Wednesday, October 30, 2019

Something Scary, Hereditary

This post is a bit of cheating as I saw this a while ago. But, I wanted to talk about it because it came up recently in some YouTube videos I watched. It also reminded me of a brief exchange on Twitter I had with Mexican Mormon filmphile Paxton (@paxtonhernan)* about it. Is it good? And he said, yes. And, I know, thats not a great exchange but I wanted to say Mexican Mormon filmphile because that sounds bad ass.



Hereditary is one of those films you hear when people say "scariest movie ever" and I get it. I can't answer that for myself because I really haven't watched that many movies. I really don't like living doll movies (fuck you, Chucky) but would that fuck me up? Not sure.

This movie is uncomfortable and unnerving. It is also brutal (in one particular scene) and distressing as it portrays a family coming apart. And there is something scary in that. In being made uncomfortable and breaking that suspension of disbelief. This is no longer just a movie but something else that is real and primal. Everything feels very odd and broken like the most uncomfortable first day on a job...except there are demons. Its very good but does not feel good. THis is a tricky movie to speak on without spoilers so I will break my rule for a second and discuss them below...

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  • Toni Collette does a great job with her role. Amazing and scary and hurtful. The scene where she discovers her daughter's dead body is not shown but instead heard and that scream cuts through even the coldest of hearts
  • Speaking of that...the decapitation scene is not shown but you hear the wet crunch and then the movie pulls to the head itself! Baking in the sun on the pavement and covered in ants! Like a 30 second shot! WHAT THE HELL!?
  • Some neat scary scenes...the "ghost" going into the tree house at the every end. Its goofy and yet still spooky. The "crawling on the wall" scene which is something I wish I would have seen in a theater full of people. It has no music or visual cues to point to. You earn it by letting the scene develop. 
Worth a watch albeit it needs to come with a trigger warning for sure!





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