Damn.
Just damn.
I’m gonna keep this review spoiler free, so let me just say, DAMN.
Horror movies don’t scare me, okay? It’s been a long time since I was frightened by a Horror flick. Maybe me seeing THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE when I was still in grammar school. I love Horror flicks. Eat, breathe, and sleep Horror. But Horror movies don’t ever scare me. That being said and that being a fact, HEREDITARY made me uncomfortable. It is raw and it hits hard. It is, sans hyperbole, a perfect, textbook example of everything a Horror movie is supposed to be. Horror movies (or books or whatever) are supposed to get under your skin, supposed to crawl into your psyche and push buttons. HEREDITARY succeeds at this. Big time.
The film is the debut feature of writer/director Ari Aster, and it makes me look forward to a long and storied career from this guy. He’s another Carpenter, another Craven. He takes his place alongside such powerhouse newcomers as Robert Eggers (THE WITCH) and Trey Edward Shults (IT COMES AT NIGHT). This guy has vision and he knows what he’s doing.
As far as the acting goes, I’ve said something similar before, but it bears repeating in this case: Whoever wins the Oscar for Best Actress next year, her performance won’t be any better, and probably won’t be as good, as leading lady Toni Collette’s is in this film. Tour de force, period. And everybody else in the cast is terrific, too. Who woulda thought that JUMANJI’s Alex Wolff had it in him? I was blown away.
To conclude, if you haven’t seen HEREDITARY yet, do so, by all means. It’s an instant classic, and there’s plenty there for a vampire mark to enjoy. No blood-drinking takes place onscreen, but…well, DAMN.