Hereditary (15)
I like to consider myself an aficionado of horror; it’s the movie genre I love above all others.
From slasher movies and creature features to found-footage and a seemingly never-ending series of sequels and remakes, I’ve been a horror fan ever since I sneakily stayed up late to watch Hammer flicks on the TV when I was a kid.
The beauty of the genre is that, just when you think it may be losing its touch and dying out among a stream of lazy retreads, along comes a film like Hereditary to restore your faith.
I can honestly say I’ve never seen a movie quite like this, which is a testament to the sterling work put in by writer-director Ari Aster – astonishingly making his feature film debut – and his virtuoso cast.
I want to give away as little of Hereditary’s plot as possible, but the main gist of the story is the impact a matriarch’s death has on her family; couple Annie (Toni Collette) and Steve (Gabriel Byrne) and their teenage children Peter (Alex Wolff) and Charlie (Milly Shapiro).
What follows is an attack on your nerves, emotions and senses as Aster takes you on a terrifying two-hour journey to hell and back.
Hereditary has been labelled “this generation’s Exorcist” and while it shares a few similarities with the seminal 1973 flick, this really does deserve to stand on its own two feet as a beacon for modern horror.