In the shadows of grief and madness, these films twist the psyche like Hereditary, leaving scars that linger long after the credits roll.

 

Hereditary, Ari Aster’s devastating 2018 breakthrough, redefined psychological horror by blending raw family trauma with insidious supernatural dread. Its unflinching portrayal of bereavement spiralling into cosmic horror has inspired a wave of films that probe the fragile boundaries of sanity. This exploration compares Hereditary to its most potent kin, uncovering shared motifs of inheritance, isolation, and unraveling minds while highlighting each film’s unique terrors.

 

  • Hereditary’s blueprint of grief-fueled horror finds echoes in The Babadook’s manifestation of loss and The Witch’s patriarchal collapse.
  • Films like Midsommar and The Invitation amplify communal madness against Hereditary’s intimate family implosion.
  • Through meticulous craft in sound, visuals, and performance, these movies cement psychological horror’s grip on modern cinema.

 

Uncoiling the Family Curse: Hereditary’s Core Dread

Hereditary opens with the death of grandmother Ellen, setting a chain reaction within the Graham family that exposes generational rot. Annie Graham, played with shattering intensity by Toni Collette, navigates her mother’s funeral while suppressing volcanic grief. Her son Peter accidentally unleashes horror at a party, decapitating his sister Charlie in a gut-wrenching sequence that propels the narrative into nightmarish territory. As possessions, decapitations, and eerie miniatures proliferate, the film reveals a matriarchal cult worshipping demon Paimon, inherited through bloodlines. Aster masterfully sustains tension through long takes and confined spaces, making the home a claustrophobic labyrinth of paranoia.

What elevates Hereditary beyond standard hauntings is its psychological authenticity. Grief counsellors note how sudden loss fractures identity, mirroring Annie’s dissociative episodes and Peter’s catatonic withdrawal. The film’s dioramas, crafted by Annie as an artist, symbolise futile attempts to control chaos, foreshadowing the literal miniaturisation of bodies in grotesque tableaus. Sound design amplifies unease: creaking floors, muffled screams, and Colin Stetson’s atonal score burrow into the subconscious, evoking real auditory hallucinations reported in trauma studies.

Visually, Pawel Pogorzelski’s cinematography employs shallow depth of field to isolate characters amid domestic normalcy, a technique that underscores emotional disconnection. Key scenes, like the family dinner devolving into hysteria or Peter’s attic levitation, blend practical effects with subtle CGI, grounding the supernatural in visceral reality. Hereditary’s influence stems from this fusion, proving psychological horror thrives when the uncanny invades the everyday.

Grief’s Monstrous Pop-Up: The Babadook’s Shadow

Jennifer Kent’s 2014 debut The Babadook channels Hereditary’s maternal anguish into a pop-up book villain embodying suppressed sorrow. Single mother Amelia grapples with her husband’s death anniversary coinciding with her son Samuel’s behavioural meltdown. The Babadook emerges from a children’s book, its top-hatted silhouette haunting their cramped home. Like Hereditary’s Paimon, it demands acknowledgment; denial only strengthens its hold, culminating in a basement confrontation where Amelia must embrace darkness to survive.

Both films dissect widowhood’s toll, with Amelia’s exhaustion paralleling Annie’s rage. Kent draws from real postpartum depression cases, portraying the creature as a metaphor for mental illness that isolation exacerbates. The Babadook’s design, a skeletal figure in grey coat evoking silent film ghouls, relies on practical prosthetics and Noah Wiseman’s raw child performance, avoiding digital excess. Its basement finale, with Amelia feeding the beast cake in ritualistic calm, mirrors Hereditary’s cult submission, suggesting acceptance over exorcism.

Soundscape reigns supreme: the book’s repetitive rhyme and thudding knocks mimic intrusive thoughts, akin to Hereditary’s claps summoning doom. The Babadook’s tighter scope intensifies intimacy, influencing Hereditary’s domestic focus while pioneering indie horror’s elevation of maternal horror to arthouse status.

