Stupendously solid contemporary horror

Rating: 8/10 (8 June 2018)

Hereditary had some very large hype (whether it be due to marketing or not) to live up to and I would say that it does not disappoint. It is far more intelligent and more psychological than the majority of modern American horror films. Though a good handful of it's scary moments do feel very familiar and strongly reminiscent of most other horror sequences we've seen in the last 15 years (through films like The Conjuring and all of it's clones), the sequences all occur with great purpose. The film throws enough curveballs to really make it standout in the pack.
The cast is phenomenal. This is the strongest performance I've ever seen by Toni Collette, by a longshot. She is so intense and so dynamic - it's really great. Alex Wolff also made a fan out of me, as the son - he had a really big role to fill and he killed it. Very brave. Gabriel Byrne was also a perfect choice for his "voice of reason"-esque role, and of course casting Milly Shapiro was smart - she's apparently a big fan of horror movies in reality and that translates very well in the energy she puts out on the screen.
The movie does move quite slowly through the middle but the way things wrap around make it necessary and worthwhile. Though it's slow, most every scene is still important - I would not have cut anything.
Though the film did remind me a lot of most other contemporary horror films, it also had a lot of elements that reminded me of some of my favorite classic horror films of all time... I can't say which ones or that would be a bit of a spoiler in it self... but I will say that the main ones I think of came out in 1968, 1977, and 1980.
Though it didn't completely blow my mind, Hereditary is one of the strongest American horror films of recent years. It features several images and sequences that you will most likely not be forgetting anytime soon. I am excited to see what first time feature director Ari Aster does next! A phenomenal first film!