Hereditary (2018)
Written and directed by Ari Aster
This horror film follows the destruction of one nuclear family–the Grahams.
After Ellen dies, her daughter, Annie (Toni Collette) is consumed with grief, which then intensifies after her own daughter, Charlie, dies tragically.
This premise leads to a series of increasingly disturbing, supernatural events that threaten every member of the family.
Annie uncovers dark truths about her mother, like learning that she was the leader of a coven that worshipped Paimon, a demon king, and hoped to give him a human body. He originally possessed Charlie, but the coven seemed to orchestrate her death in order to allow him to possess Annie’s son, Peter, instead.
The film ends with every member of the Graham family dead and with the coven possessing Peter with Paimon.
The film hints at the devastating ending, when Peter’s English class discusses whether it’s more or less tragic if someone’s disastrous fate, like the one Peter meets, is unavoidable.
Much of Hereditary is ambiguous and left up to interpretation, but the fact that there’s seemingly nothing the Graham family could’ve done to prevent the coven’s victory makes the tragic end all the more unsettling.
