'Hereditary' Review

I was able to finally get seats to see Hereditary. I'll admit I came into the theatre with doubts. Back when I first saw trailers for the film, this being over the winter, I wasn't so impressed with any of it. The production company, A24, has made some great films in the past. The only one that I can say I've seen is The Witch, which I will admit to only seeing because Stephen King recommended it on his Twitter. That film was fantastic. I really am enjoying the way these films are bringing back a type of horror that is barely used anymore, that horror being the creep factor. The distaste that I have for jump scares I think is something any horror fan can agree on. The general feeling of something being wrong. Feeling unsettled the whole film, something we can all appreciate.

Now when it comes to Hereditary, there is plenty to love, starting with the cinematography. The scenes transfer seamlessly. The use of the camera as a storytelling tool is very well understood. The opening scene of the film really spells this out to me. Without giving any details, but the cuts are fantastic. Also, the use of sound in the film is worth noting. Using certain base tones while scenes are not so high energy is a powerful way of keeping the tension. It’s a base tone that can only be explained as pushing my survival instincts into gear. Just like their previous film, The Witch, the film is able to keep you on your toes until the very end.

Now we come to the things that I didn’t like. I have to be straightforward and say this is heavily opinionated. Right now this movie is rocking hard at a 90 percent from Rotten Tomatoes and I promise this isn’t for the sake of being a contrarian. My first gripe with this film is the pacing. Something I had an issue with The Witch. The movies both do such a great job with building tension. I was, at many points, on the edge of my seat waiting for things to pop off, but this never happens. The endings seem so anticlimactic, not to say the endings are bad. This film reminds me of the same kind of pacing that John Carpenter would use with his films. Slow and steady, let the story be told and it will consume you. Yet these movies cannot keep my attention. I found myself rolling my eyes more than once, getting to the point where I was rapping my fingers on my movie seat waiting for the film to end. Both Hereditary and Witch follow this. I feel as if you put the movies side by side the films follow the same beats: parental figure is crazy, issues with the children, something supernatural. All the tension this movie builds has no pay off. While this is something that irks me, another thought I had was that this movie is so well done. That idea leaves me thinking that this film is best explained as an art piece. Maybe too avant-garde for me, but the director forgot they were making a horror movie.

Nevertheless, I could have my gripes with this film because modern horror films have ruined horror for me. What I mean by this is that as much as I hate cheap scares, a film without them feels empty? I hope that isn’t the case. I think of the film Prince of Darkness as I think of Hereditary. If you love that slow pacing that needs more attention from directors today, this movie will give you all of that and more.