Hereditary (2018)
IMDb genre: Drama/Horror/Mystery
Director: Ari Aster
Writer: Ari Aster
Starring: Toni Collette, Milly Shapiro, Gabriel Byrne
IMDb summary: After the family matriarch passes away, a grieving family is haunted by tragic and disturbing occurrences, and begin to unravel dark secrets.
I can definitely see why this is one of those 'Marmite' movies but I'm going to be one of those people & say I'm in the middle! The acting was too outstanding for me to say I hated it but the last thirty minutes went too off the rails for me to say I loved it.
First of all let's talk about Toni Collette. She is the glue that holds this film together. Her acting is out of this world; she makes sure you feel the grief right along with her character. We watch this woman fall apart and it hurts. She's also not afraid to get ugly towards the end which I liked.
Although Toni Collette is top of the pile there's no bad acting here. I'm amazed Milly Shapiro is an unknown & she really holds her own. Gabriel Byrne plays his character a little too uptight for my personal liking but it does make an interesting comparison with Toni Collette's character. Last but not least, Alex Wolff is responsible for, in my opinion, the most horrifying moment of the film, it all hangs on his facial expressions & he nails it. Quite the difference from Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle!
This one's definitely a slow burn that keeps you entertained by dropping subtle hints, a confusing timeline & some downright gorgeous shots. However, as it picks up speed in the last half an hour it derails for me. It all gets a bit confusing and loud and the payoff just wasn't there for me.
Speaking of loud, the soundtrack is incredibly unsettling but you're constantly aware of it because it's irritating so it depends what you want in your horror movie soundtrack, for me it was too distracting.
I'd say this is definitely worth a watch, to see what the fuss is about if nothing else!
General Opinion:
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Toni Collette pushes this above average.
Scare Factor:
🕷️🕷️🕷️🕷️🕷️🕷️🕷️
Not a jump scare movie but it's unsettling & I've been thinking about it for days which is a good sign.
Gore:
💉💉💉💉
Surprisingly gory but in my opinion it didn't add anything and felt added purely for shock value.
Clowns:
🤡
This is not a funny movie.
