'Hereditary:' A True Nightmare

I was skeptical walking into this movie. The trailer was creepy, but didn't really offer anything truly terrifying. It wasn't until the plot slowly started to develop that I realized I might not be going to bed tonight. This movie takes so many twists and turns right from the beginning that it almost feels like it's a little difficult to keep up. It's not until the first death that you slowly begin to understand just how messed up this movie will be.

Hereditary follows a family that has a history of past problems; quite a few of them are mental problems. Annie, played by the wonderful Toni Collette, has her mother pass away at the beginning of the film. Annie and her mother never really got along, and her father and her siblings have already passed on. Most of them suffered from severe depression, dementia, and schizophrenia. But after her mother passes, she begins to see these visions of her mother and decides to delve into her past. Without spoiling too much, let's just say her mother had some very evil spiritual rituals. Most of them satanic, praying to kings in hell and conjuring spirits of the past. This lays the ground work for the rest of film, all the way till the credits roll.

I will say that I think this is Toni Collette's best performance by far. Her terrified reactions, motherly love and hate, and pure emotion lead this film from start to finish. She almost makes it look effortless. Collette's dedication to the grieving mother role as well as her psychotic episodes really draw you into the film's haunting, puzzling mood. It is really refreshing to see her in a completely different role than we are used to. She normally plays the loving mother with severe family issues. Dealing with her kids as they struggle through their problems or having a failing marriage where her husband relentlessly cheats on her, putting the family through turmoil. I really hope to see her in more rated R scary/thrilling movies. She's such a dynamic actress who has such a beautiful range of emotion. She belongs on the big screen.

But her performance wasn't the only one that really sold me on this petrifying experience. Annie's son Peter, portrayed by Alex Wolff, really adds to the psychological terror aspect of Hereditary. He constantly bounces from a normal teenager to having to deal with repercussions from entities and his disturbed mother. At times, I feel just as bad for him as I do Annie. The poor kid never really gets a chance to be normal throughout the film. He suffers psychologically on the same scale, if not higher than Annie.

Last but certainly not least we have Charlie, played by Milly Shapiro. Milly is Annie's second child; her daughter. She was very close to her grandmother and seems to be the source for most of the creepy things that happen to the family. It's almost as if her grandmother latched onto Charlie for a reason. Charlie is an interesting character. She doesn't seem to have a lot of friends and she keeps it that way. Very quiet, very secluded from everyone else, she adds her own level of uneasiness and disturbing emotion to the film. And that one little clicking noise she makes is very unsettling. It's noise that if you hear it outside of the film, you WILL turn around and look behind you out of instinct. I've already used three times on a couple of my friends and it's hilarious.

Overall, Hereditary is spot on for what it aims to achieve. For those looking for a suspenseful, chair gripping experience, you won't be disappointed. I couldn't have asked for a better movie, let alone a better performance. I found myself intrigued yet also not being able to look at the screen for short periods of time. Hereditary doesn't rely on the traditional and kind of boring jump scares. It makes you piece together the story while setting the hauntingly terrifying theme. It really aims to make you feel frightened and anxious without purposely scaring the shite out of you. You really get forced into wanting to see how this story concludes while knowing that you might not be sleeping that night. Please go watch it! It's fantastic!

Overall rating: 9/10