It rapidly earned a reputation as one of the most frightening movies ever made. Esquire described it as "the scariest film I've ever seen in my adult life" and, with a score of 90% on Rotten Tomatoes, they clearly weren't alone. That was back in 2018 when Ari Aster’s feature debut, Hereditary, burst onto cinema screens. And now it’s set to terrify us all over again as it arrives on Netflix in the US (it's included on Prime Video for UK viewers).
The story of a grieving mother (Toni Collette) trying to protect her family after a traumatic loss had the cinema-going world at its feet after a world premiere at Sundance. Grossing over $80 million around the world against a $10 million budget, it became A24’s highest earner ever, until it was replaced by Everything Everywhere All At Once some four years later. Aster, in the meantime, moved into folk horror for his next film, Midsommar (2019), which starred Florence Pugh and then shifted to more angst-ridden comedic territory in Beau Is Afraid (2021), with Joaquin Phoenix in the title role.
Hereditary landed with a double whammy. It was genuinely frightening — some described it as The Exorcist for a new generation, even though Aster clearly drew on Don't Look Now and Rosemary's Baby for inspiration — and it became part of a move towards horror being taken more seriously.
The genre's popularity had never been in doubt, but Aster showed how it was much more than just blood or monsters: it could take on important issues, be thought-provoking, delve into the human psyche, handle it all with skill and intelligence and still scare the pants off us. The industry sat up and took notice. While horror had rarely figured during awards seasons, his film found its way onto an unprecedented number of shortlists, many from critics' associations. It won over 50 trophies, many of which went to Aster himself.
It was Collette in the lead role who emerged as the other big winner. No stranger to the world of psychological horror after her Oscar-nominated turn in M Night Shyamalan’s The Sixth Sense (2000) and, as Muriel’s Wedding (1995) had shown, a dab hand at dark comedy as well, the Australian actor was catapulted into the spotlight once again with a magnificent performance full of anger, desperation and raw power. Compelled to control every aspect of her life — and that of her family — her character is pure poison and her ferocious roar of "I am your mother!" will forever be associated with Collette and the film. It was a landmark performance that cemented her career. A hand-picked cast of familiar faces like Gabriel Byrne and Ann Dowd, together with young newcomers Alex Wolff and Milly Shapiro, all delivered in painting a nightmare scenario of spectacular domestic collapse.
With other themes — grief, fear of aging and the old, loss — simmering beneath the surface, Hereditary is horror of the first order, scaring like few others and fully deserved all the recognition it received. Seven years after its release, horror is still flourishing, enjoying something of a golden age and tapping into contemporary concerns about artificial intelligence and more traditional debates with equal relish. Yet it stands alone with an unerring ability to terrify that has yet to be fully equaled. Check it out on Netflix. We dare you.
Hereditary is on Netflix in the US now. UK viewers can watch it via Prime Video.
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