HEREDITARY
A Death In The Family
Debutant director Ari Aster’s harrowing chiller centres on a psychologically damaged family.
released 15 June 15 | 126 minutes Director ari aster Cast Toni Collette, Gabriel Byrne, alex Wolff, Millie shapiro
Sometimes, very rarely, a film comes along that’s so tense, so oppressive, so affecting and so terrifying that watching it almost feels unbearable. That’s the case with Hereditary, which premiered at Sundance to rave reviews claiming the movie was too scary and this generation’s The Exorcist. They’re not wrong.
It begins with a funeral. The mother of Toni Collette’s stressed miniature artist Annie has passed away, and only Annie’s odd, old-beyond-her years daughter Charlie (Milly Shapiro) seems upset. The death of this family matriarch unearths buried family secrets and suppressed emotions. And then something happens, and nothing will ever be okay again...
Hereditary is a movie that is definitely best watched going in cold, so we won’t explain anything further about the plot. Instead, we’ll issue a warning: an event at the end of act one is so shocking that it’s impossible to unsee. The movie is so soaked with anguish and pain that it’s almost guaranteed to ruin your evening. And the scares – which are wholeheartedly supernatural; none of that “it’s a psychological thriller” nonsense going on here – are so intense that you might pull a muscle.
As Annie, Collette is extraordinary, a broken woman flipping between guilt and rage, crushed under the terrible weight of her grief. Gabriel Byrne provides strong support as the stoic husband trying to maintain some semblance of normality, while Alex Wolff is terrific as their disaffected stoner son, suffering at the heart of a family falling apart. Although this is unashamedly a horror film we hope awards will be forthcoming.
It’s enormously impressive, then, that this is the directorial debut of Ari Aster. The production design is as obsessively detailed as Annie’s miniatures, working perfectly to add to the sense you’re watching a Greek tragedy unfold. Hereditary is unforgettable, bravura filmmaking which will join “best horror” lists… but approach with care. Rosie Fletcher