This post is a MoView, shortened of Movie Review. In early 2018, we were introduced to a new level of horror from a movie written and directed by Ari Aster, Hereditary. This movie is Aster’s debut to the big screen and became a hit with his different approach to horror. This is not the kind of movie where the audiences will be fed with several jump scares or slight gore and wait for the plot twist to happen for the main character(s) in the end. Instead, it is the kind of horror that deals with psychological sense of grief, death, mental illness, and tragedy all into one.
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| A family drama movie |
This kind of horror will keep you on your toes. Throughout the movie, you will see hidden clues spread around whether you realize it or not. These clues also called “Easter Eggs” among fans. Because it is psychological, obviously there is some thinking involved why certain things happened, and the conflict might be somewhat heavy for viewers who expected a light movie to pass time. However, for you fishes who are ready for not-so-usual stuff to happen, check out the rest of this post.
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Hereditary first started as a family drama that deals with grief and terrifying secrets later which would be unfolded. Annie Graham lived with her husband, son (Peter, 16-years-old) and daughter (Charlie, 13-years-old). Annie just lost her mother, and at the funeral she said they were not quite close and her mother had led a very private life. We learned that Ellen, Annie’s mother, loved Charlie so much and Charlie was “different” from other kids. She frequently clicked her tongue, made sculpture, and one time she cut the head off a dead bird using scissors. Creepy much.
One night Peter wanted to go to a party, Annie forced to take his sister with him. Charlie ate a cake containing nuts which she was allergic to, and had a shock. On the way to the hospital with Peter driving at the front, Charlie opened the window and leaned her head. It then led to her head decapitated by a light post when Peter swerved the car to avoid a deer’s corpse. It was shocking. I remember the whole studio went silent as the audience held their breath. After a moment of shock, Peter went home with Charlie’s head still laying there. Annie learned the truth in the morning and found the head had rotten with bugs.
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King Paimon |
Long story short, Annie learned her mother was the leader of a demon cult. This cult’s wanted to revive Paimon (one of the eight kings of Hell). The reason Ellen favored Charlie so much was because Paimon was already inside her body since birth; hence Charlie’s strange behavior. However, Paimon needed a male body as its host and a vulnerable one. The bed had been made. After Charlie’s death, Annie became distressed and joined a support group. She befriended Joan who introduced her to spiritualism and later helped to perform a séance (a ritual to communicate to spirit, in this case, Charlie). She did not realize from there he had sacrificed her son's mental and physical health. She was only later realized Joan was part of the cult.
The climax was so complex and dark and a lot of things happened. The father died by burning, Annie was possessed and beheaded herself, and the cult coven suddenly in the attic of the house was getting crazier. To run away Peter jumped out of the window; however, when he woke up Charlie or Paimon had taken over Peter’s body. If you focused and connected all the dots in the movie, the cult had orchestrated every events in order for Paimon to live. By putting a spell on a post lamp that led to Charlie’s death so Paimon’s spirit can be free; Joan by fate met her and took advantage of Annie’s emotional state; and Paimon slowly took over Peter’s body that made him acted insane.
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After the scene ended and the light turned on, I could feel the atmosphere from the studio was confused and dumbfounded. It was like waking up from a dream in which we couldn’t expect how the story will go, and it was a scary one. Hypnotizing. And not for everyone to consume. For those who have a soft heart and not that open-minded about things like cults will find this movie very disturbing. As I said before, it is psychological. and the depiction of the movie is astonishing. Supported by the great acting from the actors, the deafening yet still sound effect, and shocking camera graphics. No wonder it became a hit.
I have left out the detailed gore, but if you are interested you can watch the video analysis below. See you in the next post😁😁
-dps
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