Disturbing, painful, and absolutely terrifying

Rating: 10/10 (19 June 2018)

About halfway through Hereditary I remember debating whether I knew I needed to see this movie again to decipher and appreciate its themes and details more, or whether this was a film I never in my life want to view again. At this moment I'm leaning toward needing a rewatch, but I'll definitely need to be in a certain mood for it. This is because Hereditary is absolutely one of the most emotionally painful and horrifying movies I have ever seen, and maybe ever made. The scenes of family drama are so gut-wrenching and powerful that they gave me chills, while the rest of the movie scared me worse than I have been scared since I first watched "The Sixth Sense" when I was around 12 years old and basically pooped my pants. In fact, after being scared poopless by that movie as well as "Insidious" and the second Paranormal Activity movie at a young age, I really thought I was immune to horror movies, as if they scared me so bad that nothing would compare to the fear I felt while watching them. Sure, movies like "the Shining", "Mulholland Drive", and "Lost Highway" definitely had me shaken up at times, but I have not truly felt as terrified as I did while watching "Hereditary" in a long long time.
My IMDB account says I have watched and rated 248 horror movies and TV shows, and only rated 6 perfect 10/10s. I enjoy the horror genre, but I also know that I am very hard on it as well. When done right horror movies can be the among the most entertaining forms of cinema to watch, but more often than not they are done very poorly. I bring this up because I think it makes it mean more when I say "Hereditary" is truly a 10/10 horror film to me. Yet to just label it a mere horror film is a major disservice. The scenes of family drama are so painful and lifelike that the only movie I can really compare it to is "In The Bedroom", one of my favorite movies, yet I think even then Hereditary is a far more painful and heartbreaking watch. It is not paced like a traditional scare-fest horror film either. It gives out little pieces of information throughout its runtime to keep the audience engaged, but it never forces scares or even seems to feel like it has to be scary all the time. It would much rather keep you on edge by making you ask: "who/what was that little ghost boy in the corner? What was in the mother's drink that got on her lips at her friend's house? Why does the little girl cut up birds? What does the grandmother's final note mean?" and much more. Some of these questions are answered soon after, some much later in the film, and some not directly at all. These little morsels of mystery, plus a commanding and edgy score will keep you on your toes throughout all of "Hereditary's" runtime. And then when it feels like maybe you have pinned down the direction it is going in it hits you with one of the most shocking and unexpected movies scenes I have ever watched. I'm of course talking about the decapitation scene.
The trailers do a great job of making this scene feel even more like a misdirection, because the creepy little girl is the focal-point of all of them. Never in my life would I have thought that the film would kill her off in such a gruesome fashion less than 45 minutes into its runtime. When this happens you really think poop is about to hit the fan, but instead the film rakes you over the coals by making you a fly on the wall of a truly broken and destroyed family for nearly the next hour. And then the sÃ©ance scene happens, and at this point I had come to accept this movie as a masterpiece. I remember my eyes literally watering due to me be so afraid during that sequence. What makes it so scary is what makes the rest of the movie so scary as well: camera movement, the score, and incredible lighting.
This movie did not have a single true jumpscare in it, because it knew how to use the threat of a jumpscare to keep you nervous instead. Most of the film's scarier scenes consisted of long takes where the camera moves in and out of close-ups. Usually in horror films, these close-ups build up tension which is released through a jumpscare when the camera moves back out to a wide-shot. "Hereditary" knows this, and instead decides that it is not going to use a cheap jumpscare to release the tension, and instead let the tension linger... and linger... and linger until you feel like your heart is going to bust. All the while, the score drones on and pushes you and the scene forward much like the score in last year's "Dunkirk". I'm also not an expert by any means in lighting, but this film's darkness and shadows feel so natural and realistic. You are constantly questioning the shadowy backgrounds thinking "did I see something back there or is my mind playing tricks on me" much like you would do in real life. I have no idea how the lighting was done, but this along with the other two aspects I just mentioned are truly innovative and make this movie quiet possibly the scariest movie ever made. Yeah I'll just go right out and say it.
Don't forget that this movie is a hard R rating as well due to the imagery in it being so disgusting and disturbing at times. I truly think the scene of the daughter's decapitated head being devoured by ants as it melts into the side of the road, or where the mother bangs her head on the attic door like the demons in "Jacobs Ladder" do will stay with me for the rest of my life, and those are only two of many absolutely screwed up parts throughout the movie's runtime. I know I'm just gushing about "Hereditary" at this point, but I honestly have no problems with it except the ending is a bit anticlimactic, but it's hard to live up to the rest of the film's utterly brilliant writing so I don't really blame it too much. I mean the foreshadowing and layers upon layers of details in this movie could be dissected for hours upon end, and honestly after I see it a second and third time (if I can stomach it) that is exactly what I will do. This movie has the potential to be a future classic in my opinion, and I don't see how any other movie is going to beat it as my favorite film of 2018.