not a 10....not a masterpiece....not even close

Rating: 4/10 (8 April 2019)

The reviews for this movie were so wildly extreme and polarized that I decided to read reviews and spoilers while watching it.....a first for me. Anyone who thinks this is a "masterpiece", without being a pretentious twit, either scares easily or is a teenager. Giving it a 1/10 is a bit harsh. It is a bad movie. Poorly made, poorly written, poorly directed, poorly filmed but there was some money put into special effects and the acting, for the most part, is good. Toni Collette has made a career or grimacing and overacting which she does well here. But I'll never watch another Collette movie. Someone asked why Gabrel Byrne took the job. Well, he is the executive producer so he is really in it for the money. Ann Dowd is always good, always creepy. Poor little Milly Shapiro chose the worst role of her young life. Some scenes are more repulsive than horror....or for a good horror film. Some scenes which are most disturbing are also the most ridiculous. The movie borrows heavily on sights and sounds from other horror films. Not an homage...more of a theft. Creepy sounds from The Shining, creepy scenes from forgotten Exorcist movies. The director seemed a bit obsessed with loss of heads. All in all, Hereditary is a mishmash of ideas and the movie doesn't know what type of horror film it wants to be. Is it a ghost story? It is satanic worship? Who knows? The ending wasn't infuriating. It wasn't shocking. It wasn't brilliant. It is what it is....ridiculous. It will just make you shake your head and think that you just wasted over two hours of your life.....like many other Netflix and Prime movies.