Movie Review
Horror 'Hereditary' doesn't rely on cheap jump-scare tactics to terrify
Director Ari Aster calls his debut movie 'a family drama that curdles into a nightmare'
There are gremlins and poltergeists, psychopaths, ghosts, aliens, witches, cannibals, zombies, clowns, devils, werewolves, vampires, sharks and serial killers. But nothing is as scary in a horror film as domestic disruption. It's the contrast that's so disquieting.
The home is supposed to be safe, a sanctuary from the horrors of the world. When this space, and the people in it, those whom we intrinsically trust most, become the source of danger, psychological stress is heightened to the max. Surely we know our brothers, our sisters, our fathers and our mothers? Isn't the family our shelter from the storm?
Director and writer Ari Aster has called his first major film feature "a domestic melodrama", "a Greek tragedy" and "a family drama that curdles into a nightmare". At the core of this narrative is the figure of the mother.
WATCH | The trailer for Hereditary..
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