Film· 2018· Horror

Hereditary

by Ari Aster

Hereditary: it draws on 1 recorded source.

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What influenced Hereditary

The works this one is recorded as drawing on.

Rosemary's Baby

Film · 1968

InfluenceHIGH

Ari Aster has named it among the films he was working from, and the structure is the same trick: a family tragedy that the audience explains psychologically for most of the running time, and a final scene that says the coven was real and organised all of it. Both films spend their length letting you believe the woman at the centre is unwell, then reveal she was the only one paying attention. Both end with a coronation rather than an escape.

About the work

Hereditary

Starring Toni Collette, Alex Wolff, Milly Shapiro, Ann Dowd, and Gabriel Byrne, the film follows Annie Graham (Collette), a grieving miniature artist who uncovers disturbing secrets about her recently deceased mother. She is subsequently tormented by sinister paranormal occurrences, along with her husband Steve (Byrne) and their children, Peter (Wolff) and Charlie (Shapiro).