It always gets to me when he calls her mommy and is begging her to stop attacking him. That's a really strong indicator of just how confused, terrified and in need of comfort Peter is in those scenes
Agreed, especially after all they've been through in the last few days and how strained their relationship is. It's gotten so dire that he's regressed into calling her mommy. Really great attention to detail there from the writers.
That part legit makes me cry, that and his crying when Charlie possesses her mom when she performs that seance. What really, extremely bothers me the most though is when reactors laugh at those parts or laugh at his crying. Makes me angry tbh. The immaturity is jarring.
Regression like that is a sign of extreme/existential distress. Soldiers in battle have been know to scream out to their mommy. People often pull into fetal position when really upset. Peter's distress was so intense that he called to his mommy, when she was the one who was hurting him. So very, very sad.
@@tgardner11 I hear you, but people often laugh when they are extremely uncomfortable and their psyches are having trouble emotionally processing what they are witnessing.
The way Peter reacted after the accident was so completely heartbreaking. Just a complete inability to do anything at all from the shock and devastation.
I remember what it was like to be stoned in high school. Scary events are like 1000 times worse when you're 16-years-old-stoned. I can't even imagine what an actually traumatizing experience would be like. 😭 i probably would have thought i was legit going crazy or dreaming.
Yes! Me and my mom were so horrified and upset, we kept whispering that we wanted to wrap him in a shock blanket. The actor did so amazing at portraying shock and trauma, I wish he got more credit.
It's always amazed me how many people thought Peter's response to "the scene" was strange or not how someone would react. Shock can show itself in a lot of ways in different people. Peter basically shutdown and went home on autopilot.
Same. Maybe it's because I'm so familiar with dissociation, but I'm always frustrated and a bit bewildered when people don't get it, or worse, get angry at him.
EXACTLY! I watch reaction videos to this movie all the time and everyone gets so mad or confused why he just leaves. When he is obviously in so much shock his body and mind just shut down. And then the scene with his friends smoking and he finally starts feeling what happened for the first time… it’s devastating.
I can’t even fathom getting out that car as a teen and having to scoop your little sisters headless body into the backseat. I don’t get how people can’t empathize with that. But often times the truly realistic is hard to process when watching a movie
I suspect people get mad at him because they watch movies as an observer instead of putting themselves in the character's shoes. Or maybe they simply don't have real experience with grief yet.
not really. "my daughter was killed in a flash flood", "my daughter was killed when her car slid off the icy road", "a tornado crashed into my daughter's house and killed her" do not imply killers at all.
I wish the Oscars would acknowledge the Horror genre. Because Toni Collette would've won hands down! That entire dinner sequence alone was heartbreaking and scary... because that grief felt too real.
They do but not too often. Silence of the Lambs and The Sixth Sense come to mind. They’re still very snobby about the genre. But I thought Collette was overacting in this movie to be honest, to the point it was kind of funny (with the exception of the dinner scene). I can’t be the only one who thought that.
The grandma was the head of a cult worshipping Paimon and became his "bride." She had wanted to put Paimon into her own son but he killed himself. She couldn't get close to Peter as a kid, so she put Paimon into Charlie as a baby. But Paimon prefers male bodies, so she put a plan into action so that could be fulfilled even after her own death. Everything from Charlie's death to Peter's possession was orchestrated by the cult. They were, as the opening scene suggested, merely toys manipulated in a doll house.
@@prestuvius this is so crazy, because the uncle with "schizophrenia" said his mom wanted to put people in him, which is actually what was happened, there wasnt any mental illness in the family
@@ibuprofriends I agree with that as well. He starved to death because he knew she was trying to feed him the necessary herbs to break him down enough to accept Paimon.
I get chills every time I hear Toni Collette weeping after learning that Charlie died and every time I see her screaming at her son at the table sequence. That woman deserves an Oscar for those performances ASAP!
As a survivor of trauma, I always thought Peter's response made a lot of sense. I'm not saying it was at all rational or the right thing to do. But after a trauma sometimes you just completely shut down. You can't find words. You can't move. You can't think. I don't think he made an intellectual choice to drive home and not say anything. I think he was definitely in shock.
