Hereditary

The sensational debut of one of the inventors of the «smart horror» genre. Annie's elderly mother dies. After her death, strange things start happening to the family members. It seems like Grandma decided to take the whole family with her to the afterlife, starting with her young granddaughter. Gradually, the protagonist discovers that the seemingly harmless old woman is connected to much darker forces than she could have imagined.

Ari Aster is best known for his pastoral film «Midsommar,» where all the horror unfolds on green meadows under bright sunlight. However, his first film, which is more reminiscent of classic horror in terms of atmosphere, is not as straightforward as many of his peers in the «low» genre. «Hereditary» strives more towards a psychological drama about the painful experience of grief, scaring the audience not with screamers and other cheap thrills but with a fatal connection to the world of the dead and a fear of a life where terrifying and unnatural deaths are possible.