Hereditary

There are very few movies that do justice to the horror genre, especially after Hollywood started churning them out like nobody’s business. Losing the plot on the way, the directors have turned gory rather than come up with plots that can send a chill down your spine.

But once in a while, it does manage to scare the jeebies out of you and the latest unholy offering, Hereditary is  adequately scary, thanks to the efforts of first-time feature filmmaker Ari Aster.

Toni Collette, who plays Annie Graham — a wife, mother of two  and a miniature artist who builds replica of houses and hospitals that are not only odd and but so detailed and they are creepy.

The good part is that as horrors go, this one is great filmmaking wise. Creepy, strange and horrific things happen, and continue to happen for most of the film. Also, the storyline is altogether different and one keeps wondering where this kind of movie is leading up to.

Is it about a haunted house or about demonic possession or does it have a creepy child or all of the above? You do figure out in the end, which is startlingly builds up into a limp climax, leaving things and happenings unexplained and the twist much too abrupt and out of the blue to gel with the story.

The sad part is that for 127 minutes of its run, one keeps trying to find an answer to all the above questions with no answers in sight.

More than unfortunate that the films totally goes off the rails towards the end with and ending so bizarre and rushed that you genuinely believe that the story writer had nothing to offer as a way out of the horror mess that he so systematically creates and builds up.

On the whole, it is a horror flick with lots of potential, waylaid by complexities that go out of hand. Can be seen as a lazy option or for horror buffs.

Source: Sunday Pioneer, 24 June, 2018