HEREDITARY A Psychological Horor Film Not for the Faint of Heart with Toni Collette and Gabriel Byrne

HEREDITARY is a suspenseful horrifying thriller and a psychological puzzler.  The artistically shot film is shocking, scary and sympathetic towards a family coping with profound grief.  This is a nightmare that relentlessly haunts through the night and spills over into the seemingly safety of a sunny classroom.  (The safety of the classroom has become more or less a myth).  The opening scene is a banal obituary of a 76 year old woman listing her surviving family: her daughter, son-in-law, grandson & granddaughter.  The daughter Annie (a terrific Toni Collete) is married to Steve (a remarkable Gabriel Byrne).  Their two teenage children are an awkward13 year old girl, Charlie (Milly Shapiro) and older brother Peter (Alex Wolf).  The eulogy given by Annie for her mother at the funeral is not effusive in praise or love; rather an acknowledgement of a somewhat regrettable dissociation.  It's not long before unnatural & eerie occurrences start happening; an unknown mourner anoints the lips of Annie's mother in her coffin.  Back home, Annie asks Steve if it's okay not to feel sad.  But, who would feel bad having had the mother from Hell.  The film's director/screenwriter Ari Aster creates a tense & terrifying movie that blurs ground between horror and psychosis.  Heaven knows Annie & her son have plenty of reason for having mental breakdowns but heaven has no bearing in this effectively fraught family tragedy.  Annie's wavering between grief and rage is understandable.  But, it becomes untenable for her husband who terminates Annie's macabre rituals.  He's seared between protecting his family and helping them to heal.  The acting by the exceptional cast carries the gruesome & unsettling events into a mystifying realm of incredulity to a reality of pain unworkable to entomb.  This movie panders to those with a proclivity for the paranormal.  It's also a harrowing psychological thriller that encrypts itself into one's psyche.   The ending is a tad overkill.  Still, for those mild of heart & temperament I would tempt you to see HEREDITARY, a daring film that delivers on many cylinders.  For those who appreciate the chills of a finely executed horror film, I advise you to bring a sweater and a bottle of holy water.