Hereditary
After the family matriarch passes away, a grieving family is haunted by tragic and disturbing occurrences, and begin to unravel dark secrets.
Cast
Toni Collette – Annie Graham
Alex Wolff – Peter
Milly Shapiro – Charlie
Gabriel Byrne – Steve Graham
Ann Dowd – Joan
Horrifying Heritage
Hereditary is one hell of a sinister movie. It is twisted and dark with a constant feel of dread, especially whenever Collette is on screen, which is around 90% of the time so there you have it – prepare yourself for an hour or so of total unease..
Hats off to Collete, the actress smashes her way through the movie with constant energy. She’s generally good in what she does, but here she is the epitome of pure talent. Her character is fuelled by rage, being up one moment then down to rock bottom the next. Crying, screaming, doing strange things in her sleep.. Annie is a character caught in such emotional turmoil that she is miles apart from some mother figures seen in movies recently. She’s excellent, and carries the entire movie singlehandedly – it’s practically her movie – and is backed up nicely by a strong cast who play her remaining family members. The sense of dread the story cooks up is heightened by each individual cast member.
Wolff brings a hormonal character to the table whose experience of young adult life is cut short when his seemingly normal high school life is turned upside down as a family revelation is discovered.
Shapiro. She is one of the darkest things about the movie, bringing a young girl to the table who is so socially awkward and strange that she couldn’t have been better cast. It’s mainly her face that does it. With no offence to the actress intended her facial features are half-unique, half-ugly so she fits into Hereditary superbly. In no other movie (different genre) would she have such a striking presence, it’s excellent casting. An unusual face, sinister personality, a tale of sheer misery. And this is just the tip of the iceberg before a most distressing scene takes place, which I guarantee will shock and stun many viewers. Be prepared..
Hereditary is doom, gloom and decapitated pidgeons encased in solid oak. The setting (the Graham house) is brought to life in unique style; with some brilliant camerawork during the movie’s opening scene. It splits two worlds perfectly by way of a dollhouse motif; shown in wide shot the camera zooms in on one of the dollhouse bedrooms which suddenly becomes the real world with Steve (Byrne) entering his son’s room on the morning of a family funeral. This creepy but unique style boosts the movie’s dynamics 100% and immediately stands out authentically as different from many other recent films. It’s scarily artistic.
The End
If the whole film wasn’t fucked up enough, the finale will have you reeling with surprise – or disappointment – depending how you look at it. With a round-up of family revelation, all characters are put in their places (literally) as they come together like pieces of a puzzle to form completion. Only it’s sinister as fuck, with the final revelation being one of the most unimaginably horrifying plots this family could ever have anticipated.
Think of someone like Amy Schumer, or Helen Mirren acting terrified and then switching to angry. Two actresses of completely different style and generation. Now think of Toni Collette doing the same thing. They just don’t compare do they? There’s nothing much there when you put them against Collette. This woman is natural talent and a superb casting choice for any movie, bringing constant theatrics. It doesn’t matter what she is in – comedy or tragedy – Toni Collette adapts to the script and delivers a character who is truly believable, whatever the scenario. Just brilliant.
Hereditary is worth a watch purely for its authenticity and sinister collection of scenes so twisted you’ll think The Exorcist was produced by Disney. This one provides much needed entertainment given the current state of Hollywood, regardless of its ending.
Will you like it? Will you hate it?
Ricky's Film Reviews 