Hereditary, Scary/good
Toni Collette, Gabriel Byrne's Haunted Child
What is it about horror movies about ominous children that makes us squirm? A little history lesson: the first film–ever—to feature a truly evil child was 1956’s The Bad Seed. It was so unheard of for someone under the age of 18 to be considered well, a bad seed, that the overly melodramatic film was considered shocking at the time. The actress playing the murderous “innocent,” Patty McCormack, was so believable, it took her years to shed the image of that rotten kid and have a normal career.
Less than 20 years later, William Friedkin‘s Academy Award-winning film, The Exorcist, opened and was equally scandalous, depicting a prepubescent girl (Linda Blair) possessed by a frightening entity, AKA Satan, and committing violent crimes. It’s still one of the most terrifying films ever made.
Until Hereditary, the new thriller that debuted earlier this year at Sundance. It’s such a scary movie, some people had a hard time even talking about it. Based on the trailer, we first meet the Graham family after the reclusive grandmother has passed away. Toni Collette plays her mourning daughter, Annie, a doll house builder who seems to be creating the exact home where her suspicious husband (Gabriel Byrne), unstable son (Alex Wolff), and just plain weird daughter (Milly Shapiro) live. As things begin to get go off the rails, the daughter seems to be the one who has all the horrifying answers.
To find out what strange things this family has inherited from the grandmother, besides her haunted house, catch Hereditary when it opens June 8th.