We are all capable of sitting down and judging what would be the most appropriate or rational reaction or behavior in an extreme situation, when we are not experiencing it ourselves. That is why it is important to try to reason things from the eyes of the person who is experiencing it and not from our place and say what we would do when we have the freedom to think about it carefully when that person at the moment does not have it.
One time I hit a parked car on the side of the road when I was 16, I totaled the front side of my car (it was brand new) Instead of panicking I literally went on auto-pilot, and drove all the way to my job as if nothing happened. I panicked for like two seconds and then started crying when I got to the parking lot of my job. I was in shock. Luckily I was able to get back to the car before being charged with a hit and run. I can’t imagine actually causing damage to a human being. I think the shock would be 10x worse
i blamed peter at first too but he was in shock you could tell by the way he completely avoided looking back after the accident. the mother shouldn’t have forced him to take her but he should’ve been watching her too so it’s not really just his fault. also the detail of her saying my daughter was killed and not that she died is a great detail too because as much as she doesn’t want to she does still blame peter. another thing, i liked how you essential went from despising peter to feeling sympathetic and wanting to protect him at the end 😭 because regardless of his faults, you realize that he’s just a kid that made a mistake but doesn’t deserve any of this that’s happening to him.
It wasn’t even a mistake, it was a freak accident. Peter is just as much a victim in that situation as anyone else. She was his sister, she was his family too, he was never a bad kid, and his mother blaming him immediately had me fuming at her. The gall you have to have, to speak to your own child like that, especially when they’re also hurting and clearly know you’re resentful. No child, which is what Peter is, should have to shoulder that burden.
@@LeBatteur Not that I want to blame the mother for this, but what mother in her right mind forces her little daughter to go to a rowdy teen party with her older brother? I can't imagine a more inappropriate context for a girl. My mother would never have let me go, she wouldn't even let me go out at night at that age. And yet she has the guts to say that he murdered her? fuck her, because she also has a responsibility to carry on her back.
Everybody carried blame tbh, Charlie is old enough to not just eat random things without asking about nuts, especially chocolate (even though I'm pretty sure that was part of the larger plan to get free of her body in that particular manner), they showed at the funeral the parents didn't have the epi pen with so them not bringing it to the party is just another failure of the whole family being even remotely prepared for a kid with a severe allergy to a pretty common substance.
Peter's reaction to the accident is one of the most disturbing and realistic parts of the film. We're so used to seeing characters react a certain way, it's unnerving to see someone process shock and grief in this manner. For the record, Alex Wolff was only 23 when they filmed this. 🤣
I agree, his reaction seemed real to me. It was too much for his psyche to process/accept the horror. He knew it would have to be faced eventually, but he was just going to be in frozen shock until that had to happen. Not that he was consciously thinking all that, it was trauma
Yup, who wouldn't be in shock if their sister just got be decapitated. His reaction was a complete mental shutdown and going to bed. The actor isn't 30 or 40 years old as this reactor implied. He was 20 when this was filmed.
100% he was in total shock, couldn't even bring himself to look in the mirror because he knew what he'd see and his mind couldn't take it. Didn't sleep, didn't shut his eyes, just laid in bed - frozen with the knowledge of what had happened. And then to hear his mom's screams when she found her body? Absolutely terrifying.
Toni not getting a Golden Globe or Oscar nomination for this role is just…. insane. Shows you that Horror is not seen as an award winning medium. Honestly the film should have been nominated too!
There's a deleted scene that I really wish was kept in, where Peter and his dad have a small moment together. The dad suggests they both seek a therapist, and Peter breaks down crying and rambles about how talented Charlie was and how he isn't talented at all. It drove me to tears the first time I watched it.
Possibly the funnest of facts: Milly Shapiro (Charlie, the kid who cut the head off the pigeon) was one of the four original Matildas on Broadway. So basically the most vivacious little singer-dancer on the American stage. Such an amazing performer.
„Is it Coraliiine?“ got me 💀😂 Fun fact: The original ending had Peter has his eyes cut out but apparently it was „too disturbing“….but the rest of the movie was a damn walk in park 😂
You're one of the few reactors I've seen to call out Annie overreacting and being crappy to Charlie about her being outside no shoes and no coat, very refreshing to see considering jerking a child around by their arm and calling them names for being barefoot is definitely too much heat to be bringing to the situation!
