60 Second Verdict: Hereditary
60 Second Verdict: Hereditary
16 June 2018
Toni Collette plays Annie whose desire to connect with her dead mother leads her family into a dark, supernatural world.
The secretive mother of Annie (Toni Collette) has just died. Odd things start to happen with her own daughter (Milly Shapiro) before unforeseen events cause Annie’s family to descend into a nightmare of grief and confusion. And, then, when Annie meets a new friend who encourages her to conduct a seance, her family is swiftly elevated to a new level of spiritual warfare.
WHAT’S GOOD
Writer-director Ari Aster is an unknown film-maker but his packaging and delivery of Hereditary is striking. While I can’t recommend Hereditary to you (see the ‘What’s Not’ section below), Aster’s creepy, chilling and creative story is a very well made movie. From the gripping script to excellent performances (Collette is appropriately unhinged), and the evocative atmosphere generated by the set and sound design, Hereditary is an enthralling blast of “what the heck is going on here?” Like legendary possession movie The Exorcist, Hereditary treats seriously the terrifying dark side of the supernatural world. But even as Hereditary is an undeniably strong piece of film-making …
WHAT’S NOT
As it proceeds from being weird and intriguing, through séances, possession and arrives at a hellish finale, Hereditary should challenge anyone about what we are entertained by. Sure, Aster’s impressive film is JUST a story …yet what comes to be worshiped on-screen cut me to the heart. I still can’t work out if Aster’s movie is promoting its disturbing conclusion, or simply presenting it. Is it revelling in the evil being showed - or does it just reach a storytelling point where good is not standing in its traditional spot? Whatever Hereditary is doing, the evil unloaded within its final act left me stunned and disoriented –but not in an uplifting way.
SPIRITUALLY SPEAKING
Whatever Hereditary is saying through its concluding stages, I remain impressed with how it doesn’t treat demonic possession or séances as jokes or cheap bits of silly entertainment. The world Annie and her family find themselves imprisoned by reminded me of the sort of supernatural battle outlined by the New Testament letter to the Ephesians (check out chapter 6 for more details). Just as the Bible makes clear that evil is real and out there, so too does Hereditary. And while this clever and confronting scary movie does an admirable job of not taking pot shots at Christianity as it goes along, there is one unexpected and odd reference to rejecting God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. At the same time, Hereditary palpably shows what rejecting the loving God might lead to …Since seeing Hereditary, I’ve been fired up even more to hold tighter to the Bible’s advice: do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good (Romans 12:21).
Hereditary is rated MA15+ for strong horror themes and is now showing.
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