Hereditary (2018)

Reception of this film varies wildly. Critics tend to laud it as a new classic, most general audiences give it average to moderately high ratings, and CinemaScore makes it out to be a dud. If nothing else, I would see Toni Collette in a horror role for the first time since The Sixth Sense. (She was getting sick of those and doesn't normally like horror, but this script called to her.)

The story begins with the apparently natural death of a reclusive, mysterious old woman who was diagnosed with dissociative identity disorder, but given what else happens, it probably wasn't that. She had had a complicated relationship with her daughter, Annie (Collette), who doesn't know how to feel about her death. Annie's 16-year-old son, Peter (Alex Wolff), is a little more rebellious than most because of past incidents that defy recovery. Her 13-year-old daughter, Charlie (Milly Shapiro), is far stranger and more disturbing, no doubt thanks to far more exposure to Grandma. As the title implies, Grandma's legacy lives on, in a bad way. But genetics has only a little to do with it. Of greater concern are her occult interests...and the locals who share them....

Advertisers hid this point, but I'm going to say it, because it shapes too darn much of the plot: About half an hour into the 127 minutes, Charlie dies, in a way no family can ever be prepared for. As tragic as the moment is, I was almost relieved not to have her annoying presence around anymore. Then I realized what kind of movie this was and knew I'd hear her signature tongue click again. At least now it was transmuted into creepiness.

You see, Annie is so struck by her daughter's loss that she opens up to the idea of a summoning, particularly after some compelling evidence of supernatural effects. Of course, genre-savvy viewers know how dangerous it is to call upon spirits from the other side. And Charlie's spirit isn't ordinary.

By the third act, viewers who've seen them are likely to remember Rosemary's Baby and/or The Omen. There's no Antichrist per se, but same idea. With that similarity, I could surmise that there would be a happy ending only from the villains' perspective, which somewhat curtailed my capacity for suspense.

Did it scare me? Well, it did shock me, and not with tired old jump scares. Early on, I faulted the esteemed soundtrack for announcing an ominous atmosphere when nothing looked out of sorts. But once the unpleasantness gets going, it's intense. Helping matters along are Collette's fright face -- right up there with Shelley Duvall's in The Shining -- and a difficulty in putting together exactly what happens in the course of the film.

Note that this isn't just a horror. It's almost equally about the strains on a family in a crisis. On some level, Annie blames both herself and Peter for what happened to Charlie. Her husband (Gabriel Byrne) deems her insane or close to it, and I can see why. Peter becomes more focal than Annie as he understands how much all this, rather unfairly, comes back to him.

I would give higher marks if not for a certain quality that debuting director Ari Aster highlighted: fatalism. I can enjoy some stories where the heroes totally fail and even where the bad guys win, but if the heroes clearly never stood a chance, it feels morally pointless. It's almost as if the writer champions the forces of darkness.

Hereditary isn't my idea of the next The Exorcist, but neither do I think it deserves that CinemaScore D+. It does what it sets out to do, stirring emotions you may or may not welcome. I'm not sorry I watched; I just have to be selective in recommending it.