Hereditary: The Invisible Horror
“She isn’t gone.”
Hereditary, personally, might be the best horror movie in 2018 (if not decade). The image of the unsettling scenes and visuals remain frightening, even in 2020. Being the first horror movie which gave me headache on the first watch. The second time? I still had the same effect. The ghost is not even commonly appeared, unlike The Conjuring, where the family is frequently haunted by spirits which are visible for your eyes. At least in that movie I’ll know what I’m afraid of, but with Hereditary, I don’t even know what I’m afraid of, and it makes me scared even more (if that makes sense).
Once lived a family consists of four members: the mother, Annie Graham, is a miniature artist, the father, Steve Graham, the 16-years-old son, Peter Graham, and the youngest, Charlie Graham. At the beginning of the movie they are seen to have attended Annie’s mother, Ellen Leigh, funeral. After she’s gone, some gruesome events start to follow this family as well as the ugly truth hidden by their grandmother. Later, it is revealed that their grandmother engages in some kind of demonic cult which serves her with good wealth. This 127-minutes movie shows the way this family try to find gateway from their dreaded fate.
Hereditary is wrapped up nicely by Ari aster as the writer and director. It means no dragged plot and unnecessary drama added on it; every scenes counts. From the very beginning, he has gave out essential clues to be used in following scenes. You’ll know right away some facts about this family: Ellen’s secretive and private life, the gap of Ellen’s relationship with Annie, Charlie’s allergy of nuts, and the symbol of Ellen’s necklace, all of it are shown to serve as major points for the upcoming scenes.
It can be said that Aster is keen to put easter eggs throughout the movie, which could be his signature move for his works (Midsommar), even though not all of them are direct clues of the story, at least they’re related to the main theme. For example, you can find some scratched words on the Graham house walls: satony, liftoach pandemonium, and zazas.
They’re not explicitly explained in the movie, but several sources share that they’re somehow related to the whole theme, satanic cult. He definitely boosts the audience’s curiosity and not bored them with a long duration and unnecessary jump-scare. There’s this certain feeling of satisfaction and astonishment if you could find these hidden gems.
Apart from revealing the horror surrounding the Grahams, the movie also puts psychological issue as a foundation. Several events in the movie cause severe trauma on the characters. However, you’ll also find how each of them deals with their pain. Annie, with her ability to make miniature figure, tries to visualising her pain through it, and Peter with his habit to smoke weed to relief his stress and numb his mind.
One time, Annie also goes to support group to share about her thoughts of losing her mother who’s definitely not the best mother of the year. There, she also reveals that the rest of her family was suffering from mental illness which became the cause of their death. Then, there’s Peter who chooses to shut himself from the world after unintentionally beheaded his sister when he was driving. What a perfect way to complete the stressful days and trauma for the family. That horrible event leads to Annie’s desperation. She insists to bring back her daughter by summoning her spirit despite her scepticism towards it, not knowing that it’s the beginning of her family’s doom.
I like how the psychological issue is pictured in the movie. It’s not the core of the whole plot, but it’s the essence of the story. Although the whole incidents in the Grahams house is planned by the cult community, the pain is real. The trauma and the stress are following them from the very first time, even before they got to learn the hidden truth. Annie’s distant relationship with her mother is the result of her mother’s secretive self which leads to Annie’s empty and complicated feelings for her mother. Peter’s relation with Annie is also affected by his childhood trauma. Once, Annie tried to burn him and Charlie when they were sleeping. Fortunately, she could stop before the worst event comes. She explains that it’s just her horrible habit of sleepwalking. However, the damage has been dropped. The feeling of fear still lingers in Peter’s mind for a long time. So, the cult only needs a little bit of salt to add to the old wound, to create an overwhelming pain.
The fact that Hereditary is a satan-worshipping-horror movie, it just feels right to also call it psychological-horror. It’s one of the reason why I call it “the invisible horror” movie, because it’s messing with the audience’s mind with its characters’ emotional state, and it’s not something that can be seen clearly with naked eyes. Once again, you might not want to expect on-point jump-scare accompanied by scary creature when you decided to watch this. On the other hand, it might be a perfect choice for you who want to watch something scary but want to avoid constant jump-scare at all costs. No mild-horror guaranteed though :)