Hereditary (film)
Hereditary | |
---|---|
Directed by | Ari Aster |
Written by | Ari Aster |
Produced by |
|
Starring | |
Cinematography | Pawel Pogorzelski |
Edited by |
|
Music by | Colin Stetson |
Production companies |
|
Distributed by | A24 |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 127 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $10 million[2] |
Box office | $82.8 million[3] |
Hereditary is a 2018 American psychological supernatural horror film written and directed by Ari Aster in his feature directorial debut. Starring Toni Collette, Alex Wolff, Milly Shapiro, Ann Dowd, and Gabriel Byrne, the film follows a grieving family tormented by a demonic entity after the death of their secretive grandmother.
Aster's work on short horror films, most notably The Strange Thing About the Johnsons, attracted the attention of A24, who greenlit Hereditary as his first feature film. Aster conceived it as primarily a family drama consisting of two distinct halves. Filming took place in Utah in 2017, with most indoor scenes shot on custom built sets on a soundstage to give the film a dollhouse aesthetic.
Hereditary premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on January 21, 2018,[4] and was theatrically released in the United States on June 8, 2018.[5] The film received widespread acclaim, with particular praise for the performances, Aster's direction, and Stetson's score. It made over $82 million on a $10 million budget, becoming A24's highest-grossing film ever at the time,[6][7] a record that was held until the release of Everything Everywhere All at Once in 2022.
Plot
Miniature artist Annie Graham lives with her psychiatrist husband Steve, their 16-year-old son Peter, and their 13-year-old daughter Charlie. The family attends the funeral of Annie's secretive mother, Ellen, at which Annie is surprised at the number of mourners in attendance. She attends a bereavement support group, revealing her troubled childhood and that she and her mother had a fraught relationship until Charlie was born, when Ellen became a significant figure in raising her. Meanwhile, Steve receives a phone call telling him that unknown perpetrators desecrated Ellen's gravesite, but does not reveal this to Annie.
Peter is invited to a party, to which Annie insists that Charlie go with him. At the party, Peter leaves Charlie unattended; she eats cake containing walnuts, which triggers her severe
The family is fractured following Charlie's funeral: Peter becomes reclusive and wracked with guilt over his sister's death, Annie becomes bitter and resentful towards Peter for his involvement in the accident, and Steve tries to mediate peace between them. Annie befriends a support group member named Joan, who teaches Annie to perform a séance to communicate with Charlie's ghost. Later that night, Annie convinces her family to attempt the séance. Objects begin to move and smash, and Peter is terrified when Annie is possessed and speaks in Charlie's voice until Steve throws water on her. As Peter begins to be haunted by supernatural forces, Annie suspects Charlie's spirit has become vengeful and demonic. When she sees images manifesting in Charlie's sketchbook threatening Peter, she throws the book into the fireplace. However, her clothing goes up in flames at the same time as the book does. Her clothes only stop burning when she pulls the book away from the flames.
Annie goes through her mother's old belongings, and finds a photo album that shows Ellen to have been "Queen Leigh", the leader of a coven, and Joan one of her acolytes. Another book describes the demon king Paimon, who wishes to inhabit the body of a male host. The summoner of Paimon will receive wealth and rewards. In the attic, Annie finds Ellen's rotting, decapitated body and occultist runes drawn in blood.
While Peter is outside his school, Joan appears and attempts to expel his spirit from his body for the demon king. In class, Peter is taken over by an unseen force and slams his head against his desk, breaking his nose. Annie informs Steve of her ties to Charlie's sketchbook and begs him to burn it, as she cannot bring herself to take her own life. When he refuses, believing Annie has gone insane, she snatches the book from him and flings it into the fire, only for Steve to burst into flames instead. Annie watches in horror, but her expression grows blank as she is taken over by the same force that possessed Peter earlier.
