Hereditary

Hereditary, directed by Ari Aster in 2018, is a shockingly disturbing and psychologically harrowing film that unravels the dark secrets within a family's lineage. Featuring an outstanding cast, led by Toni Collette, Gabriel Byrne, and young actress Milly Shapiro, Hereditary delves deeply into the petrifying complexities of grief, guilt, belief, and the pain that is often inherited through generations.

At the center of the film is the Graham family: Annie (Toni Collette), her husband Steve (Gabriel Byrne), their son Peter (Alex Wolff), and their introverted daughter Charlie (Milly Shapiro). Their foreboding saga begins when Annie's secretive and estranged mother dies, and, in the wake of her passing, inexplicable and unsettling incidents begin to linger around the family home, instigating the plot's steady yet intense descent into sheer terror and trauma.

Toni Collette, as Annie, plays a miniature artist who grapples with not just her mother's loss, but also the cryptic and undisclosed legacy that her mother has left behind. Annie's relationship with her mother, from what we gather, was fraught with tension and a sense of unease, reflected in Annie's ambivalence toward her mother’s death. Collette’s outstanding and raw performance, as she navigates these intense feelings of harsh loss and horrifying discovery, is a core element making Hereditary such a gripping watch.

Gabriel Byrne delivers an equally compelling performance as Steve, the bewildered and skeptical husband, making an attempt to hold his family together as they descend into chaos. He struggles to understand and deal with the complexity of the events that are progressively gnawing at his family's sanity.

One of the standout aspects of Hereditary is its dramatic tonal shift, as it starts as a family drama and slowly morphs into a more sinister tale, taking elaborate terror routes that combine both supernatural elements and psychological horror in equal measures. Here, the silence is often just as scary, if not scarier than, the unpredictable instances of extreme horror.

Director Ari Aster ensures that no frame is wasted, with every scene meticulously crafted to build an atmosphere of escalating dread wrapped in an uncanny veneer of daily normalcy. The film's meticulously designed sets, especially the miniatures created by Annie which mirror aspects of their lives, amplify the sense of the unnoticed eeriness camouflaged within the mundane settings of daily life. These minor details are like pieces of a puzzle, gradually forming the bigger picture as the plot progresses.

Another remarkable character is Charlie (played by the young and talented Milly Shapiro). Although she has less screen time compared to the other main characters, her profoundly unsettling presence resonates throughout the film. Charlie's character, just like the other members of the family, is trapped in the web of the past, bearing the burden of her forebears.

The creepy and surreal musical score by Colin Stetson only adds to the film's overall unnerving ambiance. The camera work is striking too, making use of the darkness and the family's spacious, eerie house with masterful precision to create a sense of ever-looming danger.

Hereditary bites into the viewer’s psyche with its terrifying imagery, leaving a lingering taste of dread and terror. As a horror film, it doesn’t just work with jump scares or gore but with a fear that is deeply rooted in the uncertainty of what might be lying in that dormant family history, waiting to awaken and wreak havoc.

In conclusion, Hereditary isn't just a horror film; it is an exploration into the horrors of family, guilt, death, and the inability to escape one's roots. Wimbledon-like performances, gripping narrative, chilling score, and an lingering sense of unease make this film a contemporary horror masterpiece. Ultimately, Hereditary is a beautifully horrific spinning amalgamation of human emotion and supernatural terror that one won't forget for a very long time.