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[SXSW Review] ‘Hereditary’ is Perfect, Dangerous, Anxiety-Inducing Filmmaking

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Hereditary

From the very second Hereditary begins, you know that you’re in for something different. A slow zoom into a lifelike dollhouse that shifts into an actual house is acutely aware of itself, you are being pulled in to something unsafe. It’s a visual riptide that is about to pull you out to a very unsympathetic, dark sea.

The story follows the Graham family, who is dealing with the recent loss of the family’s matriarch. Not long after the funeral, the family begins to find that the roots of their ancestry may have some terrifying ties.

Hereditary is a strategic assault on its audience. The Graham family’s home is a heightened reality dollhouse, it constantly feels off kilter with certain furnishings with skewed heights or dimensions creating a small piece of the uncomfortable other worldliness that is already working on your viewing psyche. The sound design is a constant binaural pulse that is played almost throughout the first act of the film. Those two elements together are already subliminally accosting you, before the horror elements have even been introduced.

What really blows my mind is that this is director, Ari Aster’s first feature. This dude must have lived many lives as a director previously cause, he is resolute in his filmmaking. Hereditary is dangerous anxiety inducing filmmaking, Aster creates a new, raw and terrifying path for the horror genre.

The film could exist entirely as a family drama and it would have been absorbing. Aster takes care to make the drama elements work, while gradually introducing the creeping dread. A lot like placing a frog in a pot with the temperature slowly rising, you are already being cooked in a substantial amount of resonating horrific imagery and ideas.

I’m a fan of a lot of A24 horror. Atmospheric genre films like The Witch are my specific cup of tea. Hereditary takes the atmospheric elements and adds gravity to them by delivering on the spectrum of what horror audiences love (yes, even some extremely effective jump scares) creating a film that feels like it could bridge the gap of atmospheric slow burn fans and more mainstream horror audiences.

The imagery cut in in the film seriously gets stuck in your head. I’m still thinking about it now. There is a lot of narrative plays that are really smart about crafting the experience to leave you with not only some seriously fucked up imagery but material you may want to go home and research.

The cast in is pure greatness. Toni Collette and each member of her family take you by the hand down familiar, familial paths before leaving you lost alone and without a compass in the dark family narrative. Collette’s grief and character big reveals work terrifyingly organic and grounded.

Hereditary is dangerous anxiety inducing filmmaking, Aster creates a new, raw and terrifying path for the horror genre.”

Hereditary is seriously an achievement for horror in every way. It does some unflinching things with the process of grief and family dynamics and then inverts them in an almost perverse way. It’s a mean-spirited movie, its goal is to fuck you up and it entirely worked on me. From where I’m sitting, there is no way that this film doesn’t end up on my top 5 list at the end of the year. This film is dangerous and I can’t wait to experience it again.

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New Body Horror Film ‘The Substance’ Releases Teaser

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We haven’t seen Demi Moore in a movie since The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent back in 2022. She has been busy though, she had a part in Ryan Murphy’s latest Feud chapter and now she is contemplating altering her body to make it more youthful in the body horror film The Substance.

Apparently, according to the official synopsis, there is a newly developed beauty regimen that “generates another you. A new, younger, more beautiful, more perfect you. And there’s only one rule: You share time. One week for you. One week for the new you. Seven days each. A perfect balance. Easy. Right? If you respect the balance… what could possibly go wrong?”

A still from the film (used in out header) suggests that this new technology requires a lot more than dabbing it under your eyes or administering a sticky mask. The film premiered at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival and was bought by Mubi. No US release date has been announced.

The Substance

The Substance reminds us of another FDA nightmare, The Stuff (1985) in which a commercially marketed whipped treat turns people into zombies. That film is a dark comedy about consumerism and gluttony. While Deadline reports that The Substance is humourous as well as gory, they don’t say how rooted it is in satire.

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Airbnb Scareprank Pits Influencers Against ‘The Strangers’

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The Strangers: Chapter 1 was released this week. This is the first part of Renny Harlin’s trilogy which appears to be a retelling of the 2008 original. Early reviews are passable, but many have said it is not as scary as the original and hope this first installment is just a taste of what is to come.

However, social media influencers got the scare of their lives after they were invited to an Airbnb for a special screening. As they watched the film masked home invaders visited them and their reactions were recorded.

The stunt was put together by actor/executive producer Madelaine Petsch and producer Courtney Solomon. You can watch how it played out below.

Soloman was recently interviewed by iHorror and attempted to clear up some questions about how this trilogy fits into the Strangers universe:

“The one thing that seems to register confusion amongst the OG ‘The Strangers‘ fans is that we remade the movie, or that it’s a prequel. Not really. What we did is we took the DNA of the original setup, and wanted to use that because you really can’t do better for a setup, we’re using that as the jumping-off point. Our characters are different. Our scares and our beats are very different. It’s all setting up a bigger story. You’re following these characters, and you will really get to know the protagonist and antagonist, and as they go through, it’s like they almost know each other.”

The Strangers: Chapter 1

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New ‘Insidious’ Movie Scheduled For August 2025 Release Date

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Get ready for another chapter in the Insidious universe. Variety confirms today that another movie is in the works and it could be in theaters as early as August 2025.

Unfortunately, the cast has not been revealed, nor how this entry will fit into the series overall. That means series regulars Patrick Wilson, Leigh Whannel and Lin Shaye haven’t been confirmed as returning actors.

Variety also stated that this isn’t the spinoff Thread: An Insidious Tale, starring Mandy Moore and Kumail Nanjiani that Deadline announced in 2023. They also point out if this newly announced title releases before Thread, it would be the sixth chapter in the franchise.

Insidious: The Red Door

Insidious has been a hot property for Blumhouse. Initially created by James Wan, the movies have done very well at the box office. Although the last one, Red Door got mixed reviews, it managed to rake in $189 million worldwide, a hefty haul considering the film only cost $16 million to make.

Jason Blum is cited as saying after Red Door the series would take an extended break, “It may not be a forever rest, but it’s certainly going to be a very long rest. … There’s not a plan — as there has been with every prior ‘Insidious’ movie — there’s no current plan in place for number six.”

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