“Are you doing better?” YOU: “Joan, I’m doing SO MUCH F****** WORSE!” Chef’s kiss!! 😂😂😂 This reaction was perfect and the fact that you appreciated the performances despite the content being truly horrifying was all I wanted!!! Perfect, perfect, PERFECT!
Also @ 43:38 when my theater collectively noticed Annie in the corner the gasp we all let out was absolutely spine chilling. No one was ready for what the fuck we were about to witness and it’s something I wish I could experience in theaters again. When cinema can bring a whole audience together like that, you know it’s more than art in that moment.
So, the father is a little neutral in the movie. His backstory, which didn’t make it into the film is that he was Toni Colette’s psychiatrist and then they fell in love. That’s why he seems like a quiet observer throughout the movie he’s trying to rationalize the pain even while the family starts falling apart.
@@DA-yy8rs im happy they cut it out, he was for me the rational comfort in the movie, i was so mad at the mom for blaming and neglecting her kid, my only regret was he had to take Peter off the house, his life is more important than the moms feelings here
I didn't like him either. He was far too neutral, and then all the sudden he was being cold and harsh to his wife. If you stay with someone who suffers from mental illness just to mistreat them and blame them, you're a horrible person.
THAT scene in theaters was a DOOZY! People talked and giggled for the first half of the film, but as soon as that happened... dead quiet. I've never been in a theater so uncomfortably silent, lmao.
43:10 you turned away at the moment her face goes slack after Paimon enters her. the book says he can only possess the most vulnerable host, a.k.a after they're psychologically broken down enough. the sight of Steve going up in flames broke Annie. Joan used that story Annie told about the sleepwalking incident against her knowing how powerful that image will be of her husband on fire. (but it's also possible he was about to interfere by calling the police and they needed a fourth head for their ritual anyway...) she also left her welcome mat out on purpose knowing Annie would eventually connect the dots and realise what her mum's done behind her back, adding to the trauma, breaking her down further.
I saw this in the theater by myself and Charlie’s death scene was so uncomfortable to sit through. Because it was dead quiet and you just want the scene to move on but it just won’t. We were sitting in shock with Peter, and there’s nothing we could do about it. When the movie ended, I just sat in the theater while the credits rolled like “WTF did I just watch?” I’ve seen it 2x since lol The entire movie made me feel so anxious but I loved it!
I experienced this when I saw Se7en in the theater. When the credits rolled, the entire audience just sat there for a minute in silence. And then slowly got up and left - in silence.
i fucking love the shock after Charlies death scene, you want to look away but the movie forces you to go through the same state as Peter, he cant get away from what hes done, you cant get away either, he even almost forces you to look into the mirror and you and Peter dont want to
I don't know why everyone who watches this movie blames Peter for his sister's death when it was the mom, Annie, who made her adolescent daughter go to a high school party when she clearly did not want to, didn't make sure she was carrying her EpiPen with her, and basically took zero responsibility for what happened. The mom is the one ultimately responsible for the safety of her children, not her son. They already showed the audience how absent-minded her mom was (actually both parents) when Charlie wasn't carrying her EpiPen with her at the funeral for the grandma, so to then blame Peter for the negligence and bad decisions of the parents again is totally unfair. Peter is a high school kid. He shouldn't have been be put in that situation in the first place. If your daughter has that severe of an allergy, why aren't you making sure your child has the one thing that will save their life with them AT ALL TIMES? These parents, particularly Annie, are horrible.
I agree the parents are HORRIBLE but anyone with siblings can understand what it’s like to be told to look out for each other. He abandoned her in a house full of strangers much older than she was and it seems clear that she had some sort of social anxiety/ neurodivergence🥴. He is a kid so he can only be held to the standard of his age, but he isn’t a baby and he wasn’t being a good brother at that party. All that being said I still blame Annie for forcing them both into the situation
@@AlandaParker Yeah, and he also decided to go do drugs, which meant he would be under the influence while driving. Like you said, he's not a complete baby, he also made bad decisions. People risks things thinking bad things won't happen to them, and that's true, until it's not...
