--Annie Graham, Hereditary
A phenomenal debut film, Hereditary is one of the most haunting and effective horror films of recent years. Instead of bombarding viewers with supernatural imagery, it builds up a powerful family drama before diving into the horror at the heart of the script, culminating in a very intense final 20 minutes. The emotional development of the characters proves as potent as the atmosphere of terror that erupts near the finale. To the film's credit, many genre cliches are avoided. That Hereditary is such a splendid movie might be somewhat expected, given that A24, the production and distribution company behind Hereditary, also released The Witch [1], It Comes at Night, and The Monster, other horror movies that focus on atmosphere and characterization instead of shallow dialogue and rapid jump scares.
 |
|
Production Values
A great deal of the effects are practical, and they are used to great effect. The unfolding of the script allows for the more dramatic effects to be reserved for the end of the film, something that only heightens the impact. The director relies mostly on spectacular performances, writing, music, and cinematography to establish and develop the horror. There is a lot of foreshadowing woven into the script. Upon a second viewing, a great deal of the plot's ultimate thrust seems rather obvious, yet only one viewing is enough to see how successfully Hereditary merges its two distinct story elements. The dialogue itself is fantastic, emphasizing the grief and confusion of a family in the midst of tragic suffering, but it is the acting that catapults the execution of the script to such heights. Toni Collette in particular offers a deeply realistic performance as Annie Graham. Her grief and vulnerability alone hold up any scene in which they appear. Child actors can be very hit or miss, but Milly Shapiro does an excellent job with her limited but vital presence in the movie as Charlie Graham. Even the supporting actors and actresses play their roles in a very organic way, with the movie benefiting from the consistency of the quality acting.
Story
Spoilers!
Annie Graham and her family, consisting of her husband, son, and daughter, attend the funeral of her mother. Her mom suffered from dissociative identity disorder, with mental illness of various sorts running in the family. Charlie, Annie's daughter, has an allergy to nuts that soon results in a chain of events that culminates in her death, which cripples the Graham family. Each family member struggles with sadness or regret, but Annie meets a new friend named Joan. Elated, Joan soon tells Annie of her allegedly successful attempt to communicate with the spirit of her own deceased family member and then shows Annie the process.
Annie replicates the seance, hoping to be reunited with Charlie in some way. But the next attempt frightens her son Peter, who has been dealing with disturbing phenomena in the wake of Charlie's death, to the point of hearing noises she used to make. The discovery of a book links Joan with Annie's dead mother. She was a prominent figure in a private cult, working to have the demon king Paimon (a demon whose name appears in literature that predates the film) indwell Peter's body. After a series of tragic happenings, Peter is left vulnerable enough to be possessed by Paimon, and Joan, referring to him as Charlie, elaborates on how he can now reveal hidden knowledge to her secret coven.
Intellectual Content
At one point, Annie's husband thinks that she has descended into mental illness when she tells him about her plan to prevent a supernatural entity from harming her son further. Demonic activity (or behavioral reactions to demonic activity) and mental disorders could be very easily mistaken for each other. They both can involve dramatic, wild outbursts, after all. Hereditary expertly portrays how the two could even coexist, since the Graham family matriarch seems to have passed on both demonic woes and mental illness to her offspring.
Of course, Western entertainment often fails to acknowledge that anything that is not made of physical matter is supernatural by definition, including the laws of logic, basic consciousness of any sort, and the very space that holds matter. Entertainment is even likely part of the reason that people tend to only regard things like unembodied consciousnesses (like demons) or divine activity as supernatural. The truth is that the supernatural is in some way woven into every aspect of reality, since logic governs all things, as well as since it is impossible for both logic and space to not exist. No one needs to experience demonic or divine activities to know that the supernatural exists; they only need to recognize the nature of reason, their own consciousness (mind/spirit), and space itself.
Conclusion
 |
|
In recent years, there has been a resurgence of atmospheric horror films that emphasize characterization and themes. Hereditary ranks among these movies. It exemplifies how terror can be gradually but effectively increased until it explodes into a volatile twist ending, how strong characters can amplify the impact of scares, and how there is a great need for deep emotion in horror. Cinema needs more horror stories of this quality, for they demonstrate how impactful and personal the genre can be.
Content:
1. Violence: A woman slowly slices her head off of her torso. Violent imagery is used even when there people are not inflicting brutality on themselves or others, as in the case of corpses.
2. Profanity: Words like "shit" and "fuck" are used throughout the story.
3. Nudity: Several male and female cult members are shown fully nude near the end of the movie. The nudity is completely nonsexual.
[1]. https://thechristianrationalist.blogspot.com/2017/09/movie-review-witch.html
No comments:
Post a Comment