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Review: Hereditary (2018) ★★★★

<p class&equals;"p1"><span class&equals;"s1">I will fully admit that I give horror films the benefit of the doubt more often than I should&period; The genre is comprised of an inordinate number of derivative&comma; formulaic B-movies&comma; and yet we continue to come back for more&comma; because every once in a while there is a brilliant film that comes along to surprise us&period; And&comma; generally speaking&comma; even &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;bad” horror films are more enjoyable to watch &lpar;and more fun to dissect&rpar; than&comma; say&comma; a bad dramatic film or a bad comedy&period; Keeping in mind that I am not as harsh on horror films&comma; I will say that the number one criteria I consider when determining how I feel about a given horror film is whether or not it is actually scary&period; Oddly enough&comma; most horror films just aren’t that scary&period; So when one comes out that is genuinely frightening&comma; I am inclined to heap praise on it&comma; whether or not the other elements that make a quality film are present&period; In Ari Aster’s <em>Hereditary<&sol;em>&comma; the scares come in relatively late in the film&comma; but they are certainly worth the wait&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"p1"><span class&equals;"s1"><em>Hereditary<&sol;em>’s title is a bit of a misnomer&comma; as it gave me an inaccurate conception of what the film would be&period; This probably works in its favor&comma; as I found myself surprised at the direction the story took at various times throughout&period; Having said that&comma; when taken as a whole&comma; the story follows a relatively familiar trajectory&period; Annie &lpar;Toni Collette&rpar; is a wife and mother who constructs miniature representations of houses and people&comma; often taken directly from her own interactions&period; She lives with her husband&comma; Steve &lpar;Gabriel Byrne&rpar;&comma; their teenage son&comma; Peter &lpar;Alex Wolff&rpar;&comma; and their younger daughter&comma; Charlie &lpar;Milly Shapiro&rpar;&period; Charlie is a reclusive child who hardly speaks&comma; engaging in antisocial behavior and making frequent clicking noises with her tongue&period; Annie’s mother&comma; Ellen&comma; has recently passed away&comma; and during her eulogy it is revealed that Annie’s relationship with her mother has been strained for years&period; We also discover that there is a history of mental illness in the family&comma; which seems to weigh on Annie as she grapples with the death of her mother&period; As the story develops&comma; the family’s secrets are slowly revealed&comma; and Annie struggles to keep the family united through difficult times&period; I hesitate to give anymore information about the film&comma; as it is best to know as little as possible going into it&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"p1"><span class&equals;"s1">Though it has its faults and is certainly a slow burn&comma; <em>Hereditary<&sol;em> tells an emotionally gripping and intense story&period; At times it even manages to be funny&comma; with some of the chaos of Annie’s life manifesting itself as manic comedy&period; In spite of this&comma; the film is very dark&comma; often downright morbid&period; The need for resolution builds with each passing event&comma; hitting a dramatic &lpar;and shocking&rpar; crescendo early on&comma; before returning to its slow ascent into the final horrific conclusion&period; It is the structure&comma; more than anything else&comma; that leaves the viewer on the edge of their seat&comma; desperate for answers and curious to see how exactly the horror will emerge&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;1437" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-1437" style&equals;"width&colon; 850px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"wp-image-1437" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;philosophyinfilm&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2018&sol;06&sol;Hereditary-1170x507-300x130&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"850" height&equals;"368" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-1437" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">Hereditary &lpar;2018&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"p1"><span class&equals;"s1">Despite the quality of the script&comma; the performances are not always on the same level&period; Toni Collette is fantastic in her role as the neurotic&comma; emotionally distant mother&period; She leaves us questioning whether or not her mind is playing tricks on her&comma; while still maintaining a level of believability that makes us identify with her character&period; Gabriel Byrne gives a capable performance as the husband&comma; and though his role is relatively important for the story&comma; he remains in the background for the majority of the film&period; Milly Shapiro made her debut as Charlie&comma; and she is perfect as the creepy&comma; strange child no one quite understands&period; The majority of the cast does an admirable job&comma; but unfortunately&comma; Alex Wolff’s portrayal of the troubled teenage son leaves much to be desired&period; Throughout the film&comma; he gives flashes of being a competent &lpar;even exceptional&rpar; actor&comma; lending the right amount of emotional gravitas to the role while still maintaining the indifferent surliness that teenagers so often embody&period; However&comma; in a few scenes&comma; his ability to show vulnerability is downright laughable&comma; and there are other times when the script does him no favors&period; Having a teenager scream&comma; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Mommy&excl;” when they are frightened is both annoying and ridiculous&period; If not for these few scenes when his acting abilities are stretched beyond their limits&comma; he does a decent job of exhibiting the hints of mental illness that run in the family&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"p1"><span class&equals;"s1">All in all&comma; <em>Hereditary<&sol;em> is an exceptional horror film that sets the perfect pace as it lures the audience into a false sense of security&period; The ending is terrifying&comma; and there are just enough unique twists in the film to be different from other similar plots&period; <em>Hereditary<&sol;em> is also not for the faint of heart&comma; and there are definitely some pretty graphic scenes&comma; so fair warning&period; However&comma; if you can tolerate a bit of gore and some genuine scares&comma; <em>Hereditary<&sol;em> is an excellent film that will stick with you for a long time&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"p1"><span class&equals;"s1">Rating&colon; <&sol;span><span class&equals;"s2">&starf;&starf;&starf;&starf;<&sol;span><span class&equals;"s1"> out of 5<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>Hereditary<&sol;em> is available to purchase via Amazon <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;amazon&period;com&sol;gp&sol;product&sol;B07DJ1BXPM&sol;ref&equals;as&lowbar;li&lowbar;qf&lowbar;asin&lowbar;il&lowbar;tl&quest;ie&equals;UTF8&amp&semi;tag&equals;mjones34880c-20&amp&semi;creative&equals;9325&amp&semi;linkCode&equals;as2&amp&semi;creativeASIN&equals;B07DJ1BXPM&amp&semi;linkId&equals;31de9bda551fea2cb4cfea02a7b5fbda"><u>here<&sol;u><&sol;a>&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;

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