One of the best horror movies of the decade.

Rating: 9/10 (30 November 2019)

It's no secret that making your first feature-length movie is not a easy task and everything can go very badly all of the time. There are many reasons of why your first movie may not good at all and the biggest reason (which is very common) is when you don't have any experience with directing and even screenwriting and for that not only you will suffer, but also everyone, who was involved in the making of the movie as well.
Making your first movie good (or even great) happens very rarely, so i'm not going to hide my surprise when i was "Hereditary" for the first time back in March (unfortunately not in the cinema) and after seeing it - i fell in love with the movie. Ari Aster created something that is so unique and fascinating from the beginning to the end. It was the first horror movie in years that affected me so much and i'll also point out that it's rare for me to get goosebumps, while watching a horror movie. The only horror movies that affected me the most are "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre" (the original, not the remake), "Psycho" (i should also count the remake, even remembering that a terrible remake or even a remake in general of a classic by Alfred Hitchcock exists is terrifying) and "Alien".
The story was very engaging from the beginning and the dynamic between the family was great. The way the story was building up for the events that will happen in the ending was overall great, seeing how the family goes insane throughout the movie and having moments that i can still recall, which i loved and shocked me in my first viewing.
The acting (for the most part) was great. Toni Collette was the one, who stands out the most. She was fantastic and gave one of the best performance of 2018. I don't hide the fact that i was shocked that she didn't got a Academy Awards nomination, but they chose to give that nomination to Melissa McCarthy. I know that the Academy are terrible of picking the winner for every category in every year, but for the nominations - that was a horrible choice from their side.
The characters are very compelling and the way Toni Collette's character was written - it felted more like a character study, which is a great thing, since it wasn't a normal horror movie that has jump scares and i do consider it more as a drama with horror elements. The scene where the characters have dinner is no doubt the best scene in the movie. I do have a problem with one of the characters, but i'll save it for later.
The dialogue was fantastic and the interactions between all of the characters were very believable and it does deliver moments of emotion throughout it's dialogue.
The cinematography was great and there are many shots that are just visually appealing, especially the beginning shot that was fantastic.
The editing was also great. The editor knew when to cut from one shot to another and how much time the shot will stay before he did a cut.
The music was very atmospheric and it really did make the movie great for me.
With the positives also comes the negatives. Like i mentioned: I loved all of the characters, but i didn't like that the husband / father still doesn't believe everything that his wife is telling him, even with the proof that she has - he still thinks that his wife is crazy. This only happens in the end of the movie and it can be viewed as a small complaint, but i still wanted to mention it. The actor Alex Wolff, who portrays the son Peter wasn't all that convincing in some moments and his crying was very weird. He does a great job when he is scared, but overall he doesn't do a good job.
Even though i praised the music - i do have problems with that aspect. After re-watching the movie and listening to the soundtrack there are some tracks that are not all that memorable and the composer did reuse some of the music in some moments. I'm not a huge fan, when composers do reuse the same track over and over again and "Hereditary" is not the first movie that does this. It may not be a problem for many, but for me it was and i wanted to point out the flaws that i have with the music.
Overall i loved the movie. It's a movie that left an impression on me after i saw it for the first time and i wanted to see it again, but i had to be careful, because if i see a movie multiple times every year - i'll get sick of it very easily and probably never going to watch it ever again. After re-watching it i did spot some things that i didn't in my first viewing, which was very cool. It was a fantastic experience from beginning to the end and i'll even say that it's not only one of the best movies of 2018, but also one of the best horror movies of the decade and i'm giving "Hereditary" a 9.2/10.