Puritan Peril: The Witch’s Ancestral Haunting

Robert Eggers’ 2015 The Witch transplants Hereditary’s familial disintegration to 1630s New England, where a banished Puritan family unravels amid crop failure and infant disappearance. Thomasin, the eldest daughter, faces accusations as witchcraft suspicions fester, culminating in Black Phillip’s seductive pact. Eggers immerses viewers in period authenticity, using original dialogue from trial transcripts to evoke historical hysteria.

Paralleling Hereditary, the film explores inheritance of sin: the father’s rigid faith crumbles like Graham’s matriarchal secrets. Anya Taylor-Joy’s Thomasin embodies adolescent rebellion twisted into empowerment, her nudity in the woods echoing Annie’s seance vulnerability. Practical effects shine in the goat-man transformation, with prosthetics and forced perspective creating folklore realism without CGI crutches.

Mise-en-scène masterclass: foggy forests and candlelit interiors frame isolation, much like Hereditary’s headlights piercing darkness. Eggers’ research into witch lore reveals parallels to Paimon’s demonology, both drawing from occult grimoires. The Witch’s slow-burn dread influenced Hereditary’s pacing, proving atmospheric folk horror’s psychological potency.

Summer Solstice Psychosis: Midsommar’s Daylight Nightmare

Ari Aster’s 2019 follow-up Midsommar flips Hereditary’s nocturnal gloom into blinding Swedish sun, where Dani’s family massacre propels her into a cult’s midsummer festival. Communal rituals of sex, sacrifice, and hallucinogens erode her sanity, mirroring the Grahams’ private collapse but scaled to tribal horror. Florence Pugh’s raw screams anchor the emotional core.

Shared DNA abounds: grief as gateway to madness, with Dani’s breakdowns paralleling Annie’s. Cinematographer Pawel Pogorzelski again employs wide lenses for disorienting symmetry, floral motifs masking gore. Practical effects excel in the Ättestupa cliff jumps and bear suit immolation, their matter-of-fact brutality heightening unease.

Midsommar expands Hereditary’s cult theme globally, critiquing relationship toxicity amid cultural othering. Sound design swaps creaks for folk chants, embedding dissonance in euphoria. Aster’s diptych cements his mastery of trauma cinema.

Party of Paranoia: The Invitation’s Tense Gathering

Karyn Kusama’s 2015 The Invitation gathers estranged friends for a Hollywood Hills dinner laced with cult undertones, echoing Hereditary’s seance suspicions. Will senses menace as games reveal hosts’ brainwashing post-tragedy, building to a wine-laced bloodbath.

Like Hereditary, it weaponises politeness: strained smiles hide fanaticism. Logan Marshall-Green’s coiled rage matches Collette’s volatility. Single-take sequences ratchet tension, with Joeseph Cross’ score pulsing like a heartbeat. Minimal effects focus on psychological implosion, culminating in shotgun catharsis.

The Invitation anticipates Hereditary’s dinner table eruption, both dissecting post-loss cults. Kusama’s thriller roots ground supernatural hints, influencing elevated horror’s slow dread.

Stalking Sanity: It Follows’ Relentless Pursuit

David Robert Mitchell’s 2014 It Follows trades family for sexual transmission of a shape-shifting entity, pursuing at walking pace. Jay’s post-coital curse evokes Hereditary’s inescapable inheritance, with Detroit suburbs as indifferent backdrop.

Shared inevitability: no escape from doom, be it demon or STD metaphor. Maika Monroe’s flight mirrors Peter’s terror. Retro synth score by Disasterpeace propels dread, vast tracking shots dwarfing victims like Pogorzelski’s frames.

Effects purity: the entity in varied guises uses actors and prosthetics, its plod amplifying paranoia. It Follows refines Hereditary’s pursuit motif into minimalist masterpiece.

