Stays with you

Rating: 9/10 (30 November 2018)

I left this movie unnerved, but not particularly blown away. It has all the requisite gore and jump scares, delivered with technical mastery, but it all left me a bit cold. In the subsequent weeks I found myself talking about it often with friends who had seen it, revisiting the most memorable moments and finding myself disturbed all over again. The plot is absurd and if you read a synopsis you'd assume this was a hokey mess, but the characters and their relationships are so grounded in reality (anchored by Toni Collette and Alex Wolff's remarkable performances) that when the worst happens your empathy overpowers your incredulity and you're sucked in. Not for the faint of heart, but I wouldn't be surprised if we're still talking about Hereditary decades from now.