@@soniaiboyako4023 Who's the parent? Annie or Peter? Who made her go to the party? Who didn't make sure she had the one thing with her that could save her life if she came into contact with the thing she was deadly allergic to? While mercilessly blaming her son for his sister's death, Annie took zero responsibility when she held most of the blame.
@@brandonb.5304 What does not being the parent have anything to do with not leaving your significantly younger sister unsupervised at a huge party? What does being forced to bring her there have anything to do with that? Thinking the mom was a terrible mom doesn't mean the brother shouldn't - or couldn't - try to be a semi-decent brother... Again, not having the epipen sucks either way (it sucked at the funeral too) but they could've not had an epipen and she still could've not had any contact w nuts had he bothered to ask about the cake he told her to go eat lmao like i know you feel like i'm putting all the blame on him and that might be why this sounds more complicated than it is, but it's pretty straight forward
oh lord…i’m sorry for what you had to go through to deliver this to us, but man, i am also giddy with excitement HAHAHA. this is my 2nd favorite horror movie of all time, only behind the original “carrie”
It's the "not Joni Mitchel!" For me lmaooo. Honestly this film will grow in time to be a classic for the genre. Very well made in style and the acting and music was *chef's kiss*
Oh my God I’ve been waiting for this reaction for years & you definitely delivered 😭😭😭😭😭😭 I will NEVERRRRR forgive the Oscar’s for snubbing Toni like that, literally an injustice she devoured that dinner scene!!! I was legit speechless
SO GLAD YOU ARE REACTING TO THIS, one of my favourite films, i am so sorry at the same time cuz i know it’s gonna traumatise you😭 this film gets better and better with watches noticing the hidden details and the writing and acting and directing is phenomenal, i hope you enjoyyyy
I’m so glad you watched Hereditary. I know it’s not an easy watch, but it has become my favorite horror film,because it’s the only film as an adult that truly got under my skin. Ari Aster created an exercise of grief and dread, and it’s masterful. My take on Peter(even on first watch) was a little different. I always felt horrible for him. He’s in such grief and shock, and that on top of already horrible experiences with his Mom….. he’s in the worst situation possible. Toni Collette and Alex Wolff both should have received every accolade for their performances. Outstanding!!🙌❤️
Not many films have freaked me out as an adult, this being one. Another is 'The Audition' a 1999 Japanese film. Rob Zombie said it was the only film that creeped him out. It's disturbing masterpiece. Of course sneaking into The Exorcist at age 8 with a friend and his older brother kind of traumatized me for years as a kid but I loved it and all the other '70's and 80's horror growing up.
Honestly Peters reaction was so terrifyingly realistic that it made the scene so much more impactful. I've never been in a situation like the movie but I have experienced shock from losing loved ones and it has caused me to shut down like that, so to see it on screen I can almost feel the shock he's feeling.
There’s some conversation going on over Alanda’s reaction to Peter going straight to bed, but her phrasing is a figure of speech. Alanda doesn’t literally think of Peter as a psychopath, nor was she diagnosing him or writing him off. In the rest of Alanda’s reaction, you’ll notice she finds Peter very sympathetic. She encourages Peter to advocate for himself when his mother Annie confronts him over dinner, points out that the traumatic Paint Thinner Incident is why Peter must have a hard time communicating with his mother at all, and expresses shock again and again that Peter’s family continues to send him to school instead of getting him professional help and allowing him to rest. Thanks for another fantastic reaction, Alanda! I’m so glad we have such a sensible and compassionate movie buddy to watch horror movies with.
Ok, and? People in general need to learn to stop calling normal/common human reactions and emotions "psychotic". Its not an ok thing to do and is just adding to the mental health stigma
Interesting facts about Hereditary (2018) (1) To make the chalkboard write on itself, the special effects team put a magnet in the chalk and put a magnet on the other side of the chalkboard to make the chalk move--it was very difficult to get a small magnet inside the chalk and make it write smoothly. Ironically, this same technique was used in the film version of Matilda, and Milly Shapiro, who plays Charlie, starred as Matilda in the Broadway musical. (2) Toni Collette had told her agent that she didn't want to do any more heavy, dark films and only wanted to do comedies, but she loved the "Hereditary" script so much she couldn't turn it down. (3) Ari Aster requested that Alex Wolff and Milly Shapiro go out to eat in character a few times, and they would sit for up to three hours in silence while Milly wouldn't speak and Alex would try to get her to talk. (4) In Peter's first scene at school, the words "Escaping Fate" is on the chalkboard with the teacher discussing it. This is a reference to Halloween (1978), where the main character discusses the same thing in class. Appropriately, this movie was released on the same day as the trailer for Halloween (2018).
