MovieChat Forums > Hereditary (2018) Discussion > My Issue With Hereditary

My Issue With Hereditary

posted 6 years ago by LucasCorradi (87)
8 replies | jump to latest

Guys this movie for the first two acts is a really REALLY interesting creepy drama. Its such a shame that it turns into generic horror movie flick in the third act. Yes, still a very effective horror film. But still a generic one. This embodies everything I dislike about the genre for the last decade basically.

Jesus Christ. Its just a person going around the house being creeped by creepy images. Theres no rule. These ghosts or demons can do whatever they want. Thats not interesting to me.

The reason why Saw, The Descent, The Shinning, The Exorcist work is because they are actually ABOUT something.

Thats the main reason why I cant stand these Conjuring type movies. Its all the same shit!

[–] artguylarry (498) 6 years ago

Yeah, if I had a nickle for every horror movie I saw that ends with a guy's mom beheading herself and bowing down to him with his headless grandmother because he is the host for a demon they worship. Happens every time.

[–] LucasCorradi (87) 6 years ago

Did I say every horror movie ends exacly like that? Jesus...

Im talking about what predominates throughout most of the third act. Its generic horror movie trope to me even though it is very effective. A guy running around the house being creeped by STUFF.

Now of course it would be silly of me to say the third act negates what happens before. My issue here is not with the whole movie or especifically how it ends but rather what predominates in the third act in general.

[–] artguylarry (498) 6 years ago

Apologies extended. It's hard to argue that it is a common formula, and what seems to happen with horror movies today is they find a formula that works, and then they use the hell out of it. It can seem generic and repetitive, but sometimes the formula DOES work, and as long as they can change it up and make it relevant enough to justify using it, I personally don't mind.

Side note: you have to admit, this one gives us enough of what most horror movies DON'T, to forgive it for using so much of what they DO. Examples: this one avoids many of the cop outs that most horror movies use. This one never made use of jump scares, or heavy gore (just two brief scenes). It also made no use of comic relief. There were no happy moments, no humor, no laughs of any kind. There was no contrast to the sorrow and grief this family was going through. It was brutal, it was tragic, the creep factor was off the charts, and it kept us in its stiff dead grip for the full two hours. That makes for good horror to me, generic elements or not.

[–] LucasCorradi (87) 6 years ago

Sure, it doesnt use the formulaic jump scares or comic relief or anything that is a usual trope at this point. But we can't pretend that thats something new also. Non commercial horror movies throughout the ages have been just like Hereditary. Look. Overall I still think Hereditary is gonna go down as the best horror of the year. Theres some really, really effective stuff in it.

And dang.. who knows, maybe if I see it again I really could enjoy the third act more and respect it for what it is. Like I said, I dont like what the act does but I like HOW it does it, definitely

[–] legalizeranch (28) 6 years ago

I totally disagree. It's actually only the last 10 minutes of the movie that has this "generic horror movie trope" going on. I don't get why a person being scared/being hunted is a horror movie trope. That's kind of the backbone of many horror movies more than a trope. And the fact they saved it for the finale, and did it rather well, was refreshing. It gave us some meat, some of what we expect to see at least somewhat in a horror movie, while still remaining an "elevated horror" film, for lack of a better term. The ending was the cherry on top of what was a brilliant, creepy thriller/drama about a family slowly falling apart due to demonic possession.

Yes it wasn't a wholly original idea, demonic possession. But it showed the idea can still be done properly, and blew shit like The Conjuring out of the water. I think you're way off in comparing to the two.

[–] lordofthelake (147) 6 years ago

I thought the dreadful/mystical ending was the best part.

[–] macken74 (653) 6 years ago

Absolutely agree with you !

Wasn't that impressed with any of it tbh, and the third act was exactly how you described, total let down if a film that yet again it's a case of don't believe the hype !

[–] JuleenAnn (23) 4 years ago

Sorry I'm replying to such an old thread but I just saw this movie last night lol. I agree the ending was too over-the-top for me and predictable, but the movie was so well done in other ways that this is forgiveable as someone else said. There are so many movies that feel as if they've had this same type of overkill (HA!) ending that it is almost too out there to be scary. I'm talking abt the final final scene w him going up into the treehouse where it's finally all narrated of what was happening.