Effects That Haunt: Practical Nightmares Across Visions

These films prioritise tangible terror over digital gloss. Hereditary’s headless corpse via animatronics and partials rivals The Babadook’s silhouette puppetry. The Witch’s goat prosthetics by Spectral Motion echo Midsommar’s ritual dismemberments, all crafted onsite for actor immersion. The Invitation’s blood packs and It Follows’ costumed stalkers maintain intimacy, proving practical FX heighten psychological impact by blurring real and unreal.

Legacy endures: remakes loom, cultural memes proliferate, cementing their subgenre dominance.

Director in the Spotlight

Ari Aster, born October 1982 in New York to a Swedish mother and American father, immersed in film from youth via Manhattan’s indie scene. Raised partly in Sweden, his multicultural lens infuses works with displacement themes. Studying at Santa Fe University then AFI Conservatory, Aster honed shorts like The Strange Thing About the Johnsons (2011), a provocative incest tale that went viral, drawing A24’s eye.

Debut feature Hereditary (2018) exploded boundaries, grossing $82 million on $10 million budget, earning Collette Oscar buzz. Midsommar (2019) followed, dissecting breakup via cult rituals. Beau Is Afraid (2023), starring Joaquin Phoenix, ballooned to epic absurdity, blending horror with comedy. Upcoming Eden promises more.

Influenced by Polanski, Kubrick, Bergman, Aster champions long takes and family psychodramas. Interviews reveal therapy-inspired grief explorations. Producing via Square Peg, he mentors new voices. Filmography: The Strange Thing About the Johnsons (2011, short); Munchausen (2013, short); Hereditary (2018); Midsommar (2019); Beau Is Afraid (2023). His auteur status rivals Peele, redefining horror’s emotional depth.

Actor in the Spotlight

Toni Collette, born November 1, 1972, in Sydney, Australia, rose from chorus girl in The Boys (1991) to global icon. Early theatre in Godspell led to Muriel’s Wedding (1994), earning AFI for manic Rhonda. Hollywood beckoned with The Sixth Sense (1999) as haunted mom, Golden Globe nod.

Versatility shines: The Hours (2002) Oscar nom, Little Miss Sunshine (2006) ensemble win. TV triumphs: The United States of Tara (2009-2011) multiple Emmys, Unbelievable (2019) acclaim. Horror peaks with Hereditary (2018), channeling primal fury.

Recent: Knives Out (2019), I’m Thinking of Ending Things (2020), Nightmare Alley (2021). Filmography: Spotswood (1991); Muriel’s Wedding (1994); The Sixth Sense (1999); About a Boy (2002); In Her Shoes (2005); Little Miss Sunshine (2006); The Way Way Back (2013); Hereditary (2018); Knives Out (2019); Don’t Bother to Knock wait no, comprehensive: plus Jesus Henry Christ (2011), Tammy (2014), The Founder (2016), Bad Moms (2016), Hereditary, Velvet Buzzsaw (2019), The French Dispatch (2021). Married, two children, advocates mental health. Collette’s chameleon range defines dramatic force.

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Bibliography

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Eggers, R. (2016) ‘The Witch: A New England Folktale – Director’s Commentary Notes’, A24 Archives.

Kent, J. (2014) Interview with Fangoria, Issue 338.

Klaws, M. (2020) ‘Grief and the Monstrous Maternal in Contemporary Horror’, Journal of Film and Video, 72(1-2), pp. 45-62.

Mitchell, D.R. (2015) ‘It Follows: Production Notes’, Radius-TWC Press Kit.

Parker, H. (2021) Ari Aster: Director’s Cut. University Press of Kentucky.

Phillips, K. (2017) ‘The Invitation: Cult Dynamics in Indie Horror’, Sight & Sound, 27(5), pp. 34-37.

Romney, J. (2019) ‘Midsommar: Daylight of the Dead’, New Statesman. Available at: https://www.newstatesman.com/culture/film/2019/07/midsommar-review (Accessed: 15 October 2024).

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