Hereditary (2018)

I honestly didn’t even know this movie existed until like a month ago. When I asked for suggestions for movies I hadn’t seen yet and people sounded off. Most of the suggestions were for stuff I’d already seen or for stuff I will literally never watch. Because fuck the Warrens.

 

But my wonderful mother, who I’ve nicknamed Debbie (Yay! Recurring jokes!) recommended that I watch Hereditary. She has been very adamant that I watch this movie in particular, but wouldn’t tell me anything about it other than it was “fucked up and you have to REALLY pay attention to get it.” I love my mother and I respect her opinions even if we don’t share the same ones, so I saw it that same day she recommended it whilst shopping and I bought it without even reading the back. She went on and on about how I HAVE to watch it and how it was such a surprise. She’s been nagging me since then to watch it, so we could talk about it, but I told her it would have to wait till October. It’s been almost month. I then told her at the start of this I’d be reviewing it on October 30th because I knew how much she wanted me to watch it and I found this to be extremely funny.

What can I say? I’m a terrible son and suffering makes me giggle.

She’s been going on and on about it though. About how I wont see the ending coming *scoff* and how there are so many things I’ll miss *Pshaw*. To be honest, I thought she was full of shit. Sorry, ma. In my defense though, she thought The Others was an amazing movie when it came out and raved about the twist ending for that too. *Blech* Also, she loves the Warrens.

She might have raised me on Horror films and got me started, but our tastes have evolved and differed drastically over the years. But after all the awful jokes I’ve made at her expense (only because I know she’ll keep reading this regardless) I’m watching it now. Are ya’ happy, Debbie?

*Pops in DVD* *Watches it to completion*

Touchè, mom. Touchè. What the Hell did I just watch? What do I even write about this? This is by far the hardest review I’ve had to write so far.

I guess we’ll start with the summary… No, we wont because I don’t even know how to write that. This movie changes direction and changes tones so many times I’m pretty sure I just watched three different movies in one sitting. A family deals with the death of their grandmother/mother and then weird shit starts happening. All sorts of weird shit. Weird shit that may or may not even be related, but probably is. Just weird shit all over the place.

Bruh, I walked into this knowing that I had to pay attention, but I had no idea what to pay attention to… and I still didn’t see any of it coming.

The performances (FROM EVERYONE) were absolutely phenomenal. I can’t say a single negative thing about any of them. Toni Collette as Annie, the mother of the family who just lost her own mother and is struggling to keep it all together, is superb. She is tortured, and flawed, and believable. Her character has so many layers to her and at times reminded me of my own mother, which is going to make for fun/weird conversation when I chat my mother’s ear off about this later. Alex Wolff who plays the older sibling Peter was a rockstar too. He has such a huge arch to his character and he nails every aspect of it. I really enjoyed him on screen even if I wished he’d just use some damn conditioner…

Gurl, we needs to get you some Herbal Essence STAT!

Hell, even the Dad was great. He didn’t have much to do, but he was great. He didn’t seem to give much of a shit at all about anything and seemed to just want everyone to be happy. Which you see later is just because everything/one around him is crazy and he’s trying his best to hold it all together. BUT the real show stealer (show thief?) here was Charlie, played by Milly Shapiro. Holy Jesus, Buddha, and Vishnu is she creepy as crap. And no, I’m not just saying this because of her looks. I could be wrong, but I think she has Cleidocranial dysostosis just like the kid from Stranger Things, but I don’t think for a second Gaten Matarazzo could pull of this kind of a performance.

I still love you though, Gaten. You adorable little bastard.

Milly is so freaking out of this world amazing as Charlie. Charlie as a character is so beautifully written and acted. As with every one of these characters she is extremely layered and you have no idea what to expect from her each scene to the next.

Again, the story… I really can’t. Just watch it, dude. I really have nothing to say other than what I already have without IMMEDIATELY entering Spoiler territory. The whole thing is weird. The pacing is all over the place. At certain times you feel like it’s draaaaaagging on and then you immediately find yourself blinking furiously and begging it to slow down, so you can get a handle on what just happened.

Also, you were right, ma. I really didn’t expect the ending. In fact, I didn’t expect the final act to go ANYTHING close to how it did. Holy frick, was that last altercation scary as hell and SO well done. This movie is DEFINITELY not everyone’s cup of tea. This is not an Earl Grey kind of movie. I can ABSOLUTELY understand if you didn’t like this or even hated it. But there’s no arguing that Ari Aster, who wrote and directed this, made a beautiful film. He has a keen eye and a weird vision and I’m excited for anything else he is attached to. Whether you like the movie or not he is extremely talented. Same goes for Milly Shapiro. She is a freaking gift and I look forward to seeing more of her.

I really don’t know how to rate this one. 7.5 out of 10 seems more than fair. I fully intend on watching it again (multiple times) to try and pick up on all the little nuances and junk I missed, so I reserve the right to change that rating at a future date. You know what? Just based on the fact that it makes me want/need to re-watch it (for better or worse) I’ma bump it up to an 8 out of 10.

Please, for the love of everything sound off. On here or on any of my social media platforms, or even in person. I really want to discuss this one. There’s so much right and wrong with it and there’s so much ambiguity. I love it and I want to hear your thoughts.
Shit… Now I know how my mom felt…

Here’s to another successful night here at Gotham’s 31 Days of Horror.
Typing that out it really should have been NIGHTS of Horror…
Oh well, the pace has picked up and I’m excited for what’s next. See you tomorrow.

And as always….

You know the drill by now.
#stayspooky