My Personal Response on Hereditary

A-Level Film - Tate Glover:

Hereditary:

Hereditary a film directed by Ari Aster, takes place in a suburban house in America, Hereditary tells the tale of the Graham family who are grieving the recent death of the family’s grandmother, the film takes an unexpected turn because strange occurrences  that happen to each family member, the film shows the consequences tragedy can have on a family, tragedy is a key theme and reoccurs a lot later on into the film.

I really enjoyed the film as it leads the audience to places other horror films never take you. This is due to its dark and twisted cinematography. The film tells an interesting narrative and has a very detailed ending which is ties up the film nicely.

Another reason I enjoyed the film is because of the actress Toni Collette, who plays Annie Graham - the mother of the family. She emphasises a character that is trying to keep her family stable but slowly becomes the main problem of her family falling apart because of all of the rituals that she executes to stay in contact with her mother. Later on, in the film Charlie Graham (Annie’s Daughter) dies after getting decapitated by a street lamp. This causes Annie to start going insane and then starts to disconnect herself from the rest of her family. In one scene she snaps at her son Peter and delivers a monologue about how you should treat your mother; this scene is powerful because it shows that Annie has lost all of her sanity.

I left this film with scared and confused feelings as the ending was unexpected and wrapped up what was going on throughout the film. During the film there was only little hints to what the story was about, the director makes you swap between who to blame until you find out the true culprit (Grandma) was behind the whole thing.

This film has been compared to many famous horror films. Hereditary is described as this generations ‘The Exorcist’ as it features mysterious and dark themes. The film has also been compared to Alfred Hitchcock’s ‘Psycho’ because of Aster’s use of death and gore.

The soundtrack for the film is incredible it was written by Dustin Musser and Dylan Lewman, the soundtrack adds horror and fear to the film and creates an unknown and mysterious atmosphere in scenes of the film. Sound effects have also been used to further amplify fear of the audience.

Overall, I really enjoyed Hereditary because it felt different to any other horror film I have watched. It is evident that a lot of effort was imported to this film from the sinister cinematography to the mesmerising sound track. Hereditary understands that fear is subjective and that everyone enjoys horror differently. The director appeals to has attempted to appeal to everyone. This is done as not everyone gets scared by jump scares or loud noises. This attempt was clear and highly successful, as the film achieved a 89% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 7.4 on IMDB.