As naked coven members begin gathering both inside and around the house, Peter wakes after dark and finds his father's charred corpse, then quickly notices one of the coven members in a nearby doorway. A now-possessed Annie then chases him through the house. He attempts to hide in the attic; Annie follows him and then beheads herself with a piece of piano wire. Peter jumps from the attic window, dying upon impact with the ground. A glowing orb enters and reanimates his body. Now displaying Charlie's mannerisms, he follows Annie's floating headless corpse into Charlie's treehouse, where Joan and other members of the coven—as well as the headless corpses of Peter's mother and grandmother—are worshipping a mannequin with Charlie's crowned, severed head placed on it. Joan removes the crown and places it on Peter's head, addressing him as Charlie. She then proclaims that Charlie is Paimon, the coven having "corrected his female body" and given him his preferred male host. The coven then hail Peter as King Paimon.
Cast
- Toni Collette as Annie Graham, a miniatures artist
- Gabriel Byrne as Steve Graham, a psychiatrist and Annie's husband
- Alex Wolff as Peter Graham, Annie and Steve's 16-year-old son
- Milly Shapiro as Charlie Graham, Annie and Steve's 13-year-old daughter
- Ann Dowd as Joan, a support group member who befriends Annie
- Mallory Bechtel as Bridget, Peter's schoolmate and love interest
Ari Aster has an uncredited voice cameo as Annie's art dealer, who calls to offer support after the tragedy she has been experiencing. Kathleen Chalfant makes an uncredited appearance as Ellen Leigh, Annie's deceased mother. Aster refers to her as "the sweetest person in the world".[8]
Production
Development
Writer-director
The demon king Paimon originates from numerous
Casting
Toni Collette was one of the first actresses Aster sought for the role of Annie Graham, a miniaturist and the matriarch of the Graham family.[16] Though Collette was reluctant to work on a horror film, the script's grounded approach to the genre convinced her to commit to the project: "He [Aster] just really understood the dynamics in the family, has such an understanding of what it is to be human, what it is to experience loss".[10]
Filming
The film began shooting in February 2017 in Utah. The exteriors of the Graham family house and the tree house were shot in
Aster said that during filming, "Alex Wolff told me not to say the name of William Shakespeare's Scottish play out loud because of some superstitious theater legend. I smugly announced the name, and then one of our lights burst during the shooting of the following scene."[19]
Final cut battle
In 2022, producer Lars Knudsen claimed that Ari Aster and an unnamed financier disagreed on the final cut of the picture.[20] In a subsequent interview, Knudsen named Kevin Frakes as the financier who'd quarrelled with Aster.[21]
Music
The soundtrack was produced by Colin Stetson and Rob Kleiner.[22][23][24] Nick Allen of The Hollywood Reporter noted that the score incorporates trumpets during the film's climax, in reference to the mythology of Paimon being heralded by the sounds of trumpets.[14]
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
1. | "Funeral" | 6:06 |
2. | "Mothers & Daughters" | 3:00 |
3. | "Brother & Sister" | 2:26 |
4. | "Charlie" | 2:56 |
5. | "Party, Crash" | 4:45 |
6. | "Mourning" | 4:45 |
7. | "Aftermath" | 4:22 |
8. | "Séance Sleepwalking" | 4:56 |
9. | "Second Séance, Pt. 1" | 0:57 |
10. | "Second Séance, Pt. 2" | 0:40 |
11. | "Second Séance, Pt. 3" | 1:16 |
12. | "Classroom" | 2:05 |
13. | "Dreaming" | 2:29 |
14. | "Book Burning" | 1:47 |
15. | "Joanie" | 1:47 |
16. | "Get Out" | 1:21 |
17. | "Leigh's Things" | 5:42 |
18. | "Steve" | 8:17 |
19. | "Peter" | 3:40 |
20. | "Chasing Peter" | 0:37 |
21. | "The Attic" | 2:25 |
22. | "Reborn" | 3:51 |
23. | "Hail, Paimon!" | 0:55 |
Total length: | 71:00 |
Release
