Hereditary - 2018 Horror Film

Watched it last night. I'm still digesting it. It moved at a slow pace until the end. I don't think I understood what I was watching until the last 2 or 3 minutes. I don't want t give away too much to those who haven't seen it, but the finale brought it home. As someone who watched it before me said, "pay attention to the funeral scene."

 

The movie scared the bejeezus out of me, but the very last sequence is a big dud, IMO. Not a big deal because the rest is shockingly good. Thumbs up from me.

 

I loved it. There's a lot of layers so it has plenty to think about and digest, so it's going to have me thinking for a bit and I may go for a second viewing (my screening had mediocre sound). It reminded me of The Witch somewhat b/c of it's structure, but that's about it. I think this is a great one to experience on the big screen.

 

I really liked it too, saw it this morning. And thankfully, unlike most of my other recent theater trips, everyone shut up and just watched. I didn't hear anyone talking. The sound was well done,

Spoiler: spoiler

particularly the audio of the flies, which first had me thinking one might be in the theater just over my shoulder.

I knew nothing of the plot save for what was in the preview. It was much more deliberate than I expected, but I was never bored.

Spoiler: spoiler

I was very surprised by the early death of Charlie.

 

The movie is not doing well with audiences:

Hereditary Receives Shockingly Low D+ CinemaScore

Also, while the film has a 93% critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes, the audience score is 62%.

It’s that final scene, I tell you.

 

I don't think so at all. The final sequence is probably what standard horror audiences want more of. I imagine most just found it too slow and deliberate. They want jump scares, accented by loud violin sounds.

 

There are no jump scares in the final sequence I’m talking about. That happens just before—and that part is great.

 

There aren't really jump scares in the whole movie. Not the standard lame-o, done to death ones you usually get, anyway. I think the final sequence is when things are happening, and more obviously so. But by that point, impatient people have already checked out, I think. I don't have a problem with the ending at all. I just think people are conditioned to accept about 90 minutes for horror movies. This one is two hours long and most of the action is backloaded. That's just fine with me, but I'm not surprised plenty of people aren't rating it high.

 

Maybe you’re right. All I can say is that very last sequence brought me down in a big way from what had come before.

Btw, the first cut of the movie was three hours long. Can you imagine...?

 

Wow, didn't know that. I would love to see all the cut material as a special feature on the blu-ray. But I think the length is right where its at.

 

Why didn't you like the ending?

 

Is it possible that this is a thinking persons' horror movie, and the majority of the audience was expected a typical "slash-and-burn" and jump scare type of horror movie? You know, akin to an action movie having the perfunctory car chase scene and and action scenes that run far too long?

 

Spoiler

I found the scene in the treehouse—with the naked people, the headless bodies and the explanation for everything—lame and unsatisfying compared to what came before.

 

Yes. For me it was that final scene, though.

 

Spoiler

was it the execution of it all or the occult aspect?

 

I saw the movie again Saturday evening.

Again, no spoilers, but there is a unbelievable amount of subtle foreshadowing that I missed on first viewing, as well as certain lines of dialogue that occur early in the film that explain questions I gained later in my first viewing.

In addition, there were things in frames that I never saw the first time around that continued to scare the crap out of me!

Best analysis video I've seen so far (spoilers, of course):

 

I saw it yesterday with my dad. It was the first time in a long time we saw a horror movie together and weren't disappointed.

It is definitely a slow burner that requires full attention, with details in every frame the casual viewer may miss. I'll wait a couple weeks to deal with spoilers if this discussion shall continue, but the emotional, family, grief, and mental illness aspects of this movie are so moving and intense so they may overshadow any potential supernatural elements in the film. It just goes to show that real life horrors can be worse than what goes bump in the night.

Toni Collette's performance should at least be nominated for an Oscar if not win her one.

I think the low audience scores in an age of zombie and torture porn gore-fests and CGI-filled comic book movies is a reflection of what mainstream audiences want out of modern horror, sci-fi and fantasy movies. And this film should wear it as a badge of honor. I'm actually surprised it got as mainstream a release as it did. It was definitely paced as more of an art-house film and reminded me of something I would have seen in college when I used to get $5 student tickets to see films at the local art-film theater chain.

Good on the director for avoiding a lot of horror cliches. There are several scenes where you'd expect cheap jump scares but don't get them, building tension throughout until finally you the viewer are shown something that you didn't want to see but knew was there. Hard to explain without spoilers.

 

All the little dioramas Annie makes are cool, but my favorite is the one of her breastfeeding her baby with the grandmother hovering over the bed trying to offer her breast. Really nails the family dynamic from Annie's perspective and works on multiple levels.

 

Creepy!

 

Here’s one critic who had a reaction similar to mine (spoilers within)...

About That ‘Hereditary’ Ending: Really?

I disagree that it spoils the film, though. It’s still well worth watching.

 

I laughed at the ending, out loud, and was not alone in doing so at the showing I was at.

 

When you start thinking of the Burger King mascot, as I did, you know something has gone wrong.

Did you like the rest of the movie?

 

I thought the first half was interesting if overwrought. Pretty much from Joanie's arrival onward I actively disliked the film. The notion that someone who was into what Grandma was into kept a photo album of candids and gave homemade welcome mats to her friends also made me laugh out loud. Full disclosure: This is a genre I rarely care for, and it was only the combination of a very strong RT number and a Movie Pass card that got me there.

 

I agree that it’s still well worth watching. I saw it last evening and it’s kind of stayed with me...horror movies that get under your skin like this one don’t come along too often. The ending reminded me of one of the episodes of “Masters of Horror”, the Showtime series from 2005. That aside, I look forward to seeing the movie again.

 

On the contrary, I felt that it was what was expected and set up earlier in the film. The only problem I had is that the end spelled everything out for the less sharp folks in the audIence. My guess is that Skydance Films (which helped finance the film) demanded the end explain things with each step as they tried to do with “Annihilation” (producer Scott Rodin rejected their request for a spelled out and upbeat ending).they were also behind “Terminator Genysis” and many other harebrained films (to be fair, they have coproduction other films that which were pretty good but it also didn’t challenge their audience). The guy running Skydance is a putz who doesn’t know what he’s doing.

Of course, I could be wrong.

I would set your expectations as it really isn’t a horror film per se but a supernatural thriller with some really creepy moments. Selling it as a horror film does a disservice to the film and to the audience re: expectations. It’s well made with some terrific performances.