Hereditary is the most masterfully and deeply intelligently made horror film I've seen in decades.

Rating: 10/10 (10 September 2018)

Hereditary is the most masterfully and deeply intelligently made horror film I've seen in decades. I am old enough to remember having seen The Exorcist when it premiered in 1973 and this is the best possession film since that classic. But this film is deeper in metaphors and subtle imagery than even the Exorcist. I watched it four times and each time I still uncover something said and something seen in the periphery of the frame I hadn't seen before.
This is truly a horror film for thinking adults tired of a cheaply made quick money grab jumpscare movies. This film rewards viewers who are patient enough to look deeper "between the lines" visually to understand a troubled family with a curse. The story is so neatly tied together that things you will overlook during your first viewing of the film will have ties to scenes later in the film. You will know what those are only after a second or third viewing. In other words, the screenplay was not thrown together haphazardly like too many other horror films are. It is very well planned out. The story slowly penetrates the mind and stimulates you mentally with real horror.
The film has beautifully filmed cinematography and a cast of extremely talented actors, both young and older talent. Holy cow, Toni Collette has given the best acting performance of any film I've seen in 2018. Horror films are usually snubbed by film awards like the Oscars so it saddens me that Collette's talents might go unappreciated because Hereditary is a horror film. When Collette screams and cries for the loss of one of her children, those screams penetrated and unnerved me. To me, those screams and cries were real. Horror movies like this one are rarely seen today. The best horror films start off as a serious drama that comes to catastrophic tragedy and a teaching point about real life. Hereditary accomplishes this goal.
Yes, I would put this film in the same league as the Exorcist, Rosemary's Baby, and Kubrick's Shinning. Director Ari Aster did his homework and research the topic on Satanism as one of the characters in the film, the demon Paimon is rooted in the real world beliefs by people who follow Satanism. You could seriously google Paimon and the characteristics for which this evil deity is known for and see and then connect the dots to the subtle scenes in the film that Paimon is responsible for. You will miss those until you read up on who is Paimon.
It also has the most disturbing scenes I have ever seen on film when I first watched in the theater. I could not get the accident images out of my head for days after having seen it. The Exorcist is the only other horror film that has ever done that to me. Director Ari Aster and his director of photography, Pawel Pogorzelski will be on my future radar. I just hope they don't turn out to be a one trick pony like M. Night Shyamalan and The Six Sense because both these men have given me hope for truly wonderful horror films in the future.