Rating of
3/4
"Hereditary" by Yojimbo
Yojimbo - wrote on 09/12/19
A suburban mother with a family history of mental illness and suicide becomes convinced that she can summon the spirits of the dead after suffering a traumatic loss.
Hereditary is an example of a genre that I thought was all but dead and gone; the "chiller". The horror films of today have seemed far more interested in jump scares, gore and following the same tired old template of CGI monsters and outlandish twists. Hereditary rather takes its cues from the spine-tinglers of the 60's and 70's typical of the likes of Hammer Studios and given them a modern ghost story spin in a way that reminded me of Ju On in particular. The result is an atmospheric supernatural drama that uses grief, family trauma and the realities of living with mental illness as a basis for an intriguing horror story centred around a powerful performance by star Toni Collette. It contains some striking and disturbing imagery that betray a nice understanding of the genre by director/writer Ari Aster who skillfully draws the audience into the dark world he has created.
Like many films of the genre, the journey is better than the destination as an explicit explanation for such outlandish events is always far less satisfying than that provided by the imagination, but alongside Get Out and The Babadook, Hereditary is certainly one of the better horror stories of recent years.
