While attending the funeral of her estranged mother, Annie Graham is shocked to see a large number of people in attendance. Annie seeks comfort in her loss through a local bereavement support group where she opens up about the distance that grew in her and her mother’s relationship until her now thirteen-year-old daughter Charlie was born. It is also revealed through a phone call her husband Steve receives that someone has desecrated her late mother Ellen’s grave, not wanting to worry Annie further Steve doesn’t tell her. The Graham family’s bond is put to the ultimate test when their teenage son Peter is invited to a party where he is forced by Annie to take his younger sister Charlie with him. During the party, Peter leaves Charlie unattended and she finds and eats a chocolate cake that contains walnuts causing her to go into anaphylactic shock. As the family attempts to process the loss of Charlie Annie begins to blame Peter and his negligence for her death while Peter becomes reclusive and full of guilt. Still attending the bereavement support group Annie meets a woman named Joan who teaches Annie how to perform a séance to communicate with the spirit of Charlie. The same night Annie convinces Steve and Peter to attempt the séance, during which supernatural phenomenon begins to occur. Objects move and shatter and Annie begins to speak in Charlie’s voice before Steve splashes water on her to snap her out of the trance. As the supernatural interactions begin to plague the household the terror builds as an air of tension blankets the family.
The film holds a 90% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes and is widely regarded as one of the best horror films of the last decade. The film grossed $80.2 million worldwide against its production budget of only $10 million. Adding to the list of horror films that were plagued with mysterious issues, it was stated by Aster that “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.” Hereditary is still among the top five grossing A24 films alongside the recent success of Everywhere All at Once, Lady Bird, Moonlight, and Uncut Gems
As always, if you’ve seen the listed film, dislike the film, or just don’t believe you would like it we have provided a list of alternative choices for you to pick from: alternative-films-for-this-spooky-season
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