Hereditary premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on January 21, 2018.[25][26] The trailer for the film was released on January 30, 2018.[27] On Anzac Day in 2018, the trailer for Hereditary played before the PG-rated family film Peter Rabbit in a cinema in Innaloo, Western Australia. According to a report in The Sydney Morning Herald, the Hereditary preview was accidentally shown to family audiences and created a small panic in the theater. The theater was apparently full of families including "at least 40 children".[28][29][30]
The film was released in the United States by A24 on June 8, 2018. It was released in the United Kingdom by Entertainment Film Distributors on June 15, 2018.[26]
Reception
Box office
Hereditary grossed $44.1 million in the United States and Canada, and $38.8 million in other countries, for a total worldwide gross of $82.8 million, against a production budget of $10 million.[3]
In the United States and Canada, Hereditary was released alongside
Critical response
On the
Writing for
Audience reception
Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "D+" on an A+ to F scale.[2] Some publications noted the critics-to-audience discrepancy, comparing it to Drive, The Witch, and It Comes at Night, all of which were critically acclaimed, but failed to impress mainstream moviegoers.[40][41]
Accolades
Year | Organizations | Category | Nominee(s) | Result |
---|---|---|---|---|
2019 | AACTA International Awards | Best Actress - International | Toni Collette | Nominated[42] |
Alliance of Women Film Journalists | Bravest Performance | Toni Collette | Nominated[43] | |
2018 | Boston Society of Film Critics | Best New Filmmaker | Ari Aster | Runner-up[44] |
Chicago Film Critics Association Awards | Best Actress | Toni Collette | Won[45] | |
Best Film | Hereditary | Nominated | ||
Most Promising Filmmaker | Ari Aster | Won | ||
2019 | Critics' Choice Movie Awards | Best Actress | Toni Collette | Nominated[46] |
Best Sci-Fi/Horror Movie | Hereditary | Nominated | ||
2018 | Detroit Film Critics Society Awards | Best Actress | Toni Collette | Won[47] |
2019 | Fangoria Chainsaw Awards | Best Wide Release | Hereditary | Won[48][49] |
Best Director | Ari Aster | Won | ||
Best Actress | Toni Collette | Won | ||
Best Supporting Actor | Alex Wolff | Won | ||
Best Supporting Actress | Milly Shapiro | Nominated | ||
Best Screenplay | Ari Aster | Won | ||
Best Score | Colin Stetson | Nominated | ||
Best Kill | "Charlie Meets Telephone Pole" | Won | ||
2018 | Golden Trailer Awards | Best Horror | Hereditary | Nominated[50] |
Most Original Trailer | Hereditary | Nominated | ||
Gotham Awards | Best Actress | Toni Collette | Won[51][52][53] | |
Breakthrough Director | Ari Aster | Nominated | ||
Audience Award | Hereditary | Nominated | ||
2019 | Independent Spirit Awards | Best Female Lead | Toni Collette | Nominated[54] |
Best First Feature | Ari Aster, Kevin Frakes, Lars Knudsen and Buddy Patrick | Nominated | ||
2018 | Los Angeles Film Critics Association | Best Actress | Toni Collette | Runner-up[55] |
Neuchâtel International Fantastic Film Festival | Narcisse Award for Best Feature Film | Hereditary | Nominated[56] | |
St. Louis Gateway Film Critics Association
|
Best Actress | Toni Collette | Won[57] | |
Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Awards | Best Actress | Toni Collette | Nominated[58] | |
Best Youth Performance | Milly Shapiro | Nominated |
References
- ^ "Hereditary (2018)". BFI.org.uk. British Film Institute. Archived from the original on July 4, 2018. Retrieved September 19, 2018.
- ^ Penske Business Media. Retrieved June 10, 2018.
- ^ a b "Hereditary (2018)". Box Office Mojo. Amazon. Retrieved August 25, 2018.
- ^ Means, Sean P. (December 19, 2017). "A horror thriller filmed in Utah is among the additions to 2018 Sundance Film Festival lineup". The Salt Lake Tribune. Retrieved January 25, 2018.
- Guardian News and Media. Retrieved January 30, 2018.
