Hereditary (*****)

There's a lot of hype surrounding HEREDITARY, hype which I largely dismissed prior to its release. Horror, after all, is such a subjective genre. Where I find "Blair Witch Project" to be utterly chilling, many more say it's 'boring' and 'predictable.' What can I say to convince you of "Hereditary's" greatness, then? This needs to be said upfront: it may be the scariest movie I've ever seen.

The film is somewhat cryptic in the way it tackles the main story. If you saw the trailer which was full of stark images and horrific clips, you might be hard-pressed to explain what the movie is about. Simply put, we have an artist named Annie (Toni Collette), married with two children (a high school pothead and a creepy tween). Her art deals with miniature sets and doll houses which aim for realism in detail and setting. The film opens with Annie speaking at her mother's funeral. To say their relationship was rocky is an understatement. We learn so much about the family dynamic in the first few scenes.

At a support group for those who have lost loved ones, Annie struggles to explain her feelings about her mother, and yet soon after is diving deep into a psychological history of mental disorders and violence. Whether or not her husband is aware of this past remains to be seen. Immediately, we have a portrait of a mother who is anything but stable. Around her, in an idyllic country home, her family functions with a relieving sense of normalcy: her son is into pot and girls, and her husband works a quiet office job and praises her progress.

While the scares in this film take their time to build, they do so with such a deliberate hand, that there isn't a wasted moment nor a quiet scene in which a "bathroom break" is acceptable. First time writer/director Ari Aster (is this even possible?) steps into feature films with a masterful hand as to film language and visual storytelling. So often is there a slow-panning shot where we, the audience, cower as to what's around the corner, and other times some maleficent force is just off screen. Blink, and it's gone. To be innovative, films sometimes need to borrow from the greats. I defy you not to see the resemblance in story to "Rosemary's Baby," or the dread of "The Shining." It's not a cheap rip-off either. This is a movie that dives deep into the world of horror and leaves no stone unturned.

So often to 'genre' actors get overlooked, but there is not a chance that Toni Collette in a career-best role gives anything less than the year's best performance (yes, and it's only June). From playing a sympathetic mother in another supernatural flick ("The Sixth Sense") to the absolute mania she presents here, this is a role that is so dangerously close to farce at every moment, that it's almost impossible not to applaud. From deep sympathy to fear and then an almost possessive demonic persona (and oftentimes all in one continuous shot), this has got to be a defining performance in the horror genre. To mention her for Oscar consideration is an understatement - the award itself doesn't even begin to do justice to such an unforgettable part.

The 'horror' itself doesn't come from the cliched smash cuts or bursts of loud music. This is something more subtle, played out in slow shots and shadows... A face in a dark doorway that you aren't sure is there, but as the camera dwells you begin to understand that it's all the more real. I can't even explain the fear I felt when, say, a glass slides across the table, or a voice comes from Toni Collette that is not her own, or her son's face becomes disfigured in a moment of violence... This is a film that could easily be spoiled, but part of the scare comes from that sense of the unknown and what is around every single corner.

And the same for Aster, the writer/director who debuts with a scream and builds tension nearly to a breaking point. Wherever you think this film is going, you are wrong. The climactic scenes in this film are so unbelievably horrifying that I was jittering by the time the credits began to roll. So rare is is that a film can leave such an indelible mark, and I think I can count on one hand the number of theatrical films I have seen that made me full of such emotion by the end of it. Even now, hours later, I am venting my feelings with all lights on and the blanket pulled over my head. I can think of many reasons why this movie might strike fear into a viewer, and probably just as many might dismiss it as "weird." See it for yourself. So much of the film benefits from knowing little. What starts off as a slow family drama will ignite in front of your eyes into a movie you might never be able to shake. This is easily the best film of the year so far. Heck, this is the best horror movie we've seen this century.