If you are an intelligent film viewer and like horror, then you must see this

Rating: 10/10 (30 January 2019)

As a big fan of quality horror, I was eager to see this film after reading much of the critical hype. The problem with the horror genre is that it is extraordinarily difficult to make a really excellent horror film, one that truly disturbs your emotions on a visceral level. That's why most horror films rely on dumb cliches, loud screams and cheap scares that don't have any lasting impact. Really good, really terrifying horror films are few and far between, but when you find one for people like me it is like finding gold.
For a variety of reasons I never got around to seeing Hereditary in the theater, but was happy to see it pop up on Prime Video. I went in with high expectations, and the film did not disappoint - at all. Hereditary is a remarkable credit to the genre and immediately and legitimately establishes itself as one of the all-time greats, right along with Rosemary's Baby, The Exorcist, Jaws, The Babadook, The Innocents, Halloween, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (yes, absolutely) and a handful of others. In many ways it takes horror to an entirely new level.
After the credits rolled, and still in a state of semi-shock after watching this unbelievably gut-wrenching, emotionally draining and disturbingly terrifying film, I came to IMDB to read what I thought would be near-unanimous reviews echoing my enthusiasm. There are a lot of those reviews for certain, but what surprised me is that there seems to be an almost equal number of one-star user reviews from people who thought it was terrible. I am dumbfounded. Almost all of the negative reviews say it is either too slow or the story doesn't make sense. Based on what I have read, I think there are only two explanations:
1. These people are part of a generation that expects instant satisfaction. They don't read books, and they don't appreciate anything that isn't instantly gratifying. It's a shame, really. To say that this film is slow-paced is simply ridiculous. The first half is some of the most intense and darkly disturbing scene setting and character introduction you will find in any film, and the second half is just one wildly terrifying scene after another right through the horrifying climax in the attic. And how can anyone who watched the film to its conclusion argue that the plot doesn't make sense? I'm not going to take the four paragraphs that would be necessary to explain it to you, but trust me when I tell you that while it is complex, the plot makes perfect sense on multiple levels, and if you don't enjoy supernatural or demonically spiritual concepts then you shouldn't be viewing a horror film in the first place.
2. There is some kind of organized campaign actively out to sabotage this film, for whatever reason. Based on the quantity and similarity of the one-star reviews, and how they all are stacked together, I think there is something to this theory though I have no idea why anyone would want to keep a film like this from being successful. BTW, if that is what you are doing, you are too late. It's a huge hit.
I'm not going to rehash all of the plot points because there is just too much going on in this film. Suffice to say that it hits many nerves related to underlying family strains, grief, loss, parent-child tension, spousal-tension, and dark insanity, and it unfolds them all in a frighteningly real and relatable way (to a point, obviously, before everything goes berserk). It's all very well done, and the direction from the miniature house perspective is a powerful visual effect. One of my main criticisms of a lot of horror films today is that they rely too much on a) cheap jump scares, and b) soundtracks that are like cue cards telling you when you should be scared. There are few if any jump scares in Hereditary, and while the marvelously creepy score cuts close to being overdone at points, in the end it works amazingly well to accentuate some of the scariest scenes while casting a pall of nervous dread throughout the entire film.
Look, if you have the patience and intellectual capacity of a millennial teenager then you probably aren't going to enjoy this film. But if you enjoy well-crafted, well-written, well-acted and well-directed horror films such as any of the ones I listed above - films that expertly build a sickening sense of dread and that wrench your emotions in new and uncomfortable ways - you are not just going to like Hereditary; you are going to love it. It is a brilliant horror film, and I only wish there were more like it.