- ^ Giles, Jeff (June 7, 2018). "Ocean's 8: Satisfying but Slight". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved June 8, 2018.
- ^ a b D'Alessandro, Anthony (June 10, 2022). "'Everything Everywhere All At Once' Becomes A24's Highest Grossing Movie Of All-Time At Global Box Office". Deadline. Retrieved June 10, 2022.
- MPAA. Retrieved February 18, 2019.
- ^ Chen, Nick (June 12, 2018). "How Ari Aster made the best horror movie of 2018". Dazed. Retrieved December 21, 2018.
- ^ a b Bishop, Bryan (June 7, 2018). "How Hereditary Director Ari Aster Became an Unlikely Horror Hero". The Verge. Retrieved December 21, 2018.
- ^ "Director Ari Aster Says 'Hereditary' Is A Family Drama At Its Core". NPR.org. Retrieved August 13, 2019.
- ^ Newby, Richard (September 6, 2018). "How Director Ari Aster Turned 'Hereditary' Into a Harrowing Cinematic Experience". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved December 23, 2018.
- ^ a b Stefansky, Emma (June 8, 2018). "That Horrific Hereditary Scene Is Director Ari Aster's Favorite". Vanity Fair. Retrieved December 23, 2018.
- ^ a b c d Allen, Nick (June 12, 2018). "The Ending of 'Hereditary' Feels Inevitable". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved September 3, 2023.
- ^ a b c Sokol, Tony (October 21, 2018). "Hereditary: The Real Story of King Paimon". Den of Geek. Retrieved September 3, 2023.
- ^ a b c Fear, David (June 12, 2018). "Hereditary': Inside the Making of a Modern Horror Classic". Rolling Stone. Retrieved December 23, 2018.
- ^ Ryan, Patrick (June 12, 2018). "Milly Shapiro wants to freak you out as that creepy kid in 'Hereditary'". USA Today. Retrieved December 23, 2018.
- ^ Aster, Ari; Hammond, Caleb (June 6, 2018). "How They Did It: Building Hereditary's Haunted Houses From Scratch Was First-Time Helmer Ari Aster's Living Nightmare". MovieMaker. Retrieved June 15, 2018.
- ^ "Ari Aster comments on Shakespeare's Scottish Play curse". June 15, 2018.
- ^ Grobar, Matt (2023). "Beau is Afraid Producer Lars Knudsen On The Hereditary Final Cut Battle". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved July 25, 2017.
- ^ Collins, James (November 23, 2018). "Hereditary Producer Lars Knudsen On His Career". Mandy.com. Retrieved July 25, 2017.
- ^ "Colin Stetson: Hereditary (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)". Pitchfork. Retrieved January 7, 2019.
- ^ "Colin Stetson On The Terrifying Score For 'Hereditary' And Making Music That Sounds Evil". Stereogum. June 15, 2018. Retrieved January 7, 2019.
- ^ "Hereditary (Original Soundtrack Album) by Colin Stetson & Rob Kleiner". Apple Music. January 31, 2020. Retrieved May 5, 2023.
- The Sundance Institute. Archived from the originalon November 9, 2020. Retrieved July 31, 2018.
- ^ a b Stolworthy, Jacob (March 20, 2018). "Hereditary: Horror film branded 'scariest in years' gets UK release date". The Independent. Retrieved April 12, 2018.
- Penske Business Media. Retrieved May 9, 2018.
- ^ Allain-Petale, David (April 26, 2018). "Cover your eyes kids: Perth families shown horror flick trailer". The Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax Media. Retrieved April 28, 2018.
- ^ Clift, Tom (April 27, 2018). "A Cinema Traumatised A Bunch Of Kids By Showing A Horror Trailer Before 'Peter Rabbit'". Junkee. Retrieved April 27, 2018.
- Penske Business Media. Retrieved April 28, 2018.
- ^ Fuster, Jeremy (June 6, 2018). "Can 'Ocean's 8' Steal a Huge Box Office Haul Like 'Ocean's Eleven' Did?". TheWrap. Archived from the original on November 4, 2020. Retrieved June 7, 2018.
