'Hereditary' changed horror

In my opinion, “Hereditary” set the bar for modern horror when it came out in 2018.

Stylistically it’s very similar to “Midsommar,” which was put out the following year by the same director Ari Aster. “Midsommar” is arguably the more popular of the two, but the elements present in both blew me away the first time I saw them in “Hereditary.”

It’s a very unique movie; at its core, it’s just a paranormal horror movie set in suburban Utah; the kind where you would expect jump scares are the bread and butter. “Hereditary” does not have a single jump scare.

You may be thinking, “Well that sounds boring, isn’t it just a bad movie then?” Not at all; it’s actually one of the scariest movies I’ve ever seen. It shows the viewer utter hopelessness as the cast delves further into insanity, unaware of the evils they face. At just over two hours in runtime, undertones of bleakness are given plenty of time to build, and they run over at critical points that I would regret spoiling.

In summary, a family’s matriarch, the main character Annie’s mother, passes away. She leaves behind a legacy of secrecy that her daughter’s family learns about soon after. Looking through her things, it was clear that she was involved in the occult, and she was an important figure in the secret order she to which she belonged.

Not long after, a tragic accident claims the life of Annie’s daughter. Her son was the driver and was unscathed. The mental health of the family deteriorates as Annie can’t help but blame him for what happened. While wracked with grief she gets an offer from a woman who knew her mother to try something that will ease her suffering; talking with her deceased daughter.

They don’t find out until too late that this isn’t what it seemed, and very quickly they discover that plans have been set in motion for a male in Annie’s family to become host to the order’s deity, Paimon, a demon and the King of Hell.

The movie reveals all of this very slowly at first, but rewards viewers who can spot details like cult members and strange symbols appearing subtly throughout. This “reward” is the burden of knowing something that the people on screen do not; that all of their actions are being predetermined by a cult through demonic powers.

That’s another unique thing about “Hereditary”; it can be just as scary on the second watch. Having an idea of the plot, it’s much easier to identify the things that are out of place. You realize early on that no one in the family ever had a chance to escape their fate because Annie’s mother had been preparing for this ritual since before Annie was born, and the bleakness and anxiety hit extra hard.

There isn’t a single second of the movie that feels forced, there’s no cheesy monster, and the acting and dialogue is good. There’s nothing bad to say about the film except that the times where tension is building can get a bit long, but there’s always some tiny detail that helps you piece together the story that makes it worth paying attention to.

Although dissimilar to most movies in paranormal horror, “Hereditary” is a great example of them. It shows that they are capable of much more than cheap jump scares, and demonstrated that the ghost doesn’t always have to be the source of fear. “Hereditary” elevated horror for the next generation, plain and simple.