Had more potential

Rating: 6/10 (21 January 2020)

The main feeling I had after seeing this was that of disorientation. There's a whole lot of mushrooms being taken in this film, and in that regard it at least succeeds in making you feel like you took a bad trip. Also, the fact that this was very pretty to look at, makes for an unsettling experience.
However, I have to say I was disappointed at the lack of horror (or that "sinking" feeling one has after seeing a good horror). While I understand everything that happened plot-wise, I'm not completely sure what the film was trying to say. It felt like they threw a bunch of ideas at the wall hoping one would stick, when none of them really did. For all the buildup, the story ended up being predictable and flat.
This might be a bit spoilery: Cults are not inherently "scary", and neither is deformity or deformed people... which disturbingly feels exploited here just for shock value. Gore and face-bashing is not scary, just off putting and gross. Toxic relationships and co-dependency might be horrific, but with that setup you could predict where the plot was going from a mile away, so nothing ends up being much of a surprise.
I can't help but compare this to Hereditary, which was a very effective horror flick, but don't go into this expecting more of the same. It's slow and meandering and lacking in some much-needed horror elements. It was memorable though, and I will continue to see more Ari Aster films because they're interesting. Watch this when you have time to kill and are not looking to be scared.