Aj Romero

Not only the best horror film of 2018 but quite possibly one of the best horror movies in the past 10 years, along with It Follows, The Babadook, and The Witch. However, people expecting a traditional horror movie with jump-scares a plenty and a break neck pace should be warned. Hereditary is mostly bereft of jump-scares and has a slow burn pace that at times turns the movie into more of a family drama than a horror movie. However, this is not a negative as it works to its benefit, becoming a breath of fresh air in the genre that lets us get to know and care about the characters we'll be watching for the next 2 hours rather than just giving us cannon-fodder we're excited to watch get butchered. The best aspects of this movie by far are the writing, cinematography, and Toni Collette's criminally underrated performance. Another breath of fresh air in a genre that is known for casting first time actors and having laughably bad performances. This is completely absent in this movie as Toni Collette gives one of the best performances of the past decade as well as wonderful performances from Gabriel Byrne, Alex Wolff, and Milly Shapiro. There was definitely no shortage of talent in this movie. My only criticism of this movie is that the plot does occasionally become muddled and a little convoluted. However, it's easily forgiven as the rest of the film is very cleanly edited with great performances, great writing, and wonderful cinematography. Final score: 9/10