Hereditary: the story of Toni Collette indie horror hit, its Carrie-obsessed hypochondriac director and a seriously troubled family
When Australian actress read Hereditary’s script, she asked, ‘Where is the scary stuff?’ She soon found out in a film that takes her to extremes she’s never been to in 25 years of filmmaking. ‘It’s a family tragedy that curdles into a nightmare,’ debutant director Air Aster says
Ari Aster can still remember the first scary movie that “deeply affected” him. It was Brian De Palma’s Carrie, the director’s 1976 adaptation of Stephen King’s coming-of-age chiller.
“I found the images were not leaving me and that really stuck with me for years,” says Aster. “Sissy Spacek covered in blood with her bulging eyes … I had a very hard time shaking those images. It was definitely a film I was thinking about as I was writing this.”
By “this”, Aster is referring to Hereditary, his remarkably accomplished directorial debut, starring Toni Collette in a career-best performance as married mother-of-two Annie who, when the movie opens, is seen burying her own mother, Ellen.
“This woman had a horrible relationship with her Mum,” says Collette. “Terrible! No nurturing whatsoever. And actually her whole life has been manipulated by this woman; it’s a total betrayal.”
Without entering into spoiler territory, Ellen’s demise isn’t the only death Annie will face as a supernatural secret lurking in her family history is unveiled. Yet the story is a slow-burn, taking its time before a terrifying crescendo.