Hereditary
1/4
Starring: Toni Collette, Alex Wolff, Gabriel Byrne, Milly Shapiro, Ann Dowd
Rated R for Horror Violence, Disturbing Images, Language, Drug Use and Brief Graphic Nudity
Every year it seems that there is an indie film that comes out of nowhere but gets a lot of undeserving buzz. Critics fall all over themselves in praising it and it may garner some awards, but the public, once they realize that it isn't worth the fuss, quickly forgets about it. "The Piano," "Room," "Shame," the list goes on. "Hereditary" is one of those movies. A24, an indie studio well on its way to becoming the new Miramax, has been aggressively promoting it in the hopes that it will be the next "little indie that could." I suppose I can't blame a distributor for trying to make money off a movie, but I would be a little kinder if the movie was actually worth a fraction of the hype surrounding it. "Hereditary" is just the emperor with new clothes that will be quickly forgotten about once A24 has milked it for all its worth. That can't happen soon enough for me.
"Hereditary" has no plot. At least, not one that is in any way interesting, creative or sensical. It's just a bunch of miserable people who have miserable things happen to them and then become more miserable. And it all ends with a deus ex machina of an ending that's so bad that it wasn't even set up at all. The film centers around a family of four: Annie (Collette), Steve (Byrne), Peter (Wolff) and Charlie (Shapiro), who is just as boring as every other family that occupies a movie like this. Annie's mother just passed away, which isn't affecting her all that much, since there relationship was strained at best and hostile at worst. And that's when creepy things start happening, and then...
Who cares? I certainly didn't. The characters are boring. The story is non-existent. And director Ari Aster attempts to create tension from concepts that aren't scary. Such as a seance that actually works. If I was at a seance and a person actually communicated with the dead, I would think that would be badass. Worse still is that Aster has pretensions that this is an "understated" horror flick with lots of ambiguity and internalized emotions. The reality is that he just has his cast of talented actors spend half the movie staring into the camera like a deer caught in the headlights.
The cast seems to know this movie is crap, which begs the question why they even appeared in this movie in the first place (adding insult to injury, Collette and Byrne are credited as executive producers). Toni Collette, usually a talented and dependable actress, goes over-the-top on a few occasions. Gabriel Byrne does his best to appear normal in a cast of characters with varying levels of insanity. Alex Wolff at least has the most consistent and believable character to play, but his talents are not well used. Also, let's hope, for his sake, that he is never ever required to cry on camera again. And Milly Shapiro joins a roster of creepy kids that includes Aiden from "The Ring," Esther from "Orphan," and Henry from "The Good Son."
There's really very little to like in this movie. It takes forever to get going (at least an hour passes before any real momentum begins), and when it does, nothing happens. The actors look like they'd rather be anywhere else, and as such are not trying. And the movie has pretensions that it's somehow "above" being a normal ghost story.
I'm being a little forgiving with the rating because there are some scenes that are so bad that they're funny, and because I was unsettled as I was walking to my car. But I think that had less to do with the movie and more with the fact that I was driving home alone on a dark night. But I just have to be honest. I am a film critic, after all.
Starring: Toni Collette, Alex Wolff, Gabriel Byrne, Milly Shapiro, Ann Dowd
Rated R for Horror Violence, Disturbing Images, Language, Drug Use and Brief Graphic Nudity
Every year it seems that there is an indie film that comes out of nowhere but gets a lot of undeserving buzz. Critics fall all over themselves in praising it and it may garner some awards, but the public, once they realize that it isn't worth the fuss, quickly forgets about it. "The Piano," "Room," "Shame," the list goes on. "Hereditary" is one of those movies. A24, an indie studio well on its way to becoming the new Miramax, has been aggressively promoting it in the hopes that it will be the next "little indie that could." I suppose I can't blame a distributor for trying to make money off a movie, but I would be a little kinder if the movie was actually worth a fraction of the hype surrounding it. "Hereditary" is just the emperor with new clothes that will be quickly forgotten about once A24 has milked it for all its worth. That can't happen soon enough for me.
"Hereditary" has no plot. At least, not one that is in any way interesting, creative or sensical. It's just a bunch of miserable people who have miserable things happen to them and then become more miserable. And it all ends with a deus ex machina of an ending that's so bad that it wasn't even set up at all. The film centers around a family of four: Annie (Collette), Steve (Byrne), Peter (Wolff) and Charlie (Shapiro), who is just as boring as every other family that occupies a movie like this. Annie's mother just passed away, which isn't affecting her all that much, since there relationship was strained at best and hostile at worst. And that's when creepy things start happening, and then...
Who cares? I certainly didn't. The characters are boring. The story is non-existent. And director Ari Aster attempts to create tension from concepts that aren't scary. Such as a seance that actually works. If I was at a seance and a person actually communicated with the dead, I would think that would be badass. Worse still is that Aster has pretensions that this is an "understated" horror flick with lots of ambiguity and internalized emotions. The reality is that he just has his cast of talented actors spend half the movie staring into the camera like a deer caught in the headlights.
The cast seems to know this movie is crap, which begs the question why they even appeared in this movie in the first place (adding insult to injury, Collette and Byrne are credited as executive producers). Toni Collette, usually a talented and dependable actress, goes over-the-top on a few occasions. Gabriel Byrne does his best to appear normal in a cast of characters with varying levels of insanity. Alex Wolff at least has the most consistent and believable character to play, but his talents are not well used. Also, let's hope, for his sake, that he is never ever required to cry on camera again. And Milly Shapiro joins a roster of creepy kids that includes Aiden from "The Ring," Esther from "Orphan," and Henry from "The Good Son."
There's really very little to like in this movie. It takes forever to get going (at least an hour passes before any real momentum begins), and when it does, nothing happens. The actors look like they'd rather be anywhere else, and as such are not trying. And the movie has pretensions that it's somehow "above" being a normal ghost story.
I'm being a little forgiving with the rating because there are some scenes that are so bad that they're funny, and because I was unsettled as I was walking to my car. But I think that had less to do with the movie and more with the fact that I was driving home alone on a dark night. But I just have to be honest. I am a film critic, after all.
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