(Toni
Collette)
This is an effective horror movie that
avoids using the clichés that make up the typical “fright night” formula. But
make no mistake, you’ll leave the auditorium with a deep-lying chill running
down your spine. (Review by Patrick Compton - 8/10)
Horror movies usually deal in external,
usually supernatural, threats to the family, the group or the individual. By
contrast, Hereditary looks for its
darkness within the confines of the American family.
Indeed, for much of its running length,
this two-hour film, very capably written and directed by Ari Aster, could be
interpreted naturalistically; in other words, the disturbing things that happen
can be explained away in terms of the toxic psychological waste of an unhappy
family that has suffered more than its fair share of “normal” misery.
The story revolves around Annie (a
brilliant performance from Toni Collette), a mother of two who designs dolls
houses. She is deeply concerned that she can’t mourn the death of her recently
dead mother although she does acknowledge that she was an intensely private
woman, possessed of “private rituals”. So although scene after scene in the
movie can be read as straight drama, there is a whispering sense that maybe
something else – something sinister – is gradually playing itself out.
Annie’s daughter, the creepy Charlie (Milly
Shapiro), is clearly disturbed, snipping the head off a dead pigeon for her
entertainment, and generally appearing beyond the reach of normal intimacy.
Without giving anything away, one of the scariest sounds in the film is the klokk sound she makes when she
habitually flicks her tongue down from the roof of her mouth.
The other members of the family are Annie’s
fairly normal son, Peter (Alex Wolff), and her somewhat peripheral husband,
Steve, played by a sombre Gabriel Byrne. Both will play their respective parts
in the drama to come.
Beyond the clammy confines of the family
and their uncomfortable home, Annie secretly attends a therapy group that tries
to help people mourning the recent dead. Here she meets Joan (Ann Dowd) who
introduces her to the possibility of handling her grief by psychically
communing with the dead beloved.
Storyline aside, three of the movie’s
undoubted strengths are the force of the cast, with Collette a particularly
powerful presence, the director's largely subtle control of his material and
the eerie soundtrack that creeps up on you. Hereditary
may not quite deliver the crude shocks that a multiplex audience would like,
but its effect is more insidious, and more lasting.
Hereditary opened in Durban on Friday, June 15, 2018. – Patrick Compton
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