Hereditary

Been on a horror fix as of late. Have been looking for films that can genuinely make me feel a sense of dread without the cheap scares, while at the same time…being a good film.  Ari Aster has been a director that I’ve dodged for a while. No particular reason, just never got around to his films. With “Beau is Afraid” coming out and my aforementioned horror film itch that needed to be scratched, I decided to finally check out “Hereditary.” Wanted to see if the hype with Aster was deserved. I’m REALLY glad I finally checked it out. Can’t say I’ve seen every thing in the genre, but it could be one of…if not THE most horrified I’ve been watching a film.  It starts with Aster. The way he frames his scenes or even just a singular shot, it enhances the horrific nature of the scares. It also helps when you have a terrific cast. Toni Collete is incredible along with Milly Shapiro and Alex Wolff. Gabriel Byrne gives a more subdued performance here, but still effective.  The deep undertones of the movie shook me to the core, I audibly gasped at a LOT of scenes here. A minor aspect that turns to be major is when they stop the music in the horrifying scenes, it just adds so much to the atmosphere and the sense of dread.  But even in the scenes where it’s just building the story, it’s still really good. At the end of the day, it’s just a damn good film.  The final act is outstanding and the credits roll, I was left feeling disturbed. I’m not too much of a spiritual guy (in some areas I am), but I felt I needed to smudge the house after lol.  I can see the hype with Aster, just picked up a blu-ray copy of “Midsommar,” excited to check that out.  I’ve been trying to find every reason to not give this a 5 star rating, but I can’t find it. Maybe will reflect and knock it down, but it won’t be anything significant.