Garbage. A passable first hour turns into more and more of a familiar, rehashed supernatural-thriller plot by the end. With plenty of eyerolls and snickers. And the lead boy (who spends most of the movie just sullenly staring into space, hooray) is terribly miscast as the improbable offspring of Gabriel Byrne and Toni Collette. And another excruciatingly cliched musical score...yes yes, the low, growling drones and woozy, sliding scrapes of strings...when will these horror composers try harder?
Very slow, dull, classic film. Only at the end you see little bit of artistic mystery. Far to many unanswered questions, unnecessarly. On the contrary, it would have been a lot more interesting if they gave more information, experience would be more dramatic. Film had only 2-3 really scary scenes, so a term horror should bi used with a grain of solt.
What was even scary in this? Either I have been desensitized by all those gore/slasher and serial killer flicks, or today's audience is really a bunch of babies.
Neither is it scary, not did it have a good story. Every horror movie's escape route is a cliche on coven of witches. This is not 1960s.
/there is one Spoiler, its not major but anyways SPOILER ALERT/
Well as a "Horror" movie buff, I have to say it didnt cut it for me. First thing which comes to mind is that why did they feel the urge to extend it over 2 hours when obviously they didnt have enough subject material, 90 minutes would be enough, it reminds me of a milk shop we used to visit when I was a kid, the dude added water to the milk so he can get more benefit. Same applies to this movie, if you add nonesense to your pure materials you may extend your playtime, your quality Will far below par, it simpler terms it says you suck. Secondly, why did they have to leave so many questions un answered? What were they thinking? We have no job and no life and we go buy the book or script to learn the answers? I mean like WTF? To those terrified people who are still shaking with fear while writing the reviews, I mean like Dude? Did you know there is this movie out there called The Sinister? Or there is another one called the Conjuring? Yeah, obviously not. Yes, this movie has some Gore but thats not the real spirit of horror, yeah it shows a decapitated head, but thats not horror, thats just dirty work, blood bath stuff, the true horror is when you inject fear in your audience without using blood and mutilated bodies. If you take the Gore out of this movie, you will be left with a mishmash of psycological thriller and a teenage movie with some drama. One more question which is left is that how did the mother got possessed and by who and when? I can go hours and hours about this movie, but unfortunately I have other stuff do in my life so I will end my review here, enough said.
If you could have just said, “I’m sorry”,
Maybe then we could do something with this.
But you can’t take responsibility for anything!
So now I can’t accept… And I can’t forgive because…
Because nobody admits anything they’ve done!
“Hereditary“. A film I was really looking forward to and expected a lot from. Unfortunately, it was kind of a disappointment. If it would be a psychological drama that concentrated on the traumatizing effect after the loss of a relative with a labile mother as a result, I would have liked it. The fact Annie (Toni Colette) doesn’t have a stable and healthy mind is actually not that surprising. Not with a psychotic depressed father who starved himself. And a schizophrenic brother who hung himself in his mother’s bedroom. And a dominant mother figure that, in my opinion, couldn’t think clearly. Annie’s mother isn’t really clearheaded when you see the diorama with Annie breastfeeding her daughter. At least if this diorama displays how it happened in reality. And they generally do. A person would go nuts for a lot less.
And Annie also goes completely through the ribbon after the terrible accident that happens to her daughter Charlie (Milly Shapiro). A strange little girl with a downright peculiar appearance. A regrettable and mind-boggling accident. And her brother Peter (Alex Wolff), can hardly be blamed. Maybe he should not have left Charlie on her own that night. Leaving her so he could smoke some weed with a nice girl from his class, isn’t only bad for his health. It also results in this dismal accident. An impressive moment of acting and at the same time a heavy emotional event that’ll get under your skin. No, this film isn’t about scary and blood-curdling scenes. Not initially, that is. It’s the grief for those who died, that makes the most impression. You’ll be struck by an uncomfortable feeling when you hear Annie screaming and crying. A sound like nails on a chalkboard. And you’ll feel sorry for Peter who doesn’t know what to do with his sorrow.
