Hereditary (2018)

Hereditary 2018, A24

I saw Hereditary twice this weekend. I avoided everything I could leading up to its opening, but after my second viewing, I read a few articles and most of what I saw was that it divided audiences, as Rotten Tomatoes gave it a 93%, while CinemaScore gave it a D+. Which lead me to ask

What the fuck is CinemaScore? 

I had never heard of it, so I looked into it. Here's what Wikipedia had to say:

CinemaScore is a market research firm based in Las Vegas. It surveys film audiences to rate their viewing experiences with letter grades, reports the results, and forecasts box office receipts based on the data.Wikipedia

I looked at their website and saw the following grades:

Hereditary D+

Hotel Artemis C-

Ocean's 8 B+

Book Club A-

Midnight Sun A-

Overboard A-

Solo A-

Solo an A-?  I haven't seen Midnight Sun, Book Club, or Overboard, but I am scratching my head at those grades. But only a tiny scratch. We see this in box office figures. We see this in longevity at the theaters. Most people like a simple story with a clear plot. Or they are up for a more complex story that doesn't hold all the cards for a final reveal in the last 15 minutes of the film. 

Here's your "It might get a little spoiler-y" warning.

Part of this score, I would guess, is the way Hereditary was marketed. Scariest Movie of 2018! Not by a long shot. A Quiet Place was far scarier. Because when a horror fan hears "Scariest", they want to be scared. Hereditary does dole out some good scares, but its more of a creeping dread type of film. An in-the-back-of-your-mind kind of scare. After my first viewing,  I was struck by the themes of mental illness present throughout the film. That and so much decapitation. I went with a big group and we were definitely divided on how we felt. After seeing it again, I caught things I missed or that just didn't register the first time, as you do on second viewings. But I also went with a different set of people, so there were different insights and opinions. One of which was that Toni Collette's character Annie complained constantly about how awful her own mother was, while her son is thinking the same thing about her. These inherited cycles. DNA. The environment you grow up in. Family history. Family plots. All this, and witchcraft. 

It's ALWAYS witchcraft.

The look and feel of this film got to me. For a first time director, I feel like Ari Aster nailed it, even if the film felt a wee bit long. Toni Collette was outstanding at playing a range of emotions in a way you don't always see, definitely not in horror. If you want to see a well crafted, psychological horror film that will stick with you after seeing it, this is for you.