Modern horror cinema is certainly in an interesting place. Most successful horror movies follow the same formula, giving audiences nothing more than a few cheap jump scares. But every now and then, you hear a lot of talk from film festivals about a new horror film that is supposedly fantastic, challenging, even game-changing. This is the case with Hereditary, the debut feature from director Ari Aster. When you read reviews claiming you’re about to see this generation’s The Exorcist or The Shining, it’s impossible not to be both excited and skeptical. I went into the film completely blind, not having seen a trailer or even knowing anything about the plot. Did it live up to the hype? Well, it’s complicated.

Hereditary stars Toni Collette as Annie Graham, a woman who has recently lost her mother. Shortly after this, another tragedy occurs, and Annie’s psyche begins to unravel as dark family secrets are slowly revealed, haunting not only herself, but her teenage son (Alex Wolff) too.

Ari Aster’s film is impressive, especially considering it’s his debut feature. You can feel Aster’s confidence in the production, right from the astonishing opening shot. Aster plunges the audience into a deeply uneasy atmosphere, which holds out for most of the film (we’ll come back to that). This is helped by some truly stunning cinematography from Pawel Pogorzelski, as well as a wonderfully foreboding score by Colin Stetson. The performances are also top-notch, especially from Toni Collette; she gives a career-best performance here, perfectly capturing the complexity of her character. She steals every scene that she’s in, adding some serious emotional weight to the production.

The first half of the film is truly exceptional. The eerie atmosphere, gorgeous visuals, and powerhouse performances culminate in a spine-chilling scene at the end of the first act. It’s one of the best sequences in any horror film I’ve seen; it’s deeply upsetting and completely subverts what audiences have come to expect from films like this. Even more disturbing is the long silence that follows this sequence, allowing the audience to sit in stunned horror as we recover from what just occurred. This shocking twist was exactly what I wanted from this film, and I was excited to see how the rest of the film would play out.

Sadly, the film’s second half is where it begins to fall apart. The film soon loses its hold when the real plot starts to kick in. The first half focuses on the characters, particularly Collette’s damaged and distraught Annie. The second half loses that, becoming more focused on reams of plot exposition, and unfortunately this is a plot that has been done before. To watch the film devolve into cheap storytelling after such a promising first half is disheartening. The final act feels like something out of a Blumhouse production, abandoning the sophistication of the first half and replacing it with a resolution that feels almost comical. Nothing in the second half of the film is as effective as the aforementioned shocking twist at the end of the first act. The film peaked far too early, and the second half feels almost as if Aster didn’t have an ending in sight when he started filming.

Genuinely great horror films are becoming increasingly rare these days. So it’s easy to see why a film as well-crafted as Hereditary has received the attention that it has. There’s a lot to love about it: the direction, cinematography, music, and performances are all fantastic. But the film’s third act almost completely derails everything that came before, giving us a cheap and laughable ending that doesn’t fit at all with the tone the film set up in its first half. I admire Hereditary. It’s an exceptionally well-made and atmospheric piece. I also think that Ari Aster is certainly a director to watch out for in the future. All that being said, Hereditary failed to stick the landing for me. Had the second half been as effective and disturbing as the first, I would’ve loved it. Nevertheless, Hereditary is still much better than most current horror releases, and is worth a watch for horror fans.







Author Details Seán Flynn Contributor Seán Flynn is in his early twenties and lives in a small town in Ireland. His ultimate passion is film, and he spends a great deal of his time getting trains to Dublin City to see obscure indie movies. He works at a cinema, and also enjoys reading. Favourite authors include J.R.R. Tolkien, Stephen King, J.K. Rowling, and George R.R. Martin. He has written reviews for ‘Grand Central Magazine’.