Hereditary (spoilers!)

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Hereditary is a cautious vague horror film, can't really get into the plot. Basically the grandmother dies and things happen over the course of the next 2 hours. Enough threads are kept around to keep the story interesting over scary. It's not a classic, but if you enjoyed Killing of a Sacred Deer but wanted the story to be less pretentious this is a good pick for you.

The big strengths of the film are mostly practical effects and a long story. A number of the best parts of the story we're told about at different points. You also have a great mix of subtle scares, the central theme's manifestations work very well. Toni Collette is very good for most of the parts of the story...but she's got some weak scenes. And really that's the big issue with this film the core cast isn't very good. Some of the crying scenes seem very fake and that was frustrating because the story is so good yet it's not grounded with a great performance.

I think this is going to be a very polarizing film, someone fell asleep during the first act in the theater. Be warned if you see this in a crowded theater I can see some heckling. But for those that did make it to the end they were very shaken and confused.



That elusive hide-and-seek cow is at it again
I want to see this. Thanks for the write up and heads-up warnings. I remember some guy fell asleep during Solaris. There were all of like 7 people in the theater and he was there snoring. ugh.

I just checked showtimes. UGH!!!! It's only got 1 show time here where I live and that's at noon. Maybe I'll catch it tomorrow, but it's going to be a busy weekend already. Damn. If I miss it, it will surely be gone next weekend. From here at least.

I still need to get in Upgrade and Hotel Artemis as I don't expect those to last another week or so either.
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This could be my nomination for most disappointing movie of the year. I do not understand the ratings or the hype behind this movie. The plot was somewhat suspenseful, but rather slow. There were few, if any, truly horrific parts.
WARNING: "Hereditary" spoilers below

The creepy girl from the preview dies within 30 minutes of the movie starting. We then partake and witness the movie turning into a Ouija-like film with spirits and conjuring of the little girl and other characters with little relevance to the movie.

I don't understand....



I think they were very relevant...that was the misdirect


WARNING: spoilers below
The trickster god didn't want a female host. The villian in the film is the grandmother who killed her husband and son. This was a chapter in this long epic con-game. Which is strange but somewhat admirable



I feel after page one we need to go big into spoilers.



You can't win an argument just by being right!
I've only seen good viewer reviews so it will be interesting to compare but I'm staying away from the critics. I've also gone cold on Collette over the years so having the lead I think could be troublesome. I reserve my opinion, for the little it's worth until it's out here, but I'm expecting a lot of hype simply because aussie critics tend to build up films simply because they wet their knickers over aussie actors in hollywood movies.

That's probably a little harsh but I shall wait and see.



I've only seen good viewer reviews so it will be interesting to compare but I'm staying away from the critics. I've also gone cold on Collette over the years so having the lead I think could be troublesome.
That's odd because I mentioned somewhere else that I find her off-putting. It's an irrational, unfair dislike because I don't know her work at all. This film does interest me though so it might change my perspective about her.



You can't win an argument just by being right!
I've only seen good viewer reviews so it will be interesting to compare but I'm staying away from the critics. I've also gone cold on Collette over the years so having the lead I think could be troublesome.
That's odd because I mentioned somewhere else that I find her off-putting. It's an irrational, unfair dislike because I don't know her work at all. This film does interest me though so it might change my perspective about her.
I think she's a really good actress so I don't know what it is either.



I've also seen some great reviews for Hereditary...wouldn't have caught my attention otherwise.



Sorry to keep hating on this movie, but it does make me a laugh a little that the audience score on this movie is now down in the 50's on RT



OMG, back in the 70's there was a movie that caused allot of controversy. Groups of people protested the movie and the general audience was some what shocked by the movie. That movie was titled 'The Exorcist'. The Exorcist was categorized as a Horror movie. But many felt that the movie was sacrilegious and offensive. It was scary for sure and you kinda had to watch it a few times if you dared. This movie, um where do I begin. One word, disturbing. I'll edit this post later. Okay, this movie takes it waaaaay a step further. Seriously, there should be an advisory on this movie. If you are dealing with a loss of a loved one AVOID THIS MOVIE. I REPEAT AVOID THIS MOVIE. Real talk, just as some one trying to look out YOU SHOULD NOT SEE THIS MOVIE IF: * you are morning someone * mentally unstable * dealing with depression * emotionally unstable * under the influence of any mind altering chemicals because you may get physically, mentally and or spiritually sick. This movie will have you looking up local religious organizations inquiring about how to become a member because this movie hints at occultism and gives you the impression that there are separate secret groups of people who are dangerous to normal every day society and unless you are aligned to a darker violent mentality you are at risk of becoming a victim to those groups of people this movie was in my opinion intended to send a message to an awaiting army that signafies the prophecies set in the Holy Bible.



This could be my nomination for most disappointing movie of the year. I do not understand the ratings or the hype behind this movie.
I'm in the same boat with you. After all the reviews and comparisons to past horror masterpieces like The Exorcist I had high expectations but for me Hereditary failed on almost every level.

