Worthy of Being Imitated

Rating: 9/10 (12 January 2019)

Hereditary is a supernatural horror movie that is about demon invocations and secret satan societies. But these come towards the end. Before that the movie weaves its plot in a mist of mystery and unexplained incidences. Almost from the beginning odd moments take place which soon become bizarre and then uncanny. The general atmosphere resembles that of Rosemary's baby in the sense that satanists are taking control of the lives of normal and unaware people. And they stay unaware when the little daughter of the family of protagonists dies in a dreadful accident. We as audience don't know what to make out of it but we get an undefined sense of imminent threat relatively early in the movie.
The movie revolves around a four members family and especially the mother Annie. Mystery grows better when feelings are contained and the director is careful to keep them suppressed, in the first half of the movie at least. The family although not disharmonic it has still some conflicts and some unresolved issues. They are not detached with each other but not warm either. The loss of the daughter makes them more humane and it lights up some hidden emotions which helps the development of the characters, although it doesn't bring them closer.
In the second half of the movie things start to escalate when Annie meets Joan who introduces her in the spiritualist practices of mediums. Later we find out that Joan has intentionally intruded in Annie's life by pretending a mother who lost her son so that she can earn her trust. What she really wants is to trick Annie to conduct a malevolent rite, leaving her thinking that she invokes the spirit of her lost daughter. But instead of that, she summons a demon that seeks incarnation in the body of her son Peter. Joan is doing her part and using black magic attempts to choke Peter to death and later lead him to self-infliction, with both attempts failing. Finally the demon possess the body of Annie who tries to kill Peter herself, something that happens after Peter jumps out of the attic window, scared from what he found there.
Toni Collette as Annie, builds a very convincing character. She wants her relations with her children to make sense but she miss the way. She wants to express her feelings but her family is the last place she seeks. These deadlocks, and the inept way she tries to get over them, adds to the her tragic figure. The contractions of her face accompany perfectly her emotional bursts and her frantic terror. Amongst the highlights of the movie is the possessed Annie flying around the house. The death of the husband, after his body blaze up when Annie throw the possessed notebook in the fire leaves you staggered. The hideous smiles of the naked people in the house and the moment that Annie discovers her mother's corpse in the attic are chilling. Hereditary is a great horror movie worthy of being imitated in terms of atmosphere and escalation.