Hereditary

Description

I don’t remember what feelings I experienced during my first viewing of probably the most famous A24 film, Hereditary, but during the rewatch, I didn’t like it.

Probably the best scene in the film is when the girl’s head gets ripped off at high speed, and her brother, in a state of shock, drives home leaving the headless body in the car, which their mother finds in the morning. I think this is a very powerful, impressive, and psychologically uncomfortable scene. Followed by the tragedy scene, which I think is also very well done.

The oppressive sound design throughout the film is excellent. Gabriel Byrne as the kind and caring father is superb (although he’s superb in any film—this is my subjective opinion). But other than that, the film is so-so, in my view. I think if the grandmother’s occult interests and her book club had been explored in more detail, Hereditary would have been more interesting.

Terrified, Bring Her Back, or all of Jordan Peele’s films—I like them much more. This is when comparing with the most famous and talked-about representatives of so-called intellectual or elevated horror with supernatural elements.

I approached the rewatch of Hereditary without any memories of the plot. I didn’t remember what it was about at all. There were only assumptions, and they turned out to be wrong. From this, I can conclude that Hereditary didn’t impress me the first time either, since I absolutely don’t remember the plot details. As they say, watched and forgotten.

I’m even somewhat disappointed and a bit upset. I was almost certain that Hereditary would make an impression on me no worse than the films I mentioned above, considering its cult status and universal love. Moreover, Hereditary is one of those films that launched the trend of elevated horror. So yes, my expectations were high, but not without reason.

Midsommar by the same Ari Aster I liked much more. Although probably it’s more accurate to say it impressed me and left an unpleasant aftertaste. Which, in my opinion, is an indicator of a film’s quality. However, after watching Eddington, I became convinced that Ari Aster is not my director. Demián Rugna—yes, Jordan Peele—yes again, Joko Anwar—yes once more.

Ari Aster specializes in strange and highly intellectual cinema not for mass audiences, which can often be attributed to high-budget pretentious crap. And I have every right to say that, since I watch this pretentious crap myself. But I prefer strange-scary, disgusting-supernatural, spectacularly brutal, terrifyingly repulsive, and psychologically uncomfortable cinema. Without the pretentiousness.