I wasn't scared, I wasn't disturbed but I was heavily bored for the first 90 minutes or so of the film. As a concept I liked where the story went in the end but even there the execution didn't work.



Hellloooo Cindy - Scary Movie (2000)
Lol take it easy it’s a movie. Scary though, very tense. I liked it but it left me with questions.

ask away
Alright...Spoilers...can’t do that thing I’m
Using my phone. When did the mother become possessed, wa she possessed? Surely she wasn’t in on it.



Alright...Spoilers...can’t do that thing I’m
Using my phone. When did the mother become possessed, wa she possessed? Surely she wasn’t in on it.

Well we don't really know that, but you've got three possibilities.

1.) The Cult(it's been going on her whole life)
2.) The Ceremony(Ann Dowd manipulated her into doing the ceremony which made her and Steve vulnerable to Paimon taking over)
3.) The Vessels (the dead bodies of the grandmother and Charlie)

I think based on the backstories, Paimon becomes more powerful after each death. So I can't recall if the brother starves himself to death and the father hung himself but I think those deaths made Paimon into a trickster god. Once Charlie died Paimon became a fully powerful spectre.



That elusive hide-and-seek cow is at it again
*SPOILERISH*

Yeah. I dont think she was in on it but was tricked into possession by chanting the spell thinking she was talking with her daughter.

Something thought was GREAT was the intro transition to the model house then reversal at the end if I remember correctly. There was a strange light that kind of following some of the characters around during the movie. In one of the scenes where the mother is detailing a model, she is wearing a head-mounted flashlight that cast this exact light onto her model creations. I got a vibe that maybe all of this story was a fiction fantasy by the builder kind of inventing a story imagined through the eyes of her model characters. Like how an author would project character decisions in a story. I don't know if that's at all on point but there were enough implications for me to interpret this at least.



movies can be okay...
I watched it last night, it was amazing. Toni Collette was out of this world! It was also pretty convenient how it was quite the windy night for me here, so my door kept opening and closing by itself, thus creeping me out even further.
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"A film has to be a dialogue, not a monologue — a dialogue to provoke in the viewer his own thoughts, his own feelings. And if a film is a dialogue, then it’s a good film; if it’s not a dialogue, it’s a bad film."
- Michael "Gloomy Old Fart" Haneke



Hellloooo Cindy - Scary Movie (2000)
*SPOILERISH*

Yeah. I dont think she was in on it but was tricked into possession by chanting the spell thinking she was talking with her daughter.

Something thought was GREAT was the intro transition to the model house then reversal at the end if I remember correctly. There was a strange light that kind of following some of the characters around during the movie. In one of the scenes where the mother is detailing a model, she is wearing a head-mounted flashlight that cast this exact light onto her model creations. I got a vibe that maybe all of this story was a fiction fantasy by the builder kind of inventing a story imagined through the eyes of her model characters. Like how an author would project character decisions in a story. I don't know if that's at all on point but there were enough implications for me to interpret this at least.
Yea I don’t think she was in on it until the fire scene. Yes she was tricked in doing the seance. That apparently made things much worse. Can’t really pinpoint when she turned or really why other than she completely lost her ssshhtttt. This is why up the end I really thought it was all mental health rather than supernatural. They said the grandma had DID the same illness in the movie Split and obviously the delusions/hallucinations.



Hellloooo Cindy - Scary Movie (2000)
Spoilers!!!

Ohhh I just remembered...the mother did get possessed. She spoke the child’s voice and that child was the ‘king’. So she was probably 50/50 possessed after that...lol maybe..battling being herself or the possession.



A system of cells interlinked
Watched this over the weekend. While there were aspects of the film that I enjoyed, such as the opening scene and Toni Collette's performance, I was ultimately disappointed in the entire experience. Various oversights and leaps of logic compounded as I watched; things that kept pulling me out of the movie as I considered how silly they were, or how it was just plain old lazy writing. Here are a few examples:

WARNING: "Hereditary" spoilers below
- After the accident during which Peter accidentally knocked his sister's head off, there is absolutely zero investigation, or even a questioning of anyone involved by the police. This is just silly. Someone would have been asking questions!

- You know, like even someone in the family? No one even mentions the accident until much later in the film when Annie freaks out at dinner, verbally attacking Peter. The acting here was great, but I couldn't buy the timing. This scene encapsulates my ambivalence with the entire film pretty well.

- Was Steve Peter's real father? Peter doesn't resemble either of his parents at all. Steve and Annie look Irish, while Peter looks more Middle-Eastern or Israeli. At first I just assumed Peter was adopted, and that it would be explained later in the film, which is obviously completely fine and would make sense, but lo and behold, Annie specifically states that he is her biological son and that at one point she tried to purposely have a miscarriage. What gives?

- The ending was almost embarrassingly bad, it almost felt like parody. Wtf? It left both my wife and I shaking our heads and questioning whether or not we have just waster 2+ hours watching this thing.
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