I can imagine Alex and Milly going out to eat in character. They order chicken (or duck). Milly eats the head, and Alex stuffs the body cavity with weed and smokes it.
It's amazing how a scene of a family eating dinner could be one of the most horrifying scenes in a film in recent memory. "Nobody admits anything they've done!" Powerful.
If you do get to Midsommar, I highly, HIGHLY suggest the directors cut, it gives a much more intimate look at the lead’s relationship. Everyone back me up on the directors cut
I second this vote for the Director's Cut. Midsommar is spiritual sequel, in that either film tackles the effects of trauma and grief on the psyche. I prefer Midsommar's sunlit horrors by way of The Wizard of Oz. It contains equally haunting / fucked up imagery and a devastating lead performance EQUALLY deserving of an Oscar. It will challenge your faculties the same way Hereditary did BUT it is also a brilliant, beautiful (and brutal) movie deserving of your time (and like Hereditary, rewards rewatches with revealing layers and meanings and Easter eggs). Just give yourself time to recover before you brave it. But you ARE strong enough to weather the experience. Edit: Just in case I made Midsommar sound too daunting, I should add that it's overall vibe isn't AS dour. It's shot through with humor / and it's darkness is lessened by occasional levity. It's most effective well...effect...is a sense of claustrophobia as the characters' inevitable fates close in around them, apparent to the audience but not as much to them.
I never recommend watching the director's cut on the first viewing. First, you're not seeing what everybody else saw when the movie was released, and 2. I always find that I enjoy the theatrical versions better - art needs editing and the cuts were usually wise ones that improved the storytelling or pacing. After you've seen it and digested it, go back and watch the DC.
Olivia totally deserved it that year, although I was rooting for Glenn Close to finally get it. But yes, Toni should have at least gotten a nod. The same with Lupita Nyong'o for Us a year later.
Alanda is like the BFF you always want to watch a movie with because you know you're gonna have good time. Hers is the only reaction channel that I keep coming back to. So I get the notification (hit that bell!) and here I am and Alanda is about to watch HEREDITARY and her smile is so bright and welcoming (always!) and she's so happy and festive with her Christmas decorations in the background and she's ready to start watching and I'm like, GIRRRRRRRLLLLLL . . . don't do it.
Okay. So as of right now....this is my favorite movie reaction channel. And you should be actually very proud of yourself, because you actually have come a long way with the horror genre and that's amazing. All of your reactions are just very genuine and I don't see a ton of that here on RU-vid. It's amazing seeing you react to some of the most iconic horror out there. And it's even awesome too you see react to general faves of ours. Keep doing what you're doing because you sure do make a hell of a lot of people happy. And I'm glad to aee you happy where you're at as well. Thank you for all that you do. I know it's not an easy thing to do, it's hard work. So once again, thank you. 😊
Beyond "horrific" - I've seen this film described as "full-on emotional terrorism" and that feels pretty accurate. Other horror films "cross lines" by showing extreme gore/torture, while this film "crosses lines" by making you feel like you're living through a nightmarish family tragedy.
A great reaction to what I think is one of the best horror movies in years. Now a few bits of medieval lore to help settle your minds. The lore in that book you read about King Paimon is 100% accurate. It is actually the translated text from medieval Demonology. & if you read the text it states he can bend & break reality as he is the King of mischief. So floating Mom's & bodies... EASY for him. Same for making his followers rich & powerful. King Paimon could turn paper, or anything really, into gold. But there are a couple of details not mentioned in the book that were changed for the movie. 1. King Paimon is actually 1 of 9 Kings of Hell. Not 8. It was changed to 8 for ritualistic effect. So by real lore you wouldn't face Northeast to summon him. 2. The whole beheading thing is also merely for movie & ritualistic effect. That is no part of any ritual of his summoning. The reason that it was used is from the VERY few bits of artwork we have. & you see them in the movie. 1 picture has 3 heads hanging from Paimon's belt. I hope that helps everyone sleep a little better. Hope everyone is having a brilliant week & much love to all from here in the UK
The scene with Peter in shock was so accurate. I've unfortunately seen a few different people in shock, and myself was in shock twice, and that was exactly how some people react. They shut down; their body is trying to react to something their brain won't let them comprehend. That's how I reacted the first time I went into shock. The second time, many years later, involved much more screaming on my part.
