Since it was first shown at the Sundance Film Festival, January 21, 2018, most of the audience and critics, said that Hereditary, is a horror film that is very emotional, sad (in a positive connotation) and scary.
This compliment feels even cooler and meaningful considering that this film is the full-length debut of director Ari Aster ( The Strange Thing About the Johnsons ), who was previously better known for directing short films .
Based on this review , it's no wonder that we can't wait to see a film that is acted by a super talented actress, Toni Collette ( Little Miss Sunshine , Imperium ) who in this film, plays a wife and mother of 2 children, Annie Graham, who after the death of her mother His biological son Ellen (Taper Leigh), himself and his family, experience super scary supernatural events.
Then is Hereditary really as terrible as it says?
Eyes & Brains Are Really Confused
As you can see in the title, Hereditary is not just spooky. The horror of this film really makes the eyes of the audience and the brain that processes visual transfer really unsettling. Anyway, the horror directly attacks the psychological side!
Even from the opening scene which shows the atmosphere of Ellen's private funeral, Aster immediately raises the tension to 90. He is truly a genius in managing the tension in the scene. In other words, he knows when to tease the fear nerve, and when to let go of the awakened horror.
And more importantly, he doesn't just show scary scenes that make the heart startle itself. Yes, indeed, there are 1-2 scenes that make the heart "discoy" but, even then, when shown, it is indeed a scary scene, aka, not just a "false jump-scare " . The tension is getting tenser , with Colin Steston's ( 12 Years a Slave ) scoring that is very gripping.
Charlie = The New Damien Thorn?
In addition to successfully showing his ability to direct the story and tension, in this debut, Aster also managed to amaze us with his direction of the entire cast . Geeks swear ! There is no “sluggish” performance at all in this film. All the actors put on the same “mentally sick” performance.
Collette once again shows us why she is one of the most respected actresses in Hollywood. The Lynn Sear in the hit psychology-horror, The Sixth Sense (1999), really succeeded in reviving the grief and misfortune experienced by Annie which was once again caused by the death of her mother and the behavior of her two "remarkable" children in particular, the youngest, Charlie. (Milly Shapiro).
Crazy Geeks! Since she was shown in the first scene, the figure of this little girl immediately made us uncomfortable. His aura feels very mystical. Automatically we are also more curious to know more about him.
We also immediately imagined the legendary horror child character, Damien Thorn (Harvey Spencer Stephens) in The Omen (1976). Although indeed, in terms of character and portion of the role, Charlie is not as significant as the "son of the devil".
Tension Drop Towards the End of the Movie
When the tension has tightened, the performances of all the actors have been really good, and the metaphor of suffering and regret has been displayed very admirably, it's a shame that all of them drop towards the end and even when the ending is shown.
We certainly can't tell what the ending will be like . But let's just say, at a time when we thought that the spooky events that occurred were caused by "logical" mystical factors, such as the final move of WWE wrestler Randy Orton, RKO out of nowhere , we were surprised by the revelation of the cause that according to we personally, a little annoying. Although, if you think about it, it still looks very reasonable.
So, based on this statement, it can be said that Hereditary is not a film that will satisfy the entire audience. The reason is, when we see the ending , we are sure there will be 50% who like it and 50% who don't. In other words, the horror that Hereditary displays is very subjective to each of its audiences.
Will Get An Oscar Nomination?
However, Hereditary , like it's A Quiet Place, which was released in early April, is the best and smartest horror film released in 2018. Given these positive aspects, hopefully at the 91st Academy Awards in 2019, the film it will win Oscar nominations especially Best Actress for Collette and Best Supporting Actress for Shapiro.
Indeed, we are aware that based on the history of this film industry's highest award, it is very rare for the horror genre to be nominated for this award. But considering that Get Out (2017) at the 90th Academy Awards in early March 2018 was successfully nominated and even won an Oscar, it seems that the chance for Hereditary to achieve the same success is not impossible. Well, let's just wait & see geeks!