Ari Aster's Hereditary

Does it live up to the hype? Yes, it does and how. 

​Director:

• Ari Aster

Written by:

• Ari Aster

Cast: 

• Toni Collette as Annie Graham
• Alex Wolff as Peter Graham
• Milly Shapiro as Charlie Graham
• Gabriel Byrne as Steve Graham
• Ann Dowd as Joan

Length:

• approx. 127  min

Genre:

• Horror

​Hereditary is a movie that snuck up on me from nowhere. To be fair, I only had seen the trailer during a Deadpool 2 viewing and was freaked the hell out - Hello darkness my old friend, where have you been? With a talented cast and an unknown director in his first feature film outing - indie horror is back baby.

The story goes like this, and it’s quite simple; when the matriarch of four passes away, her daughter’s family begins to unravel cryptic and terrifying secrets about their ancestry. That is the basic plot, anything else mentioned would be giving away spoilers. Read on. 
​

No movie so far in 2018, has had me intrigued with glee and at the same time disturbed and depressed; welcome to the world of Hereditary. First time director Ari Aster, basically only known for directing short films, does a tremendous job of bringing suspenseful terror and sadness to the big screen, what I mean by that is, it’s half family drama and half supernatural, but don’t be fooled by the trailer, it’s actually not that scary, but more uncomfortable viewing – no predictable jump scares in this one. 
​

"No movie so far in 2018, has had me intrigued with glee and at the same time disturbed and depressed"
​

If Toni Collette doesn't receive an Oscar or Golden Globe nomination then screw them because she certainly deserves it.

Not only is she a phenomenal actress but she was born in the same hospital as me and grew up in the same exact suburb of Blacktown in Western Sydney in Australia!!

​Her performance is spine-tingling, she can go from being downright terrifying to wanting you to break out the tissues.
​

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Gabriel Byrne returns to the big screen, and horror for that matter, and definitely has a presence about him, especially playing the husband of Toni Collette in this. Their kids – wow!! Milly Shapiro, a completely unknown actress but is aces in my books because she has a love of Horror, and Alex Wolff (Patriots Day, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle) – can’t say enough positive things about them, they were just superb, that is all I will mention. 
​

Hereditary is not a breakthrough in the Horror genre, but it was one damn fine movie, and probably the best Horror film of the year. It will keep you on the edge of your seat from start to finish.

You’ll be thinking about Hereditary long after the credits roll. HIGHLY recommended.

9/10

Written by Matthew.

Quote: 'She was a very difficult woman, which maybe explained me.'

Trivia: A trailer for the film was accidentally shown at a screening of Peter Rabbit in Australia.  

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