Mommy Sees Dead People, Too

Rating: 3/10 (28 September 2018)

One may debate the merits of the term "elevated horror," as it suggests that horror is otherwise inferior to other genres if not "elevated," but I think that word could just as well be placed in front of any movie that surpasses expectations of a genre piece. Regardless, it fit "Get Out" (2017) which was "elevated" by its satire--reworking standard horror elements to tap into the zeitgeist of racial issues at the end of the Obama era. I'd even accept the moniker for "A Quiet Place" (2018) under an interpretation such as Richard Brody's for the "New Yorker" magazine that it's the antithesis of "Get Out." It need not be political, either. For this purpose, I'd consider horror films that introduce innovations in style or narrative structure to be "elevated" ("Psycho" (1960), "The Shining" (1980), "The Blair Witch Project" (1999) come to mind as obvious major influences in the genre). Even "The Sixth Sense" (1999) had its twist. Otherwise, without being "elevated," you just get a scary story, and it either works on you on a physical level or it doesn't. Unfortunately, that's what "Hereditary" does.
It's a simple ghost story. The revelation of some details are delayed, but they're heavily foreshadowed, so I don't see why anyone would consider the ending surprising or a betrayal except that for all of its good reviews and talk about a new era of "elevated horror" its surprise is that there's nothing more to it. Of course, there's some drama (in this case, regarding dysfunctional family dynamics and the loss of loved ones); there almost always is. But, then, it's just strange-looking kids, apparitions, séances, grave desecration, cults, supernatural happenings and jump scares from there. The usual clichés. It also follows the basic complex discovery plot, as outlined by film theorist Noël Carroll (see e.g. "Interpreting the Moving Image"): Onset, Discovery, Confirmation and Confrontation. The Onset is where we the audience begin to become aware there's a monster--for instance, an apparition is seen here and there and we learn about the dark past of a dead mother. Discovery is when the mother played by Toni Collette discovers there's a monster, too. In the Confirmation phase, she tries to convince others, to confirm, the existence of the monster. And, then, Confrontation, of course, is what it sounds like. This has been the most common plot of horror movies since the genre was largely introduced in Hollywood with the 1931 "Dracula."
Too bad, too. I was hoping for more, especially with the business of replica (haunted) houses--the mother's dollhouses, the kid's tree house--and the casting of Toni Collette, who also played the mother in "The Sixth Sense." Something self-reflexive, perhaps, or something reflecting the multi-layering of houses and planes of existence. Yet, at best, "Hereditary" is merely a better-crafted replica of a formula and conventions that continue to haunt the genre.