Menu
  • Home
  • About Us
  • Podcast
      • Slice of SciFi 966: The Devil Below“The Devil Below”: Bradley Parker and adventure horror
      • Slice of SciFi 965: Keith Thomas, "The Vigil"“The Vigil”: Holding onto grief, trauma, and the past for too long
      • Slice of SciFi 964: Universal Monsters and HellblazerUniversal Monsters and Hellblazer
      • Slice of SciFi 963: PG Psycho Goreman“PG: Psycho Goreman”: Making horror-scifi fun again
    • View all
  • Movie Reviews
      • Promising Young Woman (2020)“Promising Young Woman” and the harsh truths of trauma and justice
      • Review: Parallel (2020)“Parallel” takes on the mental and moral tolls of using parallel worlds
      • Review: I'm Your Woman (2020)“I’m Your Woman” shines with a different take on the mobster’s wife
      • Review: Archenemy (2020)“Archenemy”: Working with the Superhero You Find
    • View all
  • TV Reviews
      • "Project Blue Book"“Project Blue Book” explores the threads of UFO reports
      • Manifest Season 1: 5 Episodes In5 Episodes In: “Manifest”
      • 5 Episodes In: Reverie5 Episodes In: “Reverie”
      • 5 Episodes In: Marvel's Cloak and Dagger5 Episodes In: “Marvel’s Cloak & Dagger”
    • View all
  • DVD Reviews
      • Blu-ray Review: Archenemy (2020)“Archenemy” sparkles in sight & sound
      • The Dark and The Wicked (2020)“The Dark and The Wicked” and the Monstrous Weight of Grief
      • Bugs Bunny 80th Anniversary Collection“What’s Up Doc?”: A Look at 80 Years of Bugs Bunny
      • Batman: Death in the Family (2020, animated)“Batman: Death in the Family” makes alternate timelines fun
    • View all
  • Columns
  • News
      • TV News
      • Film News
      • DVD News
      • Interviews
      • Events
      • Geeky, Funny & Weird
      • Online Entertainment News
      • Music News
      • On Stage
      • Space News

Slice of SciFi

This is How We Geek Out: Interviews, Reviews & More

  • Writers, After Dark
  • Horror Happenings
  • The Babylon Podcast
  • SciFi Shop Talk
  • Slice of SciFi TV
  • Contact Us
“Hereditary”: More surreal than scary

“Hereditary”: More surreal than scary

June 7, 2018 By Noah Richman Leave a Comment

Hereditary is best described as a surrealist art house horror film. As is typical with films of this type, it begins with the appearance of a lineal storyline but ultimately drifts into a series of seemingly disconnected sequences and images, the emphasis being more on tone and mood than on straight story telling. Therefore, as also tends to be the case with this type of movie, it is somewhat difficult to summarize the plot. A family of four loses their grandmother. The mother, Annie Graham (played by Toni Collette) responds by attending a grief support group. The son, Peter Graham (played by Alex Wolff) hangs out in his room smoking pot and going to parties with his high school buddies. The daughter, Charlie Graham (played by Milly Shapiro) is strange and introverted, uncomfortable with social interactions. Further tragedy in the life of the Graham family leads Annie to experiment with séance rituals to communicate with the dead. Creepy weird imagery follows.

Hereditary (2018)
Milly Shapiro, Toni Collette, Gabriel Byrne, and Alex Wolff Photo by: James Minchin, courtesy of A24

The film that Hereditary can best be compared to is the Roman Polanski classic Rosemary’s Baby. The movie has a similar quality of drifting story telling that leaves the audience questioning the sanity of the protagonist, wondering how much of what they’re seeing is madness versus how much is real. As with Rosemary’s Baby it is a well-crafted film with strong performances and strong imagery that haunts and sticks with you long after the movie is over. Also, as with Rosemary’s Baby it is a horror movie that is generally less scary than it is one that leaves you with a sick feeling in the pit of your stomach. My chief complaint about Hereditary, actually, is that it appears to be so clearly influenced by Rosemary’s Baby as to be almost derivative. Without giving anything away, by the time the film came to its conclusion I could only think that this was a story I’d already seen before.

Another detraction from Hereditary was the length. The movie plodded along in parts and could easily have trimmed a good half hour without losing anything. I was bored several times while watching the movie.

In summary, Hereditary is well made but it’s not something you haven’t seen before. If you liked movies like The Witch, Rosemary’s Baby, The Blackcoat’s Daughter, and The Neon Demon, films that are all about haunting surreal imagery that leaves you sick and sticks with you without developing a solid lineal plot, then this should be right up your alley. If, like me, you’re someone who likes their horror movies to either be scary or fun, to tell a solid story, and don’t understand the appeal of something that makes you feel sick just for the sake of feeling sick, then you can probably give this one a miss.

