A shocking, disturbing, and genuinely terrifying glimpse into madness and grief

Rating: 9/10 (13 June 2018)

When the crowd starts hailing a new film as a "masterpiece of horror," skeptic heads will turn. I'm a lifelong horror junkie and when I saw the (intentionally misleading) trailer for this movie I knew I had to see it. A24 has made some excellent horror entries in recent years and I expected another unique combination of both real scares and a really good film. I wasn't disappointed.
The acting is exceptional. Toni Colette (as Anne Graham) flexes her potential and gives a frightening performance that channels all the anxiety and grief her character experiences. Alex Wolff surpasses expectations, and Gabriel Byrne does a fine job as well. The effect of their great performances is that you are entranced by the horror unfolding within their family - and you yourself are helplessly trapped along for the ride.
I don't want to spoil anything and you should see Hereditary as blind as possible. It is truly a film of nightmarish proportions and I found myself nervously giggling like a paranoid child during two or three particular scenes. A large man to my left chuckled a couple of times in the first hour of the film, but was audibly afraid once the terror began to ramp up. At different points I was shocked, horrified, and wrought with anxiety, as director Ari Aster works to build the tension in a dream-like fashion until your nerves are bent to their breaking point.
You won't find undeserved jump-scares or cheesy tropes in Hereditary. If you're a fan of psychological horror, supernatural horror, or really just good horror in general, this film will show you what kind of fear 127 minutes of runtime can induce. It is well-paced, craftily shot, and often very subtle in its detailing, and I am sure a re-watch will reveal some thoughtful or scary touches I missed before. And the scenes that are built to shock you will indeed do just that. This is the kind of film that shows you something unbelievably horrifying - and then makes you look at it for just a little too long.