Hereditary

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The Living Force
FOTCM Member
**spoiler alert**

Saw the movie and I wouldn't recommend it.

Simply, because it seems to me that it is a celebration of something evil. There is no actual story, it is instead the tale of the hunting of prey by a predator.

There is no good vs evil fight, struggle or even suggestion of it. It is simply put, a movie where satanic rituals are the reason for the existence of this film, isn't it dandy?

At least in "The Exorcist" you knew that although the priests were fighting something way above their capacities, they tried, however frightening it was, even if that meant risking their lives.

You also saw in "The Conjuring" how the Warrens tried to get to the bottom of things, even if that also put them in a position of danger, however that may have been. And you could also argue it was naive of them, or on the contrary courageous. But you had a story, and the story had all the elements of which you can relate to at some level.

This is not what we are dealing with here, it is just like a documentary on how the characters, weak and flawed, opened the doors to their demise, falling into the hands of a weird satanic-like cult and get destroyed as consequence. Although THAT could have been the story, and a real good one, there is no third balancing force that would make this lesson apparent or even to suggest it. Simply there are no good guys here in a thousand miles around.

The movie is explicit enough on the hopelessness of the fate of the characters that it is depressing, is this a good terror movie? Is this what a good terror movie is about? This is an honest question.

Yet the argument could be made that this is why we think Hollywood is rotten deep into the core. I mean, while the movie gets praised everywhere, I could only think of how in hell (no pun intended) this could be considered a fair example of good story telling, or even something desirable to watch?

The word "programming" came to mind as well, I guess you couldn't ask for a better way to advertise the capacities of satanic-like cults. It is explicit in content and message as it gets, and being wrapped in good photography, lighting, editing, scripting and directing, makes it more palatable for critics and the mass of viewers.

This left me with a foul taste in the mouth and a headache that I identified as anger at the fact that this piece of garbage exists.

Don't waste two hours for a movie that will bring absolutely nothing to your lives.
 
We talked a little bit about this movie in the Spanish meeting and I follow your advice and decided not to see the movie even if I like horror movies, sometimes. But as you say, in a good horror movie there is always a sort of balance.

This movie reminds me a director, a Spanish one, very popular who does that sort of movies, where the predator is always present and there is no exit, just to be a victim. And a victim spectator. He is the director of REC, Jaume Balagueró. Heredity reminds me of one of his movies, "Darkness" where a family that moves in a house are "taken" one by one by dark entities. No hope... nothing. The movie as for you gave me a very bad taste in the mouth. All his movies are similar. He is a very good director but he choose to talk and to work (?) for the dark side. But strange enough, or not, that sort of movies are extremely popular, people like them, specially young people. For them maybe they see this sort of movies like a game, but it is not. And if it is a game it is a dangerous game.

Thank you for your comments about the movie, I was intrigued.
 
Will not be wasting the time :P thanks,

I think that horror can be made in a way that creates fear for the unknown but that also shows you why it’s worth exploring it. Like you mentioned, the warrens had a mission that made it worth it for them to run the risks.

Good horror movies, I think, depict the consequences of diving into something you don’t understand, but if it’s in such an imbalanced approach where it’s more of a tragedy that teaches you nothing. That has nothing to contrast the darkness with, then what’s the point?

I remember watching the Conjuring and feeling a bit relieved at the intuition that they had knowledge that would make whatever situation manageable, however horrible.

And that it’s not to say that there’s no value it telling a story about a tragedy without a happy ending, but the tragedy is because you’ve got success to contrast it with.

Those are my thoughts without watching the movie.
 
Gotta agree here. The only horrors that I found to be not a total waste of time were ones like the Conjuring or the Babadook where there is at least some kind of spiritual confrontation and the living people actually fight back and succeed.

This one really is a true horror. The victim's lives all go from bad, to worse, to worse, and just when you think they've hit rock bottom, they fall another 300ft. But I guess that makes it a true horror film.

The only silver lining is, it shows what a total lack of awareness could lead to (being prey). The family is dysfunctional and crazy. The mother is seriously pathalogical. The father is passive and useless, and puts up with it all, never asserting himself or removing his children from the danger. The son is emotionally dead and receives no help at any point. Living a waking nightmare, he just completely shuts down - no awareness and no initiative.
 
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