Amazon.com: Customer reviews: Hereditary [Blu-ray + DVD + Digital]

Expect more, and get more, from this horror movie.

Reviewed in the United States on July 28, 2018

A bonafide horror classic. Whether that will be recognized today, tomorrow or the year after, that's what it is. Supremely emotional and demanding of the audience from beginning to end. I think many people's strong dislike of the movie depends on their willingness to go beyond a simple 'horror movie" expectation. Cats don't jump into frame and the sound isn't amped up just to startle you (which is what most 'horror' movies rely on now.) As a matter of fact this is some of the best use of silence that I've seen in years. The quiet dread is unsettling.

Once you realize what genre the movie is you are already so altered by what went before that even if you find the genre hacky, you have never seen it in this context. Toni Collette absolutely deserves every nomination and reward there is to be offered. A true tour de force.

205 people found this helpful

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extreme0120

Slow-burn excellence!

Reviewed in the United States on September 5, 2018

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First & foremost, ignore the 1 star bad reviews for this movie, they had no idea what they were getting themselves into as they were likely looking for an end of summer jump-scare flick...which this is not. What this movie sets out to do, does so masterfully. Hereditary takes a lot from real life scenarios then adds its own bit of mysticism for a wonderful, yet horrifying experience. This movie will get into your head if you let it. The acting, especially Toni Collette's, is very well done. This one has earned a high position in my cherry-picked catalogue.

117 people found this helpful

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That guy

Brilliant..A Horror Classic

Reviewed in the United States on September 5, 2018

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I'm a die hard horror movie connoisseur. I can usually find merit in all kinds of horror movies, from the modern politically correct PG13 teen's obsessed with their phones horror, to the most pretentious indie wannabe horror.

Hereditary took me by surprise. I expected a Blumhouse style Conjuring or Insidious fun but safe kind of movie, but this is so much more...Hereditary reminds me of Rosemary's Baby, The Exorcist, The Shinning, and Lars Von Trier's Antichrist, all mixed together with a gut wrenching score and directed with a Kubrick flare..Ari Aster's next film will be my most anticipated movie...Hereditary is not only the best horror film of 2018, its the best movie of 2018 period.

106 people found this helpful

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David Candice Long

Rang true

Reviewed in the United States on September 9, 2018

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There are a lot of negative reviews on-line as well as positive. Some found this boring, laughable etc but for me, it home in a few different ways. I can tell you from personal experience, that the occult is a place you don't want to go. I was fascinated by it. I wanted to know if you can make it work for you as opposed to against you but it became obvious to me that once you get that door opened, you have absolutely no control over not only what comes through it, but shutting off that flow.

Pagan rituals have been around for centuries and still exist. This reminded me a bit of the older film, 'The Believers' - very effective. The pain from loss in the film, I've seen first hand and it is uncomfortable and filled with blame. No one is spared so the script has deep roots in reality despite the fiction based story. This is not a typical slasher film, it's a bit of a slow burn - like real life tends to be. Everyone is great in the parts they play and while I can see why some may not like this movie, it was for me, very creepy.

The HDR on the 4K disc really stands out especially in daylight scenes with a great music score. Subtle sounds even though not in Atmos or DTS-X, are really effective. In short, I liked the film a lot and like any film, not for everyone.

62 people found this helpful

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Joe H.

Slow Burn & Creepy, Outstanding Acting

Reviewed in the United States on September 6, 2018

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Overall very good but not the next Rosemary's Baby or Exorcist, but also definitely not deserving of 1-star slamming critiques. Thoroughly enjoyed the creep factor, acting, cinematography and lack of cheap jump scares. The ending didn't seem to fit and I think would have been better with a little more backstory/flashbacks that involved the Grandmother, daughter Charlie and some of the characters that were present at the ending reveal. Amazingly good directorial effort for a first feature film and looking forward to his next efforts.

37 people found this helpful

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ryan goldsborough

Get ready to have ur mind blown

Reviewed in the United States on September 4, 2018

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One of the all time greats up there with the shinning rosemarys baby Blair witch no 1 And of course the best of them all the vvitch watch ari asters shorts on YouTube his first feature length movie amazing

40 people found this helpful

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matt huett

FREAKY!

Reviewed in the United States on September 10, 2018

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Delivered on time in perfect condition. The driver even hid the package behind a ceramic statue I have, since I wasn't home and live in an apartment complex; I appreciated that.
The movie itself....very memorable, I'll say that. Scenes that stay with you. Not your usual movie formula and very dark. Toni Collette deserves an award.

25 people found this helpful

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Jim Bob

Slightly disappointing to be honest!

