Classic and essential movie reviews

Hereditary: Bringing Artistry and Intelligence to the Horror Genre

horror
2:07
R
2018

Review by Brandon Talks Movies on Nov 13, 2025

My older brother had schizophrenia, and when he was 16, he hanged himself in my mother's bedroom—and, of course, his suicide note blamed her, accusing her of putting people inside him. So... that was my mom's life.

Films can be good for many reasons. They might have great comedy or drama, or they might have social significance. My favorite good movies are the ones with layers of meaning, using not only the dialogue, but also the cinema­tography, art direction, and setting to tell a deep and engaging story. Hereditary is a multi-layered film like that which brings that depth and intricacy to the horror genre, which doesn’t typically have that level of detail. Directed by Ari Aster (Midsommar, Beau is Afraid), this is a stellar pick from the horror renaissance we’ve seen in the past decade. If you like analyzing films or literature, or are just looking for a smart horror film, Hereditary might be for you.

The plot follows a family of four, centering on the mother and son: Annie and Peter. The family deals with grief and generational trauma, trying to find their place and purpose without their family’s overbearing expectations and emotional abuse. As they find themselves and deal with their grief, they uncover some haunting things about their family and the situation they have been born into. They soon discover they must escape, not from a monster or murderer, but from their own dark heritage.

I was scared. I didn't feel like a mother. But she pressured me.

This isn’t a campy, fun horror film that leaves you laughing. It doesn’t use cheap tricks like jump scares to shock the audience. With echoes of Rosemary’s Baby and The Babadook, it fills you with dread rather than surprise, and the horror sticks with you. That said, I very much enjoyed watching the film. I was eager to see where it went next, even though I knew it would be terrible. It’s interesting, and I didn’t know where it was going until the haunting end.

Part of my interest through­out the film was the use of symbolism and metaphor to tell a deeper story. As an example, color is used to show what’s going on with the characters. Red, blue, and yellow represent the body, mind, and spirit, and you can see these disparate parts of the characters splinter and fight with each other. I watched the movie with my son, and we had fun spotting characters clad in red and blue arguing with each other, or a scene drenched in yellow, showing a spiritual disagreement. This symbolism isn’t vital to the under­standing or enjoyment of the film, but it was fun to see what some of the conversations or scenes were implying.

The actors all gave amazing performances, and the director, Ari Aster, had a flawless vision for the film before production began. Toni Collette had, for years, said that she was done with dark films and only wanted to do comedies, but changed her mind when she read the script for Hereditary. She was also impressed with Aster’s vision, calling him the most prepared director she had ever worked with. Aster had written detailed bios for all of the principal characters, and even had some of the actors spend time together in character to help during filming. The result is deep characters brought to life by talented actors and a solid creative vision from Aster.

Should I Watch Hereditary?

I thoroughly enjoyed Hereditary, but it’s not for every­one. I’ve heard long-time horror fans say movies like Hereditary are ruining horror by forcing it to be artistic rather than just entertaining. Some critics have said the pacing is slow for a horror film, which may disappoint if the expectation is a non-stop thriller. If you’re looking for something deeper than your typical horror film, or appreciate great cinema­tography and art direction, you’ll probably enjoy Hereditary. If you want to be thrilled and left smiling, Hereditary may let you down.

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Ari Aster2010shorror

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About Brandon

My name is Brandon, and I love movies. Not bad ones, though—just the good ones. I’m curating and reviewing a list of classic, essential-viewing, or just plain good movies from all decades, and I've been reviewing them since 2016. I also co-host Peculiar Picture Show, a podcast about movies and mental health and write about Dungeons & Dragons options, builds, and optimization.

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