- Penske Business Media. Retrieved June 6, 2018.
- Penske Business Media. Retrieved June 17, 2018.
- Penske Business Media. Retrieved July 26, 2018.
- ^ "Hereditary (2018)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango. Retrieved October 10, 2021.
- CBS Interactive. Retrieved December 11, 2018.
- ^ Travers, Peter (June 5, 2018). "'Hereditary' Review: Family Horror Tale Is the Scariest Movie of 2018". Rolling Stone. Retrieved June 6, 2018.
- ^ Dowd, A.A. (June 6, 2018). "Family Is a Curse in the Harrowing, Deeply Frightening Hereditary". The A.V. Club. The Onion. Retrieved June 18, 2018.
- ^ Anderson, Jeffrey M. "Hereditary". Common Sense Media. Retrieved June 13, 2018.
- Penske Business Media. Retrieved June 13, 2018.
- ^ Newby, Richard (June 10, 2018). "Why 'Hereditary' Is Dividing Audiences". The Hollywood Reporter. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved June 13, 2018.
- ^ "AACTA International Awards: 'Roma' Takes Best Film & Director; 'The Favourite' Also A Double Winner". Deadline Hollywood. January 5, 2019. Retrieved January 6, 2019.
- ^ "2018 EDA Award Nominees". Alliance of Women Film Journalists. December 27, 2018. Retrieved December 27, 2018.
- ^ "If Beale Street Could Talk Selected as Best Film". BSFC. December 29, 2018. Retrieved December 29, 2018.
- ^ "Roma named Best Picture by Chicago Film Critics Association". WordPress.com. December 7, 2018. Retrieved December 9, 2018.
- ^ "Critics' Choice Awards Nominations: 'The Favourite' Tops With 14, 'Black Panther' A Marvel, 'First Man' Rebounds; 'The Americans' Leads TV Series". Deadline Hollywood. Penske Media Corporation. December 11, 2018.
- ^ "'Eighth Grade' leads DFCS nomineess". The Detroit News. December 11, 2018.
- ^ Collis, Clark (January 22, 2019). "Halloween, Hereditary, and A Quiet Place nominated for Best Movie...at Fangoria Awards". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved January 23, 2019.
- ^ Rife, Katie (January 22, 2019). "Screw the Oscars, let's see who got nominated for a Fangoria Chainsaw Award". The A.V. Club. Retrieved January 23, 2019.
- ^ Nordyke, Kimberly (May 31, 2018). "Golden Trailer Awards: 'Black Panther,' Netflix Top Winners List". The Hollywood Reporter. Prometheus Global Media.
- ^ Wagmeister, Elizabeth (November 26, 2018). "Gotham Awards: A24 Sweeps With Five Wins, Including 'First Reformed,' 'Eighth Grade' (Full Winners List)". Variety. Retrieved November 27, 2018.
- Independent Filmmaker Project. October 18, 2018.
- ^ "2018 Gotham Awards Nominations: 'The Favourite' and 'First Reformed' Lead the Pack" (Press release). IndieWire. October 18, 2018.
- ^ "34th Film Independent Spirits Nominations Announced" (PDF) (Press release). Los Angeles: Independent Spirit Awards. November 15, 2018. Archived (PDF) from the original on November 16, 2018. Retrieved November 17, 2018.
- ^ Sheehan, Paul (December 9, 2018). "Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards 2018: Full list of winners at LAFCA". GoldDerby. Retrieved December 9, 2018.
- ScreenAnarchy. Retrieved August 28, 2018.
- ^ "2018 StLFCA Annual Award Nominations". St. Louis Film Critics Association. December 9, 2018. Retrieved December 9, 2018.
- ^ "'Roma' Feels the Love with D.C. Film Critics". WAFCA. December 11, 2018.
External links
- Official website
- Hereditary at IMDb
- Hereditary at AllMovie
- Hereditary at Metacritic
- Hereditary at Rotten Tomatoes
- Hereditary at Box Office Mojo