Reviewed in the United States on September 22, 2018

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While the acting in this movie is good and the dreadful mood and atmosphere keep you on edge the entire film, overall this was not what it was hyped up to be. Delving into some dangerous territory no doubt, but this film goes nowhere the lengths films such as the Exorcist & The Omen have already explored, and thus is false in some reported claims to be as ambitious as The Exorcist. It is a dark story, but anyone who has watched enough horror movies in their lives will probably see ALOT of the stuff that happens coming, and though as you keep watching, you may expect the plot to thicken and the stakes to be raised much much earlier on than what actually transpires, so its quite disappointing for me as a huge lifetime horror fan to see such potential be sort of wasted. Still worthy of a watch with friends or family, but think really hard before pre-ordering like i did or paying full price to add it to your library.

30 people found this helpful

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Allen Garfield's #1 fan.

Uh, oh...when the subtext becomes the raison d'être

Reviewed in the United States on February 10, 2020

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The subtext being a fractured and grieving family. The "horror" elements are just elements - almost an afterthought. This movie (and its ilk) fail at drama, and certainty horror. In the right hands, no sweat, it can (and has worked). Nope, a cynical cash grab: "let's get middlebrow audiences to like us - we'll make a respectable horror movie... not like the others!" Ugh.

Genre directors (who are seemingly ashamed of straight horror) sucking up to the mainstream audiences and critics? To grab a bigger budget for the next ("respectable") project?

Dull, dreary and pretentious, this pile of celluloid sewage went nowhere. Ridiculous. Incoherent Dialogue either mumbled or screamed. Loud. Lots of threads...Lots of threads. None of them "tied up." No point or resolution to whatever was introduced: characters, plot (which ultimately was a ninety minute red herring - a shaggy dog story). Whoah, heavy, man. As deep as the ocean.

This ain't The Shining or Polanski, believe you me.

A whole lot of jerking into a ceiling fan.

Since I'm on a roll: The Shape of Water stunk, too.

8 people found this helpful

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John's Horror Corner

An emotionally challenging family therapy session and séance gone wrong. Horror gone right!

Reviewed in the United States on October 4, 2018

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MY CALL: Emotionally challenging and strikingly acted, this film is really different in all the ways I like. However, its ending wanders perhaps too far into the deep end for some viewers’ taste. MOVIES LIKE Hereditary: Other slow-burn films about suppressed guilt and the family dynamics they affect include The Uninvited (2009), The Babadook (2014), Goodnight Mommy (2014) and The Witch (2016). I’m also reminded of The Skeleton Key (2005) for its connections to conjurations.

Loss, grief and guilt… we all have our own way of dealing with them; expressing them… and how we do so may differ from one loss to another. Hereditary examines Annie’s (Toni Collette; Krampus, Fright Night) family after the loss of her mother—grandmother to her teenage son Peter (Alex Wolff; My Friend Dahmer) and eccentric daughter Charlie (Milly Shapiro). As Annie questions her own grief—or, lack thereof—her husband Steve (Gabriel Byrne; Gothic, End of Days, Ghost Ship, The Keep) responsibly assumes the role of emotional caretaker, offering support and parental/husbandly surveillance over the household’s feelings. Most curious (or eerie) is young Charlie, who fears no one will care for her now.

Emotionally disconnected, Charlie is a strange girl—perhaps even troubled. While everyone else tries to fall back into something more normal, Charlie is… looking for something else. It all begins weird, and then it gets way weirder.

Despite its lengthy over-two-hour running time, it wastes no time leading the audience into unease with revelations of the deceased matriarch’s secrets, their family history of serious mental illness, messages from beyond, and glimmers of hallucinations (or even spirits?). We find visions of the deceased, birds kamikazeing into windows, and grave desecration. There is disturbing imagery in the form of severed heads swarming with ants, mismatched reflections, being burned alive and a troubling séance. But that’s nothing compared to the traumatizingly surreal—or maybe way too real—suffering the family endures in response to each other’s hysterical manifestations.

Writer and director Ari Aster (upcoming Midsommar) fearlessly breaks into his first feature film. In collaboration with a powerful cast, this emotionally heavy movie finds an uncomfortably tangible sense of grief, blame, rage, melancholy, all manner of contempt; just normal mania pushed to the abnormal limits of our sanity. It’s rare I feel so uncomfortable and impressed at the same time.

The pacing yo-yos from quiet and emotionally dismal lulls to normalcy until the middle, when things shift into erratic gear. Despite being well-lit and quite colorful, an outdoors scene momentarily smacks of The Witch (2016). It’s that slow-burn, dread-cultivating, mysterious mysticism. Another scene creepily samples from the Exorcist franchise. And with these honorable samplings of the past, the flavor presented is really all its own.

This film gets so weird (and perhaps convoluted to its own detriment) that it sort of flies off the hinges. It does so to such degree that it may turn people off. Think along the lines of the unexpected turns in The Ritual (2017) or The Shrine (2010). To some, this makes it its own unique entity in the genre. To others, it makes it “uneven.” I’m more the former, but can easily recognize sentiments of the latter as well. In either case, I thought this movie was wowingly impactful.

12 people found this helpful

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5 star		81%
4 star		11%
3 star		5%
2 star		1%
1 star		2%

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