“Hereditary” isn’t an easy movie. Emotionally you are dragged back and forth. Just like the members of the Graham family. A mother who has been traumatized by her past. Husband Steve (Gabriel Byrne) who looks at everything in a passive way and actually has no idea sometimes how to deal with the situation. And the son Peter, whose bond with his mother comes across as reasonably dysfunctional, tries to soften his frustration by using mind-altering substances. And then there’s Charlie. A little girl who clearly lives in her own universe. And above this dislocated family the spirit (Not literally! Or maybe it does.) of a seemingly tyrannical and dominating grandmother floats around. A woman who also had an unhealthy interest in the occult.
“Hereditary” knows how to keep the suspense alive in a smart way. The mysterious mood is constantly present. It’s also a terribly slow film with an enervating soundtrack in the background. At a certain moment, you don’t know what makes you nervous the most. The whole atmosphere or the slow pace. What I do hate a lot, is the exaggerated hyping movies like “Hereditary“. According to their crafty marketing department, this would be the most terrifying horror film of the last 50 years. Even scarier than “The Exorcist“. This ought to be correct if you read the press releases. People are fainting and are leaving the theater massively because it’s so scary. Maybe that’s why you’re feeling tense. Even when the movie just started. Trust me. Apart from a few explicit graphic shots, it’s all reasonably suggestive. “Hereditary” is again such a horror movie with a double meaning. A movie that pushes your feeling in a certain direction and finally has such a twist that you are totally lost. A film that simply begs for a re-watch so you might discover the missed hints. And that, fellow moviegoers, is something I never do and I’m not planning to begin with in the future.
Don’t get me wrong. This is a gem when you look at the cinematographic part and the acting. The way in which everything is depicted is simply fantastic. Sometimes it might be a bit exaggerated so that you get a multitude of painfully slowly zoomed in images. But in general, it’s a pleasure to watch and a continuation of the wonderful footage from the intro. Toni Colette plays a major role in this film (with the dinner scene as highlight). It’s certainly not easy to play such a tormented soul. A beautiful performance delivered by this actress (even though she already convinced me of her acting talent in “Miss you already” and “Please stand by“). And it remained mysterious and ominous until it escalated at a certain moment and evolved into a sort of “The Lords of Salem“. And when you reach the end you’ll probably conclude that it’s indeed advisable to watch the film again so you can rediscover certain clues. But again, that’s not my cup of tea.
Both bizarre and at times genuinely quite funny; relies on a number of obvious and ineffective jump scares, although a couple of scenes would qualify as being genuinely eerie. As a vehicle for building dread and getting inside the heads of the main characters, I thought it inferior to The Babadook.
After watching Midsommar earlier in the year, I thought I had found a genre savior in Ari Aster: a cinematic horror auteur who, as he claims, generates fear that is emotionally derived and not just centered on tacky jump-scares. Midsommar was my top film of 2019 and the only horror film ever to fill that spot for a calendar year.
Jump-cut to my disappointment after watching Hereditary today. I suppose it's a bit like viewing someone's high school book report after having already read their college thesis.
I'd like to give Ari the benefit of the doubt. I think Hereditary may have been a fine film on paper, in pre-production, and maybe even after production. I think some very important bits may have gotten lost when they edited it down from 3 to 2 hours. Because this final product felt like it was missing entire pieces of itself.
could had been good movie but i found myself bored to death on the last 30 minutes, i love slow paced movies but this one hadn't got anything worthy to show, it was kinda shallow i think, the witchery was kinda invented, i din't feel anything magical or scary, it was cheap, a cheap script.. hated the father and son characters, specially the son omg he was so annoying, coward and stupid with no personality. I watched this film especting to be better than midsommar (i hated that movie, it was entertaining but pointless and shallow too) but omg midsommar is far better.. i was disappointed, me and my dad at the end were like "so this is a boring end, ok time to sleep"
btw i liked charlie, without charlie the movie went down brutally
Among the scariest and most disturbing film experiences of mine, on par with the most unsettling of J-Horror - but substantially stronger in production level and direction. Watching Collette disintegrate is heart-, maybe even: soul-wrenching?
Best horror film of the decade for me and a strong contender for all-time genre lists.
