Movie Reaction: Hereditary

Formula: The Witch + 400 years

Hype is a hell of a thing. Every movie needs some. That's how people are convinced to see a movie. It's nice when the hype is built in - "I like this director so I'll see any movie she makes", "That cast is impressive. I'll see anything with all those people", "It's Star Wars. Of course I'll see it.", etc. That's not enough for a lot of movies. Horror movies don't have much star power to rely on (Small budgets, less recognizable actors make the buy-in easier for the audience). It's nice when there's a simple hook. A Quiet Place had instant appeal with its silent approach. Split could easily sell itself on James McAvoy's multiple personalities without having to give away too many of the scares in the movie. Horror franchises do well because you can slap a Pennywise or a Freddy Kruger on a poster for instant recognition. The most dangerous tactic for a horror movie is to build the hype on the scares. It becomes a Catch-22. You can't put all the scares in the trailer, because that will spoil them for the movie. But, you have to put scares in the trailer to prove to audiences that there are scares. The word of mouth campaigns are just as risky. The second you call something "the scariest movie since...", you set a bar that the film has to clear, even if it's a completely different kind of movie. I loved The Witch, for example. I'd heard it was good. It helped that it was sold to me as being well made, not as being really scary. The people who came to that movie being told it was really scary came away from it disappointed*.

*Based on the crowd I saw it with, at least.

That leads me to Hereditary. Coming out of Sundance, this movie has been heavily hyped. I've heard it called the scariest movie since The Babadook, It Follows, The Conjuring, etc. (oddly, IT never got brought up. I think people have sorted that movie into its own box). The buzz couldn't've been any greater. The trailer they made for it ran with that buzz. I've seen the trailer for Hereditary many times (before other movies. I didn't seek it out). I couldn't tell you a thing about the plot from that - there's a dead grandmother and some strange things start happening, I guess. The real takeaway from the trailer is "prepared to be scared". I went into the movie with a mental checklist of scenes to look for in the trailer and curiosity about the story.

Sadly, I have to remain cagey about the story, because the film does rely on some twists and turns along the way. What I can say is this. It centers on Annie (Toni Collette). Her mother has recently died. She had a rocky relationship with her mother, but her loss is still affecting her greatly. Over time, her family - husband, Steve (Gabriel Byrne), son, Peter (Alex Wolff), and daughter, Charlie (Milly Shapiro) - continue to experience other hardships, and Annie suspects that they aren't a coincidence. And, it may be tied to her mother. Annie's actions both before and because of all this shake her family's trust and, let's just say things deteriorate from there.

Hereditary is pretty good. Toni Collette's only Oscar nomination [so far] was for another horror movie, mind you (The Sixth Sense), so she's more than capable in this. Alex Wolff gets to look terrified a lot too. Milly Shapiro is nice and spooky. Director Ari Aster sets and maintains a good tone throughout. There's a lot going on in the movie and the screenplay doesn't get bogged down explaining every last bit of it. That's good. Too much explanation dulls the impact of a horror movie. There are plenty of earned scares - one in particular that the ads were smart to conceal.

All that said, the hype did the movie few favors. First of all, my familiarity with the trailer ruined a lot of the best moments. I suppose some of that isn't really the movie's fault, but that has to factor in somewhere. I was aware a little too often of Aster driving the story in certain directions rather than letting it play out naturally. I like to refer to that as "seeing the strings moving the puppets". While scary, the end really does feel like they threw every horror convention and jump scare at a wall and saw what  stuck. A lot of them didn't really make sense. They were just easy ways to get a rise out of an audience.

I enjoyed Hereditary, although I wish I went in with no expectations. It's decently scary, although it compares best with something like The Witch: there are a couple jumps, but mostly the movie is marked by a sense of dread. Whenever I get around to seeing this again, it'll be fun seeing what kind of puzzle pieces I missed earlier in the film the first time. There's a much more thorough story to it than the film has the time or desire to cover (Again, this is a positive). It's the kind of mythology I could see getting multiple sequels (See: Paranormal Activity). I'm not sure I want that though. One movie is enough.

The Verdict (?): Weakly Recommend