7.9 | / 10 |
Users | 4.2 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
When a matriarch of the Graham family, passes away, her daughter's family begins to unravel cryptic and increasingly terrifying secrets about their ancestry.
Starring: Toni Collette, Alex Wolff, Milly Shapiro, Mallory Bechtel, Ann DowdHorror | 100% |
Mystery | 34% |
Supernatural | 30% |
Psychological thriller | 29% |
Drama | 6% |
Video codec: HEVC / H.265
Video resolution: 4K (2160p)
Aspect ratio: 2.00:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.00:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English SDH, Spanish
Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (2 BDs)
Digital copy
4K Ultra HD
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A (locked)
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.5 | |
Extras | 1.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Hereditary's closing credits mention that it was shot in Utah, and according to online data at such sites as IMDb (and others), that locale is
further specified as being in and around Salt Lake City. Though it's really not germane to the story the film tells, the Utah location perhaps
"perked up" my personal ears for a couple of reasons. Having been born and raised in Salt Lake City, and probably
due to the fact that I was a non-LDS being reared in a culture that was decidedly very Mormon back in those days (I've heard from
friends, including LDS friends, that it's considerably more ecumenical slash cosmopolitan nowadays), I found it kind of funny
that a film about cults and demonic possession should have been filmed in a region renowned for hosting a religion that is both perceived as being
vice free (in terms of supposed "sins" like smoking and/or drinking, not to mention devil worship), but that I've nonetheless actually heard other
people claim is a cult itself (I'm not condoning such an analysis, merely reporting it). Kind of weirdly, I just stumbled upon this kind of fascinating tidbit from the Salt Lake area’s relatively recent past, which would
suggest that despite its often squeaky clean image, there’s a roiling substratum of supposedly “nefarious” activity that has occurred in or near the
valley
that Brigham Young famously described as “the place” his pilgrims had been searching for in their trek across the American wilderness, a place
that
evidently has included all kinds of "cults" over the years.
There was
a funny old Johnny Carson joke from long ago where he described flying into the Salt Lake airport and the stewardess announcing, “We’re about to
arrive in Salt Lake City, please set your watches back twenty years,” but Hereditary may subliminally suggest that there’s a somewhat
“longer” timeline suffusing the region, one that reaches back into the dim mists of creation when certain angels decided they knew best and all hell
literally broke loose. Hereditary is an unabashedly disturbing film, and while it ultimately gets to some rather grotesque depictions (more
about which a bit later in this review), it’s interesting to contrast this film’s approach with another outing I just reviewed, the Stephen Biro opus The Song of Solomon. The Song of
Solomon is another film about
possession which (as I mentioned in our The Song of
Solomon Blu-ray review) proffers a pull quote on its cover touting it as “better than The Exorcist” (as can be seen in the key art above this review, the Friedkin film is also cited in a pull quote on this
release as well). The Song of Solomon makes no cinematic bones about the presence of evil taking over the
mind, soul and body of a young woman named Mary, and the bulk of that film deals with increasingly gory aspects of both possession and
exorcism, with the film beginning with an extremely graphic sequence documenting the suicide of Mary's father courtesy of a knife he wields.
Hereditary on the other hand manages to develop an unabashedly spooky mood more out of hints than outright displays for at least the
first half hour or so, as it documents the emotional roller coaster an artist named Annie Graham (an impressive Toni Collette) experiences
after first the death of her perhaps mentally ill mother and then somewhat later another tragic demise that tips Annie and her family into a fraught
dynamic where the “veil” between reality and perhaps imagined fears is, to purloin a phrase also from long ago, rent asunder.
Note: Screenshots are sourced from the 1080p Blu-ray.
Hereditary is presented on 4K UHD courtesy of Lionsgate Films with a 2160p transfer in 2.00:1. The 4K UHD presentation isn't
hugely different from the 1080p Blu-ray presentation, though it shows the same kind of fine detail upticks that are typically seen in transfers
culled from 2K DIs. There are a number of interesting new textures on display, many of which are part of Annie's "miniatures" (look, for example, at
the shingles on the house in the first establishing shot). The ubiquitous use of close-ups also provides ample fine detail in elements like facial pores.
Some of the most interesting changes, albeit subtle again, come courtesy of Dolby Vision and new highlights that are noticeable. A lot of the film is
graded or lit in a variety of hues, and some of the amber yellow tones have more of a brown or even orange tone in some scenes now. Some of the
blue gradings verge toward teal (yes, I know) now, but there are even new gradations in "mundane" items like Joan's wine colored blouse. In the good
news department, the brief banding that I noticed in the 1080p version during the panicked drive in fog looks much more natural in this version. In
the perhaps less good (but not exactly bad) department, I personally was hoping that there would be a bit more shadow detail in this version, but
many of the dark interior scenes still have some deficits.
One area where 4K UHD aficionados may be a bit disappointed is a lack of upgraded audio on this version, though the same DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
mix that is also on the 1080p Blu-ray is quite immersive on its own merits. I'll repeat my comments from our
Hereditary Blu-ray review below:
Hereditary features an ominous sounding DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 that traffics in some fairly hoary sound design clichés, but which still
delivers some admirable atmosphere. The film's moody score is often mixed with washes of low frequency sound, both of which waft through the
surround channels in an almost menacing fashion, and which together add a bit of unease to seemingly "innocent" scenes like some views of Annie's
miniature work. The "haunting" scenes provide little jolts of sonic energy in discrete channels, but a lot of Hereditary is fairly tamped down,
sound design wise, with an emphasis on front and center dialogue. All elements are delivered with excellent fidelity and no problems whatsoever.
Lionsgate has commendably included all of the supplements that are on the 1080p Blu-ray disc here as well:
I'm not completely sure Hereditary is quite the modern classic some others seem to have felt it is, but the film has an undeniably effective mood which helps it elide some of its lack of development and in fact logic. Collette is excellent in a role that might have devolved into needless histrionics with a less nuanced performer, and the supporting cast, notably Wolff as son Peter, is also excellent. Technical merits are solid, though I wouldn't personally claim that the differences between the 4K UHD version and 1080p version are huge, and Hereditary comes Recommended.
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