2018 was a good year for the horror genre. Two young directors made their debut in this genre. John Krasinski with "A quiet place" and Ari Aster with "Hereditary". A year later Aster would make the folk horror "Midsommar".
In horror movies the horror can come from the outside or from within (psychological horror). In "A quiet place" the horror clearly comes from the outside world. Hereditary" is a much more psychological movie.
I think the most important theme of "Hereditary" is the bereavement of a mother after the death of her child, especially when there are also feelings of guilt involved. In this respect "Hereditary" can be compared with a (non horror) movie like "Three billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri" (2017, Martin McDonagh).
In "Three billboards ..." the feeling of guilt has to do with the fact that the daughter has died after she had left the house after a quarrel. In "Hereditary" the daughter has died because her older brother has not taken care of her at a party. He was much to busy seducing his girl friend. The mother was the one who insisted upon the daughter accompanying her brother to the party. The feeling of guilt in "Hereditary" is therefore more indirect than in "Three billboards ... ", but also more complex. The one more directly to blame for the dead of the young girl is the elder son, but what are the feelings of a mother towards her child that is responsible for the death of another of her children?
A mistake horror movies often make is following up a slow build up in the first half with excessive shocks in the second half. "Hereditary" does not manage to avoid this mistake, but neither do "A quiet place" or "Mother!" (2017, Darren Aronofsky) from a year earlier.
In horror movies the horror can come from the outside or from within (psychological horror). In "A quiet place" the horror clearly comes from the outside world. Hereditary" is a much more psychological movie.
I think the most important theme of "Hereditary" is the bereavement of a mother after the death of her child, especially when there are also feelings of guilt involved. In this respect "Hereditary" can be compared with a (non horror) movie like "Three billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri" (2017, Martin McDonagh).
In "Three billboards ..." the feeling of guilt has to do with the fact that the daughter has died after she had left the house after a quarrel. In "Hereditary" the daughter has died because her older brother has not taken care of her at a party. He was much to busy seducing his girl friend. The mother was the one who insisted upon the daughter accompanying her brother to the party. The feeling of guilt in "Hereditary" is therefore more indirect than in "Three billboards ... ", but also more complex. The one more directly to blame for the dead of the young girl is the elder son, but what are the feelings of a mother towards her child that is responsible for the death of another of her children?
A mistake horror movies often make is following up a slow build up in the first half with excessive shocks in the second half. "Hereditary" does not manage to avoid this mistake, but neither do "A quiet place" or "Mother!" (2017, Darren Aronofsky) from a year earlier.
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