Auteur Ari Aster's

Hereditary is a horror film which goes immediately into the hall of fame of horror cinema. Particularly those with the theme of family. Here -- I will be talking about two Horror films with family (secrets), mental illness, defiled human body, sacrifices, demons, religion, rabies and The Occult as themes in them. The other - The Exorcist, is a personal love of mine. I will sprinkle some honorable mentions too. In any case, lets begin, shall we?

I want to start right off the bat by saying: Toni Collette's performance was stellar. I've been following her since she played the bat shit crazy, blind woman who subtly tormented Robin Williams in The Night Listener. Her talent of delving into an endearing disturbed character is truly her forte. Something about them Aussies.

What is Hereditary? According to horrific tale teller Ari Aster it could be a couple of things. To endure. In Aster's film short, The Strange Things About The Johnsons, a son rapes his dad for what appears to be decades. The involuntary incestuous/raping duo carries over to the point where it spews out the screen, and you can't believe the filmmaker even went there. The topic is ghastly to say the least. These individuals were subjected to an environment where, aside from continual rape, other family members looked the other way/were blind to the evil that is their blood line. In Hereditary the endurance of one fucked up thing happening after another to the TWICE grieving mom is short from messed up. When the contained spiraling at the end hits full force, the whole shebang also spews out to the viewer.

Sacrifices must be made. Grandkids and all.

If you know my work than you know I'm a believer of rain dances. Some history -- my bestie and I always exclaimed out loud that the current film horror genre has been, for a while, in a sad state of affairs. When my friend sighs with a heavy heart it's always followed with the wish, "I just wanna see a skull in flames coming down a hallway."

Well she got her fucking wish because in Hereditary people roast. Up in flames. So, where The Exorcist's element was air and water, Hereditary's element was straight up F U E G O. Aside from endurance, the other cocktail thrown at you is the theme of mental illness. However; In Aster's case it's jut a disguise for pure fucking evil. No ifs, and, or but's about it. It's an illusion. For some, pretending might be synonymous with love. For many unfortunate family units mental illness is a sad truth. It used to be kept secret. Hidden in attics or castle dungeons, but now we talk about it. Like Collette's character did in her bereavement group. The opposite of the mom in The Exorcist. In that film, Reagan's mom meets Father Damien Karras on the street hiding under an elegant head scarf and giant sunglasses. In The Exorcism of Emily Rose, the protagonist's family's mental health history gets scrutinized in court for all to hear.

Possession. It is quite possible the cult members of Hereditary had The Exorcist on repeat at some point. To be taken over by a demon. To solicit it. To evoke. Incantations. Whether the chants are to compel them out or usher them in via laser light show, the ends to the means is the same. You're up against a nasty fucker. Rituals aside, whether it is a lifestyle choice (in Hereditary the Grandma was in it balls deep) or just an unlucky kismet alignment for an actor/single mom, the situation is the same. Someone must be sacrificed, and a demon must enter/or must leave (Hereditary's lucky demon plays hopscotch from body to body).

An inhabitant. Sad how something so small, like say, a virus, can literally turn you into an agonizing specimen of flesh. What am I talking about? Rabies. I went on a rabies binge on the all mighty YouTube, and on my second day in I realized: The Exorcist was really about the horrors of Rabies. After this morbid realization it all made complete sense to me. The fighting dogs at the beginning. The hydrophobia, peeing on carpet, crazy physical feats (people dying with rabies must be restrained/tied up), etc. Go watch it on UTube. The truly craziest part is -- people still die of rabies. The disease itself is old and biblical. Isn't it? If the disease still hasn't been eradicated and lives vehemently in developing and third world places, than could you imagine ancient times?! Ebola and Rabies were the ancient chemical weapons. I am certain. Making movies out of zombies, viruses, vampires, whatever -- is just our innate response to our ancient collective cell memory. Our ancient memory bank is venting, and preparing. Hypervigilance.

In Rosemary's Baby, the demon isn't even a demon, but Satan himself! But there are members belonging to a cult. There's also conniving. And a fucked up husband who handed over his wife to a satanic cult, and their unborn baby up for adoption to Lucifer. Fun Times!

In all, Hereditary has made it to the annals of film horror herstory, and for this I applaud it. Bravo! If you are ever in need of a horror film line up in order to scare 14yos, this would be it. Enjoy!