Hereditary is a story about grief, so naturally, it begins with a death. Artist Annie Graham attends the funeral of her mother, Ellen, who passed away before the film begins. Through a eulogy, Annie reveals that she had a tenuous relationship with her mother. Ellen was domineering yet distant, shutting out her own family with her secret rituals and secret friends.

Although there was a period of estrangement, Annie not even letting Ellen anywhere near her firstborn, Peter, Annie eventually allowed her mother to live with her by the time her daughter, Charlie, was born. Subsequently, Ellen took a disturbing interest in Charlie, even insisting on being the one to feed her.

So it's no surprise when Charlie begins seeing apparitions of her dead grandmother not long after the funeral. From then on, Hereditary only gets weirder, hitting full tilt by its last act. Despite its unambiguous, bizarre ending, Hereditary's success is placed in Ari Aster's command atmosphere, foregoing cheap jump scares in favor of an escalating, foreboding tension that permeates each scene.

J. McVay and Jacqueline discuss the debut film by writer and director Ari Aster, distributed by A24. 

Hereditary stars Toni Collette, Gabriel Byrne, Alex Wolff, Milly Shapiro, and Ann Dowd.

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Episode Credits:

Producer/Host: J. McVay

Guests: Jacqueline Soller

Music: Hansdale Hsu

Originally released as part of a previous podcast on 6/15/18

Now released and distributed by Stereoactive Media