Hereditary Is One of the Best Movies You’ll Never Want to See Again

Last updated on: June 8, 2018 at 10:13 am by Coyle Neal

Hereditary Is One of the Best Movies You’ll Never Want to See Again 2018-06-08T10:13:45-06:00 Coyle Neal

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

By Christian Hamaker

The ecstatic reviews for Hereditary coming out of the Sundance and South by Southwest festivals heralded a new classic—a horror film of intense power with an unmissable lead performance from Toni Collette.

The pump had been primed. Weeks later, after A Quiet Place had reminded everyone of how well-made horror films could find a broad, appreciative audience, it looked as though Hereditary might draw a similar response from horror-hungry viewers.

Image: Epk.tv

Hereditary may do just that. But classic films are determined by their ability to stand the test of time and hold up to repeat viewings—and if Hereditary is a new classic of the genre, why do I never want to sit through it again?

Collette gives a remarkable performance as Annie Graham, an artist who, as the film opens, has recently lost her mother. During her eulogy, Annie bluntly acknowledges the distance between herself and her mom, who, Annie says, had “private rituals” that kept the two at a distance. At a grief recovery group, Annie meets a woman (Anne Dowd) who makes herself available to help comfort Annie, sensing Annie’s emotional and spiritual fragility. She on to something: Annie is about to encounter serious challenges to family stability and to her own sanity.

The mother-daughter legacy looms large in Annie’s life. Annie has some distance from her own daughter, Charlie (Millie Shapiro), whose furrowed expressions and audible clucking suggest she’s dealing with things that are weighing on her—things like visions of the dead and an interest in removing the heads of dead birds. Annie’s son, Peter (Alex Wolff), seems more like a typical kid his age, but after a harrowing tragedy—it’s truly horrifying—Annie and Alex come completely undone. (Annie’s husband, played by Gabriel Byrne, is largely inconsequential.)

Ensuing events take the film in a dark—very dark—direction that even the most jaded horror-film lovers may find oppressive and smothering in its despair. The story, which balances this-worldly horrors with suggestions of the supernatural, tips sharply in one direction during its corker of a conclusion. The well-constructed closing moments push the bounds of believability while simultaneously feeling inevitable—quite a feat for Writer/Director Ari Aster. In the cold, immediate aftermath of Hereditary, you may want to watch it again right away, to see how and when, exactly, the story reveals its hand toward its surprising finish. Or, like me, you may find that such considerations and speculations are not nearly enough to spur additional viewings.

Despite its pronounced strengths—chiefly a Collette performance that more than dips its toes into hysteria but somehow retains a relatability, even a sympathy, for Annie— Hereditary is permeated by a darkness that, while intentional and entirely effective, numbed me with its inciting incident and left me shaken, then depressed, by what I’d seen.

Why such a reaction? An interview with Aster by Michael Koresky sheds some light on Aster’s approach to faith and its relationship, or lack thereof, to Hereditary:

Koresky: Your film … implies that resolution might be the most horrific thing of all. The ending reminded me of The Last Temptation of Christ, and how just the phrase “It is accomplished” can be terrifying.

Aster: I had the same response to [Director Carl Theodore] Dreyer’s Ordet. That really bothers me. I don’t have faith, but that film, I feel it, and it’s upsetting because then I’m dropped back into my life, where I don’t really have a god. So I felt something there. But am I doomed?

Ordet recently has been on the lips of another filmmaker, Paul Schrader, who wrote about Dreyer’s film in his recently republished work Transcendental Style in Film. Schrader has mentioned Ordet in discussing the ending of his latest film, First Reformed, currently doing robust business on the arthouse circuit.

I can’t fault the filmmakers for my lack of desire to watch Hereditary again. But I also can’t bring myself to recommend it with any enthusiasm. This is a grim—very grim—movie, the taste for which I seem to have left behind.

Your mileage, as they say, may vary. You may find it the new classic that it’s being heralded as. Maybe, one day, I will too. But that day won’t be anytime soon.

Previous Post

June 5, 2018

Lewis for the Soul in the 21st Century

Next Post

June 12, 2018 There's no need to ride Pegasus

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Action AFI Top 100 Animation Best Picture Winner BFI Top 250 Biography Biopic Books Childrens Christian Classics Classics Comedy Crime Documentary Drama Editor's Choice Family Fantasy Fantasy Films Foreign Historical Historical Fiction History Horror Horror IMDB Top 250 Indie Memoir Modern Novel Musical Mystery Non-Fiction Oscars Philosophy Poetry Popular Literature Reading and Writing Reality Romance Science Fiction Science Fiction Silent Sports Thriller TV Show Uncategorized Western Westerns Young Adult

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 June 2017 January 2017 December 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Which book has the famous phrase, "For everything there is a season"?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Proverbs Psalms Lamentations Ecclesiastes