Reviewing "Hereditary": An excellent "slow-burn" horror film focused on grief and family

Hereditary is a horror film directed by Ari Aster, starring Toni Collette as Annie Graham, Gabriel Byrne as her husband Steve Graham, Alex Wolff as son Peter, and Milly Shapiro as daughter Charlie. It centers on a family that suffers from a horrible tragedy and begins to fall apart, all the while sinister secrets are dug up. Much like The Witch, the film is more of a slow-burn horror in terms of pacing. Unlike The Witch, the film is set in the modern day.

Firstly, the acting. Toni Collette's acting as Annie, mother of two and whose own mother had recently died, is beyond excellent, with certain scenes in particular allowing her to show a wide range of emotions and deliver a genuine performance, at times unsettling, at times heart-wrenching, but 100% real and believable. Gabriel Byrne, as well-meaning father Steve, serves as the most grounded center for the film, the middleman in the familial conflict between Annie and Peter. Alex Wolff's Peter is a 16-year-old with a lot of emotional baggage, much like his mother. He can come across as a little immature and irresponsible at times, but Wolff infuses the performance with an innocence, constantly wide-eyed with fear or upset, that you can't help but feel very sorry for him. Milly Shapiro's Charlie is honestly one of the best "creepy child" performances in recent memory, moving with a somewhat ominous yet innocuously slow pace, and always doing a strange clicking noise with her tongue. The clicking was so effective that I have an instinctive shivering reaction every time I heard it. An acting highlight in the film is the scene where Annie and Peter suddenly start arguing at the dinner table, probably one of the best scenes ever put to film, with the argument progressing realistically and the dialogue flowing very naturally much like how a real argument would be between two people struggling to come to terms with grief and loss.

Secondly, the plot. To say that the plot goes into some wildly unexpected territory would be a huge understatement. At its core, the story is about how the family slowly unravels in the face of a tragic loss, while also uncovering certain secrets about the family. This is done gradually, with Annie telling a support group how her mother was controlling and manipulative, and how she forced Annie to let her take care of Charlie. Tensions between Peter and Annie also begin to build up. The plot takes a wild turn about 30 minutes in, leaving audiences reeling and unsure of how the film will proceed. It is a great way to throw the audience for a loop and leaving them shocked. The event also begins a gradual build-up of dread that does not let up throughout the entire runtime of the film, gradually heightened through disturbing imagery and the reveal of shocking truths about Annie and her family's history. It is not without reason that Hereditary has been dubbed "one of the scariest films since The Exorcist".

Hereditary is a tightly-plotted "slow-burn" horror film with excellent performances, particularly from Toni Collette and Alex Wolff, focusing on the aftermath of a great loss in a family, relying more on horrific imagery and escalating tension than jump scares, and with plenty of unexpected twists. Definitely among the scariest and most well-made horror films of the last decade.

Score: 9/10