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Sundance London: ‘Hereditary’ Review: Dir. Ali Aster (2018)

Hereditary review: Ari Aster’s film is every bit as scary and unsettling as you’ve heard – and then some. Proceed with extreme caution.

Hereditary review by Paul Heath.

Hereditary review

Hereditary review

‘The scariest film since The Exorcist’, read some reviews following Hereditary’s first screenings at this past January’s Sundance Film Festival. Months have passed, and the dust has settled, but now Ari Aster’s debut feature arrives in the UK courtesy of the festival’s UK off-shoot.

A title card at the start of reel one is a notice of an elderly woman’s passing as if it were posted in a local newspaper. The deceased is the matriarch of the Graham family and it’s not long before we’re at her funeral. Not a lot is known, though it is discovered very early on in proceedings that the woman suffered from dementia in her later years, had some emotional distance from her immediate family, made up of Annie (Toni Collette), her husband Steve (Gabriel Byrne), son Pete (Alex Wolff) and young daughter Charlie (a break-out Millie Shapiro). We also know that she was some sort of medium. This is discovered through a friendship that Annie strikes up at a local support group with a woman also suffering through grief, local lady Joan (Ann Dowd).

Related: The Tale review [Sundance London]

Back home, Charlie, who was close with her late grandmother, is also grieving heavily from her passing, while son Pete seems to be more intent on meeting girls and getting high with his friends. Steve, meanwhile, is the kind man in the background, a stalwart there for his family, attempting to hold everything together.

To continue further in terms of story could spoil things for the viewer as its best to go into the movie without any knowledge of what will be thrown at you. I went in knowing absolutely nothing, bar the rave reviews the film was getting on the festival circuit. What can be said is that every single positive comment at the plaudits associated with the film are absolutely true and warranted. This is really heavy stuff.

Hereditary review

Hereditary review

It is a very slow-burning movie, but a shocking event in the first forty minutes or so triggers the momentum for the remainder – a gruelling two hours of building tension, constant unease and complete unpredictability. We’re not in the same territory as A Quiet Place here – this is a film very much in the same vein as the superb The Witch from a couple of years ago, or even The Babadook. Both of those films pail in comparison when in it comes to scares.

This is a major calling-card for Aster. His script is clever and very unique, while his direction is brooding and patient, but utterly masterful.

This is the kind of film that will be talked about for hours after seeing it – and will undoubtedly lodge in your brain for even longer. Everything from the sound design and the grinding score to the stunning cinematography and exceptional performances get right under your skin. The two hours-plus running time is punishing, not because of the pacing, but because of the torturous nature of the story and the unrelenting fear you experience all of the way through.

See this film without reading further, or even looking at some of the publicity shots lurking around the web – some are big spoilers. This is a film that needs to be experienced cold – without any knowledge of what’s to come.

Hereditary is a remarkable debut – the arrival of a new filmmaker up there with the best of them. The film is absolutely one of the scariest I’ve experienced – brilliant in every way, but it is definitely one I never want to see again. And yes, the last time I felt this strongly was after seeing The Exorcist as a teenager. Hereditary is that good.

Hereditary review by Paul Heath, May 2018.

Hereditary was reviewed at the 2018 Sundance London film festival. It will be released in the UK on June 15th.

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