Definitely agree you needed the two years of horror movie experience before getting to this one, really good call on that one lol. Like you said it's a very artistic film, and I liked reading people's interpretations of the film and messages behind it, but you nailed it when you said it's just such a joyless movie. I say go for a palette cleanser film after this one. Something like Happy Death Day 2 U or Ready or Not would be a much more fun time.
I saw this movie in theaters. It was brutal! It reminds me of Black Swan. In terms of the intense depiction of mental illness and a fucked up dysfunction in family relationships
I don't think a lot of ppl understand the part after he accidently killed hes sister. He was in "SHOCK" shock does many different things to different people. Unless you have been in a position of complete and utter shock of a very bad incident. It's hard to understand. Some people react fast, some people do not even react at all. It all depends on the situation and the person.
4:04 everyone misses this the first watch which is very understandable, but if you listen closely, you hear footsteps shuffling around in the home before they walk in
I am so late to this but Peter was in shock after the accident which is why he just went up to bed. The character is a teenage boy. It makes sense actually.
“Good thing your nose is broken so you don’t have to smell the dead corpse of your FATHERRR” lmfaooo girl this is the first video of yours I’ve ever seen and I love you!!! 💕💕💕
Poor Peter! He was absolutely traumatised by what happened, he went into total shock shutdown. He couldn't even bring himself to look, he just went into autopilot, didn't sleep, blink, just layer there in total horror and shock. Hearing his mother (Toni Collette was SNUBBED) must've added even more to the trauma... and given their past, the things the Mum did (the paint thinner situation), this whole movie is so layered. Amazing movie! Plus Toni Collette's performance is absolutely incredible, as was Alex Wolf (Peter)... Just next level brilliance.
HEREDITARY?? Ohhhh why do I feel like this movie likely stressed you the hell out. Probably because it also stressed ME the hell out 😭 It’s harrowing and I’ve only seen it once, but I also loved it so I’m excited to see your take on it girl!!
The one thing I don’t like is that a lot of people say that Peter should’ve told someone or he’s acting like a psychopath, he’s not, he’s traumatized and is probably feeling guilty asf. I’ve never gone through that state of trauma but ik that people can act exactly like that
For some sick reason after many views this has become my comfort movie and I love watching it during the holidays 💀 Happy you posted this this month ❣️
My theory/what I’ve heard about this movie: So Grandma breastfed Charlie so that she could put the demon/hell god Paimon into Charlie’s body(because as the mom says, she never let the Grandma anywhere near Peter as a child so she couldn’t do it to him). But Paimon i suppose identifies as a man so he needed a male body to be comfortable and strong or whatever. So this whole movie, the Grandmas cult friends are tricking the Mom into opening the family up to…idk, demon stuff I guess. And eventually, they are able to break down Peters mental stability enough to where Paimon can enter his body. So Charlie was Paimon from the start, but I think Paimon was “reborn” into Charlie so he didn’t have any knowledge of past life or who he was. He was raised to be Charlie. So basically Grandma wanted wealth so she summoned Paimon into her family at some point and kept trying to give him a vessel. Because the mention of the families past decapitations tells me Charlie wasn’t the first in the family to be possessed by Paimon. Anyway, thanks for reading if you did, I just wanted to type this and be a know it all lol Also correct me where I’m wrong and give me other theories. I typed this very fast lol
This is the single best reaction to this movie I’ve ever seen… The way you point out small things in each scene kills me I was laughing alone in my room at 2 am thanks to you 😭 you’re amazing thank you for this!!
I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS ONE!!!!! This movie took my whole breath away. The basic fact of a fractured family was the root of all the trauma. Shook. Director called out ALL the Dysfunctional Families Out.
