Red flags

Rating: 8/10 (1 October 2019)

I'm one of the few who watched Ari Aster's second feature Midsommar before his first full length movie Hereditary. Hereditary is slightly better than Midsommar because it slowly develops a haunting atmosphere until a vibrant final quarter that will keep you on the edge of your seat. Hereditary isn't a masterpiece like The Wailing but certainly among the better Hollywood horror movies in recent memory.
The acting is certainly one of the movie's strongest points. Milly Shapiro is absolutely astonishing as eccentric young teenage girl with odd and at times disturbing behaviour. She is a name you have to keep on your mind for future endeavourments. This movie would have been even better if she had been given more screen time. Alex Wolff plays a completely different character as a seemingly normal teenage boy who likes to party but soon becomes an isolated loner confronted with abominable dangers. Toni Collette is fully convincing as desperate, gloomy and unstable mother whose beahviour becomes more erratic as the film progresses. Gabriel Byrne complements her perfectly as calm, diplomatic and rational husband who handles the pressure around him better than anyone else. The four characters have great chemistry and complement one another perfectly.
Another strong point of this movie is its atmosphere. Right from the start, you realize that something is wrong with this family. There are numerous red flags throughout the film. The daughter plays with a dead bird and cuts its head off. The son comes home at night after shocking events but decides to go to bed instead of calling the police. The mother starts to believe she is a medium who can speak with the dead. Only the father's behaviour is rational and he is easily the character worth rooting for.
The movie has a few minor downsides however. Even if this is a supernatural horror movie, some decisions of the characters are baffling. How can a mother send her antisocial daughter who suffers from severe allergies to a party with her older brother? How can the father quietly observe how the family members around him show more and more erratic behaviour instead of taking them to the hospital? Why does the mother not call the police after she discovered several more than disturbing elements in her house? Some of the actions, decisions and reactions of the characters make an otherwise solid plot slightly unconvincing.
In the end, Hereditary is an atmospheric horror movie with psychological and supernatural elements. Instead of delivering predictable jump scares, the movie fleshes out its characters and plot and remains refreshingly unpredictable until the very end. Despite a slow pace and a few weird decisions made by the characters, Hereditary is one of the better horror movies of the past few years. If you like this film, watch the even better The Wailing and give the less supernatural but more psychological horror movie Burning a try.