Hereditary (2018) - movie review

Hereditary (2018)

Rating  - 5/5

Cast : Toni Collette, Gabriel Byrne, Alex Wolff, Milly Shapiro

Directed by Ali Aster

Review by Zulfiqar

Horror is a genre, which I have always ventured a little tentatively. Whole throughout my life, I have seen just a handful of them. And to be fair, I have squint-saw them in their supposedly juicy but fearful bits. But the satisfaction of finding art in this heckle-raising genre for me personally has been a futile experience. I find it not an art but as an exploitation. But then, as I mentioned my view is anemic as I haven’t seen many of them. My opinion however changed when I watched ‘Conjuring’. It gave me a notion that even horror has an artistic facet to it. But, ‘hereditary’ confirmed for me that this genre is a great branch of craftsmanship in genius hands.

Ali Aster absolutely overpowers the audience with chills as much as with his wonderful writing this epic horror movie. The horror element he provides on the platter in various ways. The most scared thing he does is introducing themes like loneliness, forlornness, despair and then not providing cushion or comfort by not following up with a comforting scene. Starting from the eerie woody locales to the disjointed mental structure of the family which suffers the jitters and turmoil, it is a dark movie, with no end as relief.

The plot has a family at its centre, parents and two kids. Mother, Annie, is a miniature model artist, whose own mom’s funeral forms the starting point of the story. The old lady had been a matriarch and is a dubious figure of motherhood and psychology. Annie’s husband, Steve, is the most sane guy. The elder kid is a shy teenager, while the younger daughter is an introvert girl, who knows that her elder brother doesn’t prefer her company. She spends most of her time, wandering in the jungle around her house and making pencil sketches. A disturbing event happens one night and the family is pulled into a quagmire of psychic turmoil, which is too much for everyone but most importantly for the onesoff the screen and cowering in their seats.

Ali Aster plays it very nice in a deceptive way when he conducts the story in two ways. In fact, I can say that the movie is a coin which has two sides and each side makes perfect sense in its own way. Aster rocks the plot to and fro, giving the illusion that it could be either an out and out horror allegory or it could be a deep psychiatric study of minds. However, he had stated in numerous interviews that his vision always had only one facet. Guessing, which one it was, proved to be a futile chore for me.

The movie at any point doesn’t look contrived nor it has that cinematic suggestion. The latter point is evident by the firm brushstrokes, which depicts the scenes. Even when the movie is brewing with mild trepid-ity in its initial one hour, the tone has a macabre and eerie feel, which is further accentuated by the locales and the performances. Much has been already said about Toni Collette’s performance, which definitely is over the top. But she had done similar mother-role in ‘sixth sense’ and I felt she had matched it in intensity. Here, she adds the psychotic tone to it and thus excels. Milly Shapiro’s casting does half the work for her role, while Alex Wolff gives a decent performance as the son.

But Colin Stetson’s score is completely another story here. It is as eerie as the whole movie and its dirge like tone lingers with us till the next day, making you sleepless and always on the lookout for some jack-in-the-box moments of horror. This is the type of movie, which leaves you exhausted not just by making you dread about the dead, but also by making us linger on the dreariness of loss and helplessness regarding it. That is the real slice of horror, which will unnerve you, as this does.