Hereditary * *
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| Family meeting gus, we got a crisis. Phil hates our film. |
I don't know if this film is a complicated story which has been dumbed down, or a dumb story trying to be complicated. Either way, it doesn't work!
After being teased by the promising trailers and then excited by the gushing reviews I felt thoroughly let down. It's a freaking mess! I thought it was going to be similar to some of the other creative horror films that we have enjoyed of late - and it probably could have been if it hadn't tried to be so clever - or if it hadn't inserted so many stupid scenes.
The stupid scenes are Hereditary's attempt to score "horror" points, but most of them come across as a contrived and unnecessary checklist: Make her levitate. Get her possessed for a bit. Turn Mum into a psycho. Get someone to burst into flames. Off with their heads! . Maybe some of this stuff could scare you in another story but in this they come across as random samplings from other films.
As it "progresses" it seems to have a self realisation - "Shit! We haven't really got a plot" But for a film that has already overlaid itself with a dozen pastiche's one more ain't going to hurt. So now we learn it's all about inheriting a legacy from an ancient prince or something as equally stupid.
It's directed by Ari Aster. No, its not clever, it's not particularly creative and it's not very scary.
Toni Collete is a great actress but even she is a bit out of control in this and seemingly unsure whether to play it for laughs or play it for sympathy. The celebrated scene where she goes nuts at the dinner table is not her best work at all. Screaming and yelling is easy stuff. Great acting is when something is conveyed subtly and it still disturbs you. (Toni can do that incidentally).
In his role as her husband Steve, Gabrielle Byrne is fed up with her and the whole situation so I certainly empathised with him a bit. The kids? Well there is the funny looking daughter (no, I'm not being unkind, she was obviously chosen for her discomforting looks) and the son, who I am afraid is very unsure and hammy in quite a few scenes. But to be fair he is given some awful lines.
The best part of the whole thing is their gorgeous house. I"d like to have that place. I wouldn't even be frightened of the ghosts, especially if they're from this film!
After being teased by the promising trailers and then excited by the gushing reviews I felt thoroughly let down. It's a freaking mess! I thought it was going to be similar to some of the other creative horror films that we have enjoyed of late - and it probably could have been if it hadn't tried to be so clever - or if it hadn't inserted so many stupid scenes.
The stupid scenes are Hereditary's attempt to score "horror" points, but most of them come across as a contrived and unnecessary checklist: Make her levitate. Get her possessed for a bit. Turn Mum into a psycho. Get someone to burst into flames. Off with their heads! . Maybe some of this stuff could scare you in another story but in this they come across as random samplings from other films.
As it "progresses" it seems to have a self realisation - "Shit! We haven't really got a plot" But for a film that has already overlaid itself with a dozen pastiche's one more ain't going to hurt. So now we learn it's all about inheriting a legacy from an ancient prince or something as equally stupid.
It's directed by Ari Aster. No, its not clever, it's not particularly creative and it's not very scary.
Toni Collete is a great actress but even she is a bit out of control in this and seemingly unsure whether to play it for laughs or play it for sympathy. The celebrated scene where she goes nuts at the dinner table is not her best work at all. Screaming and yelling is easy stuff. Great acting is when something is conveyed subtly and it still disturbs you. (Toni can do that incidentally).
In his role as her husband Steve, Gabrielle Byrne is fed up with her and the whole situation so I certainly empathised with him a bit. The kids? Well there is the funny looking daughter (no, I'm not being unkind, she was obviously chosen for her discomforting looks) and the son, who I am afraid is very unsure and hammy in quite a few scenes. But to be fair he is given some awful lines.
The best part of the whole thing is their gorgeous house. I"d like to have that place. I wouldn't even be frightened of the ghosts, especially if they're from this film!
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