HORROR MOVIE REVIEW: HEREDITARY

7/10
When Annie’s mother passes away Annie is stricken with surprising grief. She always had a love-hate relationship with her mother, but now a strange sense of guilt is descending on her. This is just the beginning of a chain of tragic events that seems to follow her family through generations...

HEREDITARY was hailed by critics as the best horror movie of this decade. But does it deliver on the expectations? 

There’s a lot to be grateful for. Hereditary is intelligent measured film making,each of its sucker punches delivered with focus and precision to the best effect. A hybrid of PET CEMETERY, ROSEMARY’ S BABY and sprinkled with the sickly paranoia of the WICKER MAN it has all recognisable elements for a horror fan, but still has a unique look and feel.

When I watch a horror movie I always ask myself a question - would my 13 year old self love it. In regards to HEREDITARY the answer is NO. Would it scare me - hell yes. Would it bore me to sobs? That too. Would it make me watch it again? I doubt it. What is beyond doubt is the ability of Ari Aster to make movies. Cinematographically and artistically this is one of the best movies I have seen in years. So what is the problem? The script, unfortunately. It is slow and manipulative, often lacks focus and seriously over-promises. The ending is entirely predictable, the finale over-explains, which takes away some of the film’s magic. 

It is also a very long movie. Watching Toni Collette walking from one empty room to another becomes tiresome after a while. HEREDITARY will work best for those viewers who have not experienced many horror films and maybe don’t even like them. For such people HEREDITARY will become a revelation.

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