‘HEREDITARY’ Review

It’s like clockwork. Every year (or at least every other year), there is a horror film that screens at Sundance and shakes audiences to their core. Critics attending the festival quickly jump on said film and throw out pull quotes like “The Scariest Film Since [Insert iconic horror film title here]”. Some of it comes from the heart and belief of that critic, some of it may come from a sleep deprived brain that just knows to say something outlandish to the PR rep so they can move to the next screening, party or go to sleep (keep in mind, most horror films screen at Midnight at Sundance thanks to The Blair Witch Project). Every horror fan hears about this “Scariest Film Since…” film that gets buzzed about and is either anxious to see it so maybe they can have that feeling they’ve had when they got into genre cinema (“Chasing the Dragon” is a term that I think fits this) or you have horror fans that either buy into the hype so much that they get ultimately let down and tear the film apart. Hereditary is this year’s “Scariest Film Since..” and while I have learned to keep my expectations in check, I can honestly say that experiencing this film is ultimately a mixed bag – and it frustrates me to no end.

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Writer/Director Ari Aster is someone who made a splash with his 2011 controversial short film, The Strange Thing About the Johnsons [Watch on Vimeo]. Seven years later, A24 (the company that always has my attention and is probably the best fit for Aster) is releasing Aster’s feature-film debut with Hereditary. The film stars Toni Collette, Gabriel Byrne, Alex Wolff (who I dug as John Backderf in My Friend Dahmer) and introduces Milly Shapiro. Typically, I would give you a basic run down of the plot but I feel that the less told about the film, the better. However, going in blind as a horror fan – especially if you have seen many horror films – may not help you as you will probably already know where the film will end up but what is interesting is the journey getting there (even if the end is predictable on paper but unconventional in delivery).

Aster directs this film with a confidence which allows the audience to be putty in his hands as he molds a strange tale of a family relationship that unravels as the film progresses. While I was reacting to everything throughout the film and realizing that I was witnessing something that hit every note pitch perfect, suddenly two-thirds of the way through, the fiddle was becoming out of tune. Some may say that this is what Aster wanted – get comfortable (might not be the best word for this film) in an environment and then start taking away that comfortability away piece by piece – but I feel that he may have exhausted himself once he saw the finish line. There are a few twists in the film with the second major one being the drive of the final act (that when you see a few scenes, seasoned horror fan, you’ll immediately know where it is going) that start off interesting but by the time we get to the final act feels comedic and cheap. Wolff’s performance starts getting over-dramatic and becomes a caricature complete with whining that you would hear from a child of 9 years old when shit is hitting the fan (keep in mind, he is playing a teenager in high school) while Collette seems to reach back in her “The United States of Tara” days and tries to bring a performance that is unhinged but unfortunately lacks focus.

In the end, there are some genuine tense scenes in the film – worthy of conversation. I felt for the family for over half of the film (this is a 2+ hour film) but when you get to a certain point in the film, and trust me, you’ll feel it, you feel cheated and deprived of all the fantastic work that was done in the past. It is the final 20-25 minutes where Hereditary derails and while you’re on the ride, no matter what, by the end you may question if you should’ve jumped off when you had the chance. A24 brings us another challenging piece of work that will definitely divide genre fans and while I haven’t been on the positive for A24’s contributions to horror (which seem to always get questioned on Social Media and via the film’s directors if they are actual horror films), I will always go see what they are bringing to the table.