{"id":2762,"date":"2016-05-20T02:15:02","date_gmt":"2016-05-19T20:45:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=2762"},"modified":"2026-07-17T20:12:27","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T14:42:27","slug":"hereditary-review-ari-aster-horror-film-graham-family","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?p=2762","title":{"rendered":"Hereditary Review: Family is the Greatest Horror of All"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A<\/span><\/p><\/div>

ri Aster\u2019s unsettling Hereditary<\/i>, this year\u2019s second horror film offering after A Quiet Place<\/i><\/a>, is likely to join the ranks of films credited with reinvigorating the camp-horror genre for many reasons.\n\nLike Get Out<\/i><\/a>, the film centres around the Machiavellian escapades of a dysfunctional white family (and in a delicious meta-tribute, has a character yelling \u201cGet Out\u201d). Hereditary<\/i> also exploits the film\u2019s eerie silence and unanticipated sound (especially the \u201cklokk\u201d sound of Charlie, the Graham daughter) to keep both its protagonists and audience willfully vigilant, \u00e0 la A Quiet Place<\/i>. And similar to It Follows<\/i> and It Comes At Night<\/i>, this movie too reimagines the usual tropes of the \u201cevil spirit\u201d and focuses on the horror within.\n\nBut Hereditary<\/i>\u2019s most inventive stroke is that it has the greatest horror<\/a> villain of all time: family inheritance. It takes the saying \u201cskeletons in the closet\u201d \u2013 or, attic \u2013 literally.\n\nBy default, horror films derive their terror from the helplessness of their protagonists. But their powerlessness feel glaringly manufactured because it is caused by external factors \u2013 a possession, a haunted house, an evil spirit looking for vengeance, a nosy ghost. In these films, the protagonists don\u2019t start off powerless and the audience is thus witness to their descent into chaos.\n\nHereditary<\/i> turns the tables on this very structure of horror films by making the helplessness of its protagonists their legacy; to them, it\u2019s hereditary. Naturally, there\u2019s no start or end to the familial <\/a>curses inflicted on the Graham family. Instead, the members of the Graham family \u2013 Annie (a terrific Toni Collette), Steve, their 13-year-old daughter Charlie, and teenage son Peter \u2013 have always been leading their lives as mere pawns of the fate that awaits them.\n\n

The odds stacked against the Grahams are heightened after the death of Annie\u2019s mother Ellen, family matriarch and the mysterious leader of a demonic cult.<\/p><\/blockquote> \n\nThe film starts off well in the middle of the family\u2019s misery with a breathtaking first frame. In a long shot, the camera focuses on a treehouse from inside a window and then slowly moves around an empty room to highlight its miniature version. It then zooms into a bedroom inside the dollhouse, slowly juxtaposing it with the room\u2019s enlarged, real-life version. The writing on the wall is clear: The residents of the house are no different from the inhabitants of the dollhouse brought to life by Annie, a miniature artist. Neither the reel-life nor real-life props are, or ever were, in control.\n\nThe odds stacked against the Grahams are heightened after the death of Annie\u2019s mother Ellen, family matriarch and the mysterious leader of a demonic cult. Her death also sets in motion a series of tragic events. The film then becomes a meditation on family hand-me-downs like grief, trauma, and mental illness juxtaposing it with supernatural elements like demonic possession and gory self-destruction. Hereditary<\/i> cleverly tries to ask: Is there a difference between these family heirlooms?\n\nAt the heart of Hereditary <\/i>is the horrible thought \u2013 just like the rest of us, the Grahams didn\u2019t get to choose their families. They are products of personal histories, preferences, dreams, and circumstances that they had no control over. Their twisted family inheritance is not a gift they can afford to challenge.\n\n\"heriditary\n

\n

On one hand, the film implies that she has always known about her evil experiments but looked the other way. On the other, it affords her the privilege of being the grief-stricken victim.<\/p>\n

Image Credits: Polygon<\/p>\n<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n\nAs a result, Hereditary <\/i>also comes with its own set of familial horrors, especially the omnipresence of patriarchy, even in hell. There\u2019s the tomboyish Charlie (cursed with a boy\u2019s name), who could\u2019ve been the film\u2019s main protagonist instead becomes a victim due to her gender (\u201cGrandma wanted me to be a boy\u201d she exclaims in the beginning of the film). Charlie exists only as a temporary placeholder sacrificed by both, her subconsciously willing mother to protect her brother, and her grandmother for the greater good.\n\nThe film also deftly handles the ambiguous complicity of Annie in the proceedings. On one hand, the film implies that she has always known about her mother\u2019s<\/a> evil experiments but looked the other way. On the other, it affords her the privilege of being the grief-stricken victim.\n\nIn doing so, Hereditary<\/i> transcends a horror film\u2019s obligation to be jumpscare-induced frightening to being nightmarishly disturbing: It is as much a film about a family resisting its cold-blooded legacy, as one combating the cliched legacy of its genre. Hereditary<\/i> relies on the visceral terror that accompanies the realisation that the Grahams and their screwed-up destinies could mirror any of our lives. After all, we\u2019re also born into families capable of destroying us with their whims.\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The most inventive stroke of Ari Aster\u2019s Hereditary is that it has the greatest horror villain of all time: family inheritance. The film takes the saying \u201cskeletons in the closet\u201d literally, giving us a genuinely terrifying portrait of a family\u2019s breakdown.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":103,"featured_media":2765,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[82],"tags":[5613,18,4126,5614,5615,4452,5616,1772,5617],"class_list":["post-2762","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pop-culture","tag-evil","tag-family","tag-film","tag-graham","tag-haunting","tag-horror","tag-inheritance","tag-mother","tag-villain"],"yoast_head":"\nHereditary Review: Family is the Greatest Horror of All<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The most inventive stroke of Ari Aster\u2019s Hereditary is that it has the greatest horror villain of all time: family inheritance. 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The film takes the saying \u201cskeletons in the closet\u201d literally, giving us a genuinely terrifying portrait of a family\u2019s breakdown.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=2762\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Arr\u00e9\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-05-19T20:45:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-07-17T14:42:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1529676318.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1520\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"850\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Poulomi Das\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Hereditary Review: Family is the Greatest Horror of All\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"The most inventive stroke of Ari Aster\u2019s Hereditary is that it has the greatest horror villain of all time: family inheritance. 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