Hereditary, written and directed by Ari Aster - Six out of 10

Hereditary, written and directed by Ari Aster

Six out of 10

To quote Little Britain:

Computer says no!

More than three hundred critics have loved this motion picture, if you look at the average rating they gave it:

87 out of 100!

OMG!

Nevertheless, the under signed did not like it.

Granted, there are those who love horror features and the others who either loath them or just avoid seeing the genre.

Toni Collette – a very good actress in general – is Annie, wife of Gabriel Byrne – another major player.

They have two children, Peter and Charlie.

Counterintuitively, Charlie is a girl.

For reasons that may be connected with the recipe of a horror movie, the actress portraying Charlie seems to have some make up that renders her creepy, unlikeable to the point where, when she is gone from the film, one may be if not relieved, then not that sorry.

Like in most horror films – at least as far as this viewer can tell – there are dreams in which people seem to die…terribly.

There are also spirits…maybe.

Annie suffers a loss and she joins a group, where she can talk about her grievance, the pain and suffering.

This is where she meets another important personage in the plot, a woman who had lost her son.

This person is called Joan and when she meets Annie, after the official group session, they begin to talk about their issues.

Another time, they cross paths at the local supermarket.

Joan begins to talk about communicating with the other world.

She has met someone and even if she is a believer in science, knows that so much about these sessions is bogus she was convinced.

Joan explains what happened, how they went to talk with the spirits – or is it the ghosts? – and it worked.

Therefore, she takes Annie for such a meeting with the dead, or undead, whatever they call them.

They invoke the spirit.

Since the glass on the table moves, it means they are communicating.

Or don’t they?

However, Joan asks questions that are responded with yes or no, the glass moving to the left means no, or the other way round.

One day, Peter wants to go to a party and his mother requests him to take his sister along, if he wants permission.

At this shindig, he takes some drugs – marijuana probably – while Charlie is eating chocolate cake, behaves in an outré manner and is generally unpleasant to watch, up to the next few scenes.

As the girl feels very bad, suffocating and chocking, Peter drives home in the dark, encounters a dead animal on the road, tries to avoid it and comes close to a pole near the road.

Charlie has her head out, trying to get air and she loses it…literally!

It reminds one – at least this viewer – of The Counselor, a rather good, if ignored film with Javier Bardem, Michael Fassbender, Penelope Cruz, Cameron Diaz and Brad Pitt.

The head lies on the ground in the most gruesome moment of the film, indeed one of the most abhorrent scenes one has the chance to see.

In other words, the motion picture does offer strong sensations, emotions that are not available in your average features.

Is this enough to make it worthwhile.

To quote Little Britain:

Computer says no!