Hereditary: An Frightening Lineage

Hereditary is one of those films that proves the ability of a talented director and cast to elevated a well-intentioned but ultimately flawed work. All the elements are in place for an atmospheric and gripping horror filled with sympathetic and complex characters. Everything except for the actual story which starts out from an interesting place but just can't quite bring itself to a satisfying conclusion. Unfortunately this means that any exploration of what's wrong with Hereditary means a discussion of events which occur late in the film. So if you want to go into the film as blind as possible then I would advise looking away now.

The plot of Hereditary focuses on miniatures artist Annie Graham as she attempts to process her mother's passing. Annie's mother, we are told, was a difficult and secretive woman who kept many friends and participated in activities that Annie was kept far away from. To compound the matter she showed an uncharacteristic affection for Annie's daughter Charlie, played by newcomer Milly Shapiro. Charlie is an awkward and vulnerable child who fears that now her grandmother is dead no one will be able to look after her. It a fear that is soon realized as tragedy continues to befall the Graham family, forcing Annie to try to communicate with ghosts in order to understand her grief. However by doing so finds herself falling deeper into a trap that her mother laid for her.

All of which comes together as really compelling, edge-of-your seat horror film stuff.The turns which this story take are really surprising and frightening and all the while you're heart is going out to this grieving mother and the family that is falling apart around her. But eventually the film reaches it's final act and feels the need to give all of these strange occurrences a very specific explanation that is neither satisfying or coherent. For one thing it falls into a lazy horror trope, for another it relies too much on contrivance and finally it just doesn't seem to have anything to do with what the film has presented itself as being about. From the start Hereditary is a film about Annie's grief over her mother and how that has led her to neglect her family to the point of self-destruction. But then to turn it around and say that this is all actually someone working behind the scenes. It just undermines what the rest of the film has been about.

The best horror films derive all their best moments from simple, but deep premises. A Quiet Place is about horror through silence, Get Out is about racial commodification, Drag Me to Hell is about being dragged to hell. But nothing in Hereditary is about what Annie is inheriting from her mother, she isn't a part of the conspiracy her mother is involved in, she doesn't even know about it until the very end. And once you start pulling at that thread the rest of the film starts to fall apart; the big scares and story points and especially the creepy iconography like the miniatures and the performances from Milly Shapiro and Alex Wolf as her older brother. These feel less like parts of a single, haunting idea and more like random elements thrown in to amp up the creep factor. It's a bit like the Annabel doll from The Conjuring, it has nothing to do with the rest of the film but it's creepy and iconic so why not throw it in. 

This isn't to say that the film is a total bust. I think Ari Aster is a really effective director of horror, his sense of suspense is the reason I was on my seat so much throughout the film. And he gives the film a very unique visual aesthetic with the melding of Annie's miniatures with physical scenery. It all adds to the creepy vibe even if, ultimately it doesn't amount to anything. I can totally see this guy going on the payroll at Universal if they ever try that Dark Universe again.

Toni Collette is also a big part of why this film works. I know 'barely-together mom' is pretty much her bread-and-butter but she always finds a new twist to take on it and this is no exception. Annie is a detached, career-focused mother and we haven't really seen that done with the more kooky artist type. She brings real believably to some of the bigger leaps of logic her character makes and more importantly she's someone you can invest in emotionally. When things start going wrong for her it's not just frightening it's outright heart-breaking. Like I said there's a lot that Hereditary has going for it. It's just massively let down by a stroy that could have done with a few passes through an experienced editor.