Nice effort !

Rating: 6/10 (15 June 2018)

For a first movie, it's a really nice one. The cast is amazing, some scenes are really heartbreaking (in the first third of the picture) and there are many good ideas (the first shot is just... wow !).
I didn't know what to expect because i meticulously avoided every article, review or trailer, just knew it was sort of a Rosemary's Baby/The Exorcist/The Witch kinda flick (which are quite diffÃ©rent, but let's say it's not a Saw or a Freddy Krueger). And it was supposed to be the movie that finally gave you some real terror on screen.
Unfortunately, the movie, even though it doesn't use all the easy tropes that we are common to these days (like cheap jump scares and such) takes too long to get into the fantasy-horror element. Or let's say, you can consider the movie just being a family drama up to some point (with again one heartbreaking moment you never want to live as a human being). And that shift point came too late in the movie for me. So late I wasn't part of the audience anymore. I was just someone sitting there, waiting for something to happen, as someone who's watched tens of thousand of movies before. The magic was gone when it finally started to come together.
I find it sad because there are a lot of good things. I mean a LOT, from plot development to an ambiance that reminded me of the best creepy feelings I had watching the first season of True Detective. Also, the director/screenwriter's intentions are really interesting (I won't spoil it, you can find a good article diving into everything on the /Film website).
Finally and again, some shots are really creepy on paper and and make for memorable big screen moments (again, no spoil, just check the movie out).
But alas, I wasn't in there any more. I was still interested in how that would end (in contract to what i felt watching "The killing of a sacred deer" for exemple), but I felt like someone was just telling me what was happening, instead of being engulfed in it.
I'm really interested with what's coming next in Ari Aster future because there's so much to dig in here (screeplay, narrative, story building and directing wise), and I'm really happy I took some time to go and watch this in theaters.
Just sad it didn't have more of an impact on me. But I have to confess, The Exorcist never had that grip on me everybody is talking about. So maybe if the Friedkin flick scared you to death, don't forget to check this one out.