Captivating Story, Thrilling Scares

Rating: 9/10 (24 September 2018)

Short Version:
Not for the faint hearted, fantastic acting and character development. Definitely a damn good horror.
The Long Version:
After all the horror movies I've seen I gotta say, this one was the most terrifying and bone rattling. The spine tingling and muscle clenching superb movie is set in the life of a family where the matriarch had recently passed away and the mother is expected to provide and keep the family together. As the movie progresses the mother (played by the incredible Toni Collette) begins to spiral into insanity and delusion. And thus with the fall of the mother comes the fall of the family. The constant rush of fear and confusion keeps your heart beating fast the entire movie. With frequent jump scares and thrilling music which accompanies these scares, plus with the morbid and horrific gore and inhuman movements constant keeps your eyes glued to the screen out of fear. Ari Aster consistently develops the characters and continues a complex but understandable story line all while providing intense fear. He masterfully embraces the gruesome and chilling sensations of slasher horrors like "Scream", "Friday the 13th" and "Saw" while delivering squeamish supernatural spine tingling thrills from movies like "The Conjuring", "Sinister" and "Insidious" combining them in this concoction of out right fear and very, very enjoyable film. Each of the members of the family have significant relationships that embrace a fulfilling movie instead of just "a haunted family", they have personalities and interactions which grow and encourage the viewer to be inveseted in their character. It's refreshing in the Horror genre to see a movie which breaks away from the normal family structure and forces the viewer to worry and care for the family, especially with the presence of a mental disabled child it provokes this sense of care and respect for the family. And thus as the fear begins to climb and it reaches the climax the viewer is invested in the family and so as it breaks down and fear ravages them it's so much more scary. The father for me was the most disappointing character, he didn't bring much to the table and really just ended up being a "filler" character really only being a representation of a man being oppressed by a matriarch (which let's be real is very uncommon). So I guess I would summarize him as symbolic but unengaging. The son and the mother are most dynamic which is definitely Asters goal in this movie. As the fear increases their relationship deteriorates and their characters become more and more intriguing. By the end of the film each character has had their own personal journey and been tormented by the evil in their own way.
The ending is interesting, unique, intelligent and finally settles after being so fricken scary. The morbid and creepy movie wraps up effectively and definitely, most definitely leaves your shaking in your boots.
Scare Value: 5/5
Jump Factor: 4/5
Acting: 4/5
Photography: 4/5
Special Effects: 4/5
Enjoyability: 5/5
Total: 26/30