breakout Milly Shapiro made Charlie so interesting to watch because it was always clear that something was different about her. Seeing her act differently from other kids like clicking her tongue and cutting off the head of a dead bird already proves how disconnected, but the deeper reason comes from Paimon being in control and using her body as an incubator until getting to her brother. There is no telling if she ever really knew what was happening, but either way will remain tragic since she never had the chance to be in control with her life like anyone should. Her death was the worst thing to ever witness because it's so shocking to see a child die as grim as it looked. Alex Wolff definitely showed his growth in a big way as an actor for making Peter equally relatable as his mother would be. He has his own disconnection from the start because he's at a point where he doesn't even know what to do with his life and doesn't have the motivation to move forward. That disconnection would become stronger when unintentionally having responsibility for the death of his sister. He has that regret and is unsure how to express it. He couldn't say aloud how sorry he felt because he didn't want to accept she was gone. I feel like if he was brave enough to say it sooner, I don't think his mother would make the decisions that would later affect them all. His tears were the worst thing to hear because you feel all the pain he is feeling and wish it would end positively for him. Sadly, that was never going to be the case. Once Paimon finally got inside him, it was clear that whatever control he had left would vanish and the world would be doomed with a demon roaming around. The most neutral of the bunch has to be Steve because Gabriel Byrne is trying to keep things afloat and resume to whatever was identified as a healthy household. He's the buffer of the family because he does his best to halt the tension that's out there. He wants his family to recover from all the emotional pain but struggles due to how complicated things would become. Because he couldn't understand the darkness that was haunting them, it was a shame he couldn't figure it out in time to find a solution that would've saved his family. There have been many times I've seen characters get lit on fire, but seeing Steve was so sudden to see I wasn't able to handle it. Last but not least, Toni Collette gives a masterclass performance in the role of Annie. From just her face alone, you know every bit of emotion she is going through: Pain, Stress, Anger, and Fear. She is in pain because her family is falling apart. She is stressed because she doesn't want to lose her grip on humanity. She is angry for not having any bit of control she thinks she has. And she is afraid of not ever being happy. Seeing her go through all of that is what makes her unintentionally terrifying to behold because you're never sure what will it take for her to mentally break. She couldn't help going to Joan because that was how hard she was trying to have some kind of momentum in being better than before. This was someone who was bound to crumble and seeing it slowly happen is the most tragic arc of the whole film. So by the time Paimon chooses to possess her to get to Peter, you just have that feeling to say 'Damn' because the hope vanished at that point for them to overcome the odds. This film without question took my breath away, but even a great film like this had moments that confused me more than it should. Going from the top, why would Steve wait until Annie is in the car to get the kids ready? He of all people should know not every kid would want to get ready on their own. I'm not going to be taking sides, but why would Annie think it would be a good idea for Charlie to go with Peter to a teen party with alcohol? The whole point may be to prevent Peter from drinking, but she could've done something different like have a cousin go with him if there was one. And I don't want to act like I'm blaming Charlie either, but why didn't she ask the other teens if there were nuts in the cake before she ate a piece? I get that she is shy but she definitely would've saved herself from death from quickly asking such an integral question. It's even worse when you realize no one takes the EpiPen anywhere for this to be prevented. I can give a pass at the funeral, but Annie should've remembered it for the party's sake. I even thought it was weird for Annie to not check in on Peter when he came home since she was texting and calling while he was at the party. Sure it makes her reaction more dramatic, but it's odd how she didn't follow up on her kids when she was briefly yet rightfully worried. If I gotta question anything about the demon Paimon, why does it take so long to possess Peter? It clearly waits long enough for someone to be vulnerable and Charlie was easily that, but after she died, it would make sense for Paimon to go to straight to Peter since his grief would've made him vulnerable for sure. I know this makes the reveal more compelling, but Paimon wastes time because Peter is arguably at his lowest compared to Annie. I'm even wondering where exactly was the ball from Peter's room? I know Paimon is taunting him, but it's pretty weird how it comes from the air like it was hanging from a coat rack. And I can't be the only one wondering why Peter is the only one at school to notice Joan hex him. If it's part of the enchantment where she can convince everyone to ignore her and solelly get Peter's attention, that should be clarified. Ignore these said issues and you'll still be able to appreciate the movie for what it is. In conclusion, Hereditary is the best film from 2018 for pushing the right boundaries to make it an unforgettable experience. You don't think horror can break you? Good luck with this.
If you or someone you know is struggling with depression or thoughts of suicide, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255.
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