2 and a half stars for me, more if you like this sort of thing


When Ellen, the matriarch of the Graham family, passes away, her daughter’s family begins to unravel cryptic and increasingly terrifying secrets about their ancestry. The more they discover, the more they find themselves trying to outrun the sinister fate they seem to have inherited. Making his feature debut, writer-director Ari Aster unleashes a nightmare vision of a domestic breakdown that exhibits the craft and precision of a nascent auteur, transforming a familial tragedy into something ominous and deeply disquieting, and pushing the horror movie into chilling new terrain with its shattering portrait of heritage gone to hell.

Hereditary
2.5

Summary

Hereditary is well made but it’s not something you haven’t seen before. If you liked movies like The Witch, Rosemary’s Baby, The Blackcoat’s Daughter, and The Neon Demon, films that are all about haunting surreal imagery that leaves you sick and sticks with you without developing a solid lineal plot, then this should be right up your alley.

Sending
User Review
0 (0 votes)
Share on TwitterShare on FacebookShare on Email

Filed Under: Film Reviews Tagged With: horror

About Noah Richman

Noah Richman is President of the Phoenix Fantasy Film Society, the longest running group dedicated to sci-fi/fantasy movie fandom in the Phoenix area. An avid board gamer, he has also amassed a library of immersive sci-fi/fantasy themed strategy games. A life-long film buff, Noah enjoys film commentary and criticism and has been having a blast writing film reviews for the Slice of SciFi website.

Related Posts

Slice of SciFi 930: Spoiler Alert!
Movie Talk: “Spoiler Alert” explores the genre plots we love and hate
Ash vs Evil Dead
Starz Releases “Ash vs Evil Dead” First Look Teaser & Art
Slice of SciFi 779
Jim Ojala: Mysteries and Horror in “Strange Nature”

Trackbacks

  1. “Midsommar” is a mesmerizing tour de force | Slice of SciFi says:
    July 3, 2019 at 1:40 pm

    […] did not particularly care for Ari Aster’s film Hereditary. While the acting was top-notch, especially Toni Collette’s performance, I thought the movie was […]

    Reply

Leave a Reply to “Midsommar” is a mesmerizing tour de force | Slice of SciFi Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Generic selectors
Exact matches only
Search in title
Search in content
Search in posts
Search in pages
Filter by Categories
Audio Productions
Awards News
Book News
Book Reviews
Columns
Comics News
DVD News
DVD Reviews
Entertainment Business News
Events
Fan Films
Fan Productions
Film News
Film Reviews
Gaming News
Geeky, Funny & Weird
Human Interest
Interviews
Music News
On Stage
Online Entertainment News
Science News
Slice of SciFi
Slice Video News
Space News
Specials
Technology News
TV News
TV Reviews

Subscribe to Podcast

Apple PodcastsGoogle PodcastsAndroidiHeartRadioStitcherTuneInRSS

Listen to Slice of SciFi

iTunes
iHeart Radio
Player.FM
RSS
 

Keep Up With Slice of SciFi

  • Movie & TV Reviews

Recent Comments

  • Lou Tambone on Universal Monsters and Hellblazer: “Thank you, Summer. It was great talking to you again.”
  • dutch on “Parallel”: Isaac Ezban, Martin Wallström and Mark O’Brien: “If you pass this film up by saying, “Ugh, another parallel universe flick.”, you did not ask the right question.…”
  • Summer Brooks on “Near Dark”: Stacey Abbott on teaching vampire lore: “I hadn’t remembered until I was making the graphic for this episode that I own a copy of READING ANGEL…”
  • Joyce Gravino on “Near Dark”: Stacey Abbott on teaching vampire lore: “Thank you for this episode. I now have to to look for the reading angel book and the x-files one…”
  • Daniel M on Giveaway: “2067” on DVD: “back to the future”
Tweets by @sliceofscifi
death to humans 160x600
Save 10-50% on in-stock toys at TFAW.com.

Slice of SciFi
1121 Annapolis Rd PMB 238
Odenton MD 21113
602-635-6976

Artwork:
Slice of SciFi spiral logo designed by Tim Callender

Theme Music:
Slice of SciFi music and themes
courtesy of Sci-Fried

Sister Sites:
Writers, After Dark
Horror Happenings
SciFi Shop Talk
Slice of SciFi TV

Copyright © 2005–2021 · Magazine Pro Theme On Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in