One of the best, most terryifing horror films I have ever seen - WORTH THE HYPE

Rating: 10/10 (8 June 2018)

Where to even start with this absolute roar of a film. I'll just go ahead and say this - Hereditary is absolutely brilliant. Just brilliant. It is a terrifying film written and directed by first-time director Ari Aster and stars Toni Collette in her finest role yet about the disintegration of a family. To say more about the plot would be too cruel - but, allow me to reiterate, Hereditary is TERRIFYING and one of the best horror films I've ever seen in my life.
What I love so much about this film is it takes its time to introduce us to the characters - we get a sense of who the characters are within the first 20 minutes. It sets up the characters and develops them in a way that we don't usually see in horror films. Usually, they cut straight to incessant, annoying jump scares and give no backstory or character development. Hereditary makes you FEEL for the characters, so when you see their lives go awry, you truly feel it - psychologically and emotionally, because you really do care about these characters.
The film only has a handful of jumpscares and relies much more on psychological tricks to mess with your mind. The film is incredibly intense and uncomfortable to watch for the first 80 or so minutes, before transitioning into full-blown Lynchian horror in the last 40. It never pulls back - the horror is traumatic, cruel, and relentless. It does not allow you to breathe - once it pulls you in with its cinematic tricks, you're stuck. Pure arthouse magic.
It also has a very human side to it. All supernatural occurrences aside, it is at its heart an exploration into grief, and how grief is almost like a ghost, haunting the entire family. It is also a film about how grief is dealt with, and what lengths people would go to stop grieving.
The score, cinematography and lighting is just brilliant. Ari Aster has set himself up for a talent not to be ignored. The fact that this is his first feature film is INSANE. The film is so well directed, you never would have guessed this is Ari Aster's first film. Brilliant.
I will say this though - Hereditary is not a 'fun' horror movie like most, - you can't go in and expect to be thrilled. No, instead, the film is dark, depressing, disturbing, hard to watch and incredibly unbearable with its intensity levels. I did, at some points, especially during the traumatizing finale, want to leave the cinema because it simply became too much to handle for me. Don't get me wrong this isn't a bad thing at all though.
Overall, HEREDITARY is just terrifying. It grips you and doesn't let you go and just when you think it cannot get more shocking and disturbing, it does. Hereditary is truly a must watch and changes the game for modern, arthouse horror.