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Comments 1 - 15 of 41
Cynicus Rex
The only scary part is the bags under her eyes.Ebbywebby
Garbage. A passable first hour turns into more and more of a familiar, rehashed supernatural-thriller plot by the end. With plenty of eyerolls and snickers. And the lead boy (who spends most of the movie just sullenly staring into space, hooray) is terribly miscast as the improbable offspring of Gabriel Byrne and Toni Collette. And another excruciatingly cliched musical score...yes yes, the low, growling drones and woozy, sliding scrapes of strings...when will these horror composers try harder?Taca5
Very slow, dull, classic film. Only at the end you see little bit of artistic mystery. Far to many unanswered questions, unnecessarly. On the contrary, it would have been a lot more interesting if they gave more information, experience would be more dramatic. Film had only 2-3 really scary scenes, so a term horror should bi used with a grain of solt.mysteryfan
What was even scary in this? Either I have been desensitized by all those gore/slasher and serial killer flicks, or today's audience is really a bunch of babies.Neither is it scary, not did it have a good story. Every horror movie's escape route is a cliche on coven of witches. This is not 1960s.
oleole90
Had such a hope. Toni Collette was horrible. Utterly disappointed.Marcus Fenix
/there is one Spoiler, its not major but anyways SPOILER ALERT/Well as a "Horror" movie buff, I have to say it didnt cut it for me. First thing which comes to mind is that why did they feel the urge to extend it over 2 hours when obviously they didnt have enough subject material, 90 minutes would be enough, it reminds me of a milk shop we used to visit when I was a kid, the dude added water to the milk so he can get more benefit. Same applies to this movie, if you add nonesense to your pure materials you may extend your playtime, your quality Will far below par, it simpler terms it says you suck. Secondly, why did they have to leave so many questions un answered? What were they thinking? We have no job and no life and we go buy the book or script to learn the answers? I mean like WTF? To those terrified people who are still shaking with fear while writing the reviews, I mean like Dude? Did you know there is this movie out there called The Sinister? Or there is another one called the Conjuring? Yeah, obviously not. Yes, this movie has some Gore but thats not the real spirit of horror, yeah it shows a decapitated head, but thats not horror, thats just dirty work, blood bath stuff, the true horror is when you inject fear in your audience without using blood and mutilated bodies. If you take the Gore out of this movie, you will be left with a mishmash of psycological thriller and a teenage movie with some drama. One more question which is left is that how did the mother got possessed and by who and when? I can go hours and hours about this movie, but unfortunately I have other stuff do in my life so I will end my review here, enough said.
ikkegoemikke
If you could have just said, “I’m sorry”,Maybe then we could do something with this.
But you can’t take responsibility for anything!
So now I can’t accept… And I can’t forgive because…
Because nobody admits anything they’ve done!
“Hereditary“. A film I was really looking forward to and expected a lot from. Unfortunately, it was kind of a disappointment. If it would be a psychological drama that concentrated on the traumatizing effect after the loss of a relative with a labile mother as a result, I would have liked it. The fact Annie (Toni Colette) doesn’t have a stable and healthy mind is actually not that surprising. Not with a psychotic depressed father who starved himself. And a schizophrenic brother who hung himself in his mother’s bedroom. And a dominant mother figure that, in my opinion, couldn’t think clearly. Annie’s mother isn’t really clearheaded when you see the diorama with Annie breastfeeding her daughter. At least if this diorama displays how it happened in reality. And they generally do. A person would go nuts for a lot less.
And Annie also goes completely through the ribbon after the terrible accident that happens to her daughter Charlie (Milly Shapiro). A strange little girl with a downright peculiar appearance. A regrettable and mind-boggling accident. And her brother Peter (Alex Wolff), can hardly be blamed. Maybe he should not have left Charlie on her own that night. Leaving her so he could smoke some weed with a nice girl from his class, isn’t only bad for his health. It also results in this dismal accident. An impressive moment of acting and at the same time a heavy emotional event that’ll get under your skin. No, this film isn’t about scary and blood-curdling scenes. Not initially, that is. It’s the grief for those who died, that makes the most impression. You’ll be struck by an uncomfortable feeling when you hear Annie screaming and crying. A sound like nails on a chalkboard. And you’ll feel sorry for Peter who doesn’t know what to do with his sorrow.
“Hereditary” isn’t an easy movie. Emotionally you are dragged back and forth. Just like the members of the Graham family. A mother who has been traumatized by her past. Husband Steve (Gabriel Byrne) who looks at everything in a passive way and actually has no idea sometimes how to deal with the situation. And the son Peter, whose bond with his mother comes across as reasonably dysfunctional, tries to soften his frustration by using mind-altering substances. And then there’s Charlie. A little girl who clearly lives in her own universe. And above this dislocated family the spirit (Not literally! Or maybe it does.) of a seemingly tyrannical and dominating grandmother floats around. A woman who also had an unhealthy interest in the occult.
