As you will read while we go along with this website, I love horror films. There is part of me that loves the anticipation of being brought out of my seat along with the accompanying adrenaline rush when the scare hits. There is another part of me that loves the genre for the simple fact that I find the technical aspects fascinating. Ari Aster’s Hereditary provided all that I could have wanted from the genre and more.
From the opening scene, (starting with an obituary for the recently deceased grandmother, Ellen, through an uneasy zoom-out, slow pan, slow zoom-in progression taking the viewer from treehouse to small model house,) Aster shows that not only is he going to take you on a thrilling 127 minute journey, but that he is a master of the genre.
There are a number of scenes (WATCH OUT FOR POWER POLES!) that I could recount in order to get the point across that this is not only a masterful genre piece but just a first-rate movie in general. But that would probably be boring and maybe you would not want to watch the movie, which is the opposite effect I want to have. I think that the best way to talk about Hereditary is in terms of award potential.
Last year’s Get Out broke an unfortunate trend. Horror movies rarely get recognized for major awards. The Ringer’s Sean Fennessey wrote a great article covering this issue in great detail, and I do not want to step on his toes. With four Academy Award nominations, Jordan Peele’s Get Out proved that a horror movie can have more than a near perfect Rotten Tomatoes score and high box office numbers.
Hereditary has not been able to achieve the same level of social relevance as Get Out, but that does not mean that it should be ignored come Oscar season. If we are looking at best original screenplay (Which Peele won last year to most everyone’s delight), a case could easily be made for Aster’s achievement. As mentioned earlier this movie is 127 minutes long. For many horror movies, that is roughly a half-hour longer than it should be, but that’s not the case here. Hereditary benefits from a story that is incredibly efficient in three different ways:
- Establishing geography/setting
- Character development
- Frights
Let’s go into detail on each here. First, establishing geography can be argued as being a technical aspect instead of a storytelling tool, especially in horror films. While this might be valid in some cases, I do not think that this is the case in any horror film especially Hereditary. The reason being is that the house is also a character in this movie. The house is subject to a noticeable transition from beginning to end, just like in all of the main characters. So establishing the layout of the house is equally as important as establishing all the parts of any one of the characters. With all this being said, you never feel confused by the actions of the characters. You almost know the house as well as they do by the climax and you continue to try and help them find a way out.
Second, the character development in this movie is exceptional, not just by genre standards, but by general standards as well. Virtually every scene features at least one of the four main characters in some way shape or form. This allows the viewer to become comfortable with each characters mannerisms, flaws, and emotions. Once this occurs, then you start to care for the characters on some level which makes their journeys’ much more emotionally effective and brutal.
Finally, the script is paced in such a way that the frights are not part of the typical roller coaster-like formula that is oftentimes used throughout the genre. These constant ups and downs are effective for a reason, being that it allows the audience to catch their breath. I wish I had a handy-dandy little graphic to insert to exemplify exactly what I am trying to say, but I think you get the point. Leaving the scene, passing time, and comic relief are all commonly used techniques to relax the viewer. While Hereditary has some of these techniques, the breaks in the action do not relieve the tension in the slightest.
Aster was able to create the ultimate slow burn. You are completely cognoscente of the fact that things are going wrong but you have no ability to slow it down or hope that things will get better. It is nerve-racking, to say the least, but it is this feeling that makes you hyper-aware of the smallest detail. He uses viewer awareness to help advance the plot. It is truly the most efficient way to write a horror film. You are fully engrossed and invested from start to finish.
Best director is another category to consider. To give all the credit to the script is like giving Andrew Friedman all the credit for the Dodgers success over the last three years. Sure he created the team and put the pieces in order for success, but without Dave Roberts manning the helm it would be easy to imagine them far less successful. Aster’s direction plays the role of Roberts in this film. He understood the tone and clearly was able to translate the writing on the page to horror on the screen. Without his visual taste, this movie could have easily been a classic cult film with little payoff or staying power.
The final categories are the most plausible in my opinion, and that is Best Actress in a Leading Role and Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Maybe leading, but we can litigate when we get there).
Let’s get this out of the way; Toni Collette, Alex Wolff, and Milly Shapiro all play “flashy” characters. Each of their characters, if in a different genre film, would be considered Oscar bait. Gabriel Byrne’s character is the emotional baseline of the film, and without his wonderful performance, the film could have easily been much different.
Now, with that out of the way, the real power players in this film are Collette and Wolff. (This is not to say Shapiro’s performance is not worthy of recognition, because it is. It is just hard for me to put her at the same level as her fellow actors.) The two performances are different, but kinda the same. Toni Collette gives her best 2004 playoff David Ortiz impression, as the family matriarch Annie, the entire movie. It is a powerful performance that anchors the entire movie from start to finish. When she needs to knock a scene out of the park, she provides a moon shot (or at the very least swings for the fences). There are a number of scenes that I easily see as her snapshot they choose for the 30 second bit to remind or show those tuning in what and why this person was nominated (This is one of my favorite games that I play with my wife. We like to try to see who can pick the bit that will be used. She is really frickin good). She is my clear number one choice for any potential acting nomination from this movie. The character and performance combination fits the traditional academy or Golden Globe standard for a nomination. I would continue but we have to move on.
Wolff’s character, Peter, is a different type of performance. While he ends up having more than his share of gripping moments, he starts out as a bystander for most of the beginning of the film. Wolff is able to present Peter in a nuanced fashion throughout the film. He is not showing all of his cards in the same way as Collette, which allows the performance ring believable and true. With the exception (this is not my take but my friend Blake’s) of one scene, his performance is way above average for supporting actor roles in horror films. For a category that can be pretty weak some years, I see a possibility that he could find his way in there.
I really wish that this scenario could come true, but the truth is that there is probably a better chance that Venom gets nominated for something than this movie. It just did not become a part of the conversation like it needed to for any high-level awards chatter (There will probably be a power ranking on the website during awards season that will dive into the socio-political aspect of awards season). Which is a shame because, until further notice, I feel this film is one of the year’s top five films. Even though this is probably the case, Hereditary will probably go down as the best horror film of 2018. If you are into horror films, give it a shot. It won’t disappoint. If you don’t like horror movies, it is probably best for you to sit this one out. There is never a need to lose your head over a movie.
Overall: 8.23/10
Thanks for reading! Curtis
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