“Hereditary” knows how to keep the suspense alive in a smart way. The mysterious mood is constantly present. It’s also a terribly slow film with an enervating soundtrack in the background. At a certain moment, you don’t know what makes you nervous the most. The whole atmosphere or the slow pace. What I do hate a lot, is the exaggerated hyping movies like “Hereditary“. According to their crafty marketing department, this would be the most terrifying horror film of the last 50 years. Even scarier than “The Exorcist“. This ought to be correct if you read the press releases. People are fainting and are leaving the theater massively because it’s so scary. Maybe that’s why you’re feeling tense. Even when the movie just started. Trust me. Apart from a few explicit graphic shots, it’s all reasonably suggestive. “Hereditary” is again such a horror movie with a double meaning. A movie that pushes your feeling in a certain direction and finally has such a twist that you are totally lost. A film that simply begs for a re-watch so you might discover the missed hints. And that, fellow moviegoers, is something I never do and I’m not planning to begin with in the future.
Don’t get me wrong. This is a gem when you look at the cinematographic part and the acting. The way in which everything is depicted is simply fantastic. Sometimes it might be a bit exaggerated so that you get a multitude of painfully slowly zoomed in images. But in general, it’s a pleasure to watch and a continuation of the wonderful footage from the intro. Toni Colette plays a major role in this film (with the dinner scene as highlight). It’s certainly not easy to play such a tormented soul. A beautiful performance delivered by this actress (even though she already convinced me of her acting talent in “Miss you already” and “Please stand by“). And it remained mysterious and ominous until it escalated at a certain moment and evolved into a sort of “The Lords of Salem“. And when you reach the end you’ll probably conclude that it’s indeed advisable to watch the film again so you can rediscover certain clues. But again, that’s not my cup of tea.
More reviews here
Toljus
Both bizarre and at times genuinely quite funny; relies on a number of obvious and ineffective jump scares, although a couple of scenes would qualify as being genuinely eerie. As a vehicle for building dread and getting inside the heads of the main characters, I thought it inferior to The Babadook.devilsadvocado
After watching Midsommar earlier in the year, I thought I had found a genre savior in Ari Aster: a cinematic horror auteur who, as he claims, generates fear that is emotionally derived and not just centered on tacky jump-scares. Midsommar was my top film of 2019 and the only horror film ever to fill that spot for a calendar year.Jump-cut to my disappointment after watching Hereditary today. I suppose it's a bit like viewing someone's high school book report after having already read their college thesis.
I'd like to give Ari the benefit of the doubt. I think Hereditary may have been a fine film on paper, in pre-production, and maybe even after production. I think some very important bits may have gotten lost when they edited it down from 3 to 2 hours. Because this final product felt like it was missing entire pieces of itself.
Too bad. But I still look forward to his next.
On cinema at the cinema
Eh 3 bags of popcorn. Was fairly bored throughout the movie. Started falling asleep halfway through. Worth 1 watch.Emiam
8/10How can this NOTbe in any top list!!!??? Biggest mystery 2018.
soypinguinita
could had been good movie but i found myself bored to death on the last 30 minutes, i love slow paced movies but this one hadn't got anything worthy to show, it was kinda shallow i think, the witchery was kinda invented, i din't feel anything magical or scary, it was cheap, a cheap script.. hated the father and son characters, specially the son omg he was so annoying, coward and stupid with no personality. I watched this film especting to be better than midsommar (i hated that movie, it was entertaining but pointless and shallow too) but omg midsommar is far better.. i was disappointed, me and my dad at the end were like "so this is a boring end, ok time to sleep"btw i liked charlie, without charlie the movie went down brutally
csarica
Fun for children!Torgo
Among the scariest and most disturbing film experiences of mine, on par with the most unsettling of J-Horror - but substantially stronger in production level and direction. Watching Collette disintegrate is heart-, maybe even: soul-wrenching?Best horror film of the decade for me and a strong contender for all-time genre lists.
Shidan
Absolutely ridiculous, but scary?Not at all.
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