Watching HEREDITARY for the first time! [ REACTION / REVIEW ] 

"I didnt I was trying to save you". During her pregnancy/nightmare she subconsciously knew her son would be used as a vessel for Paimon and she tried to stop it

Paimon was originally meant to posses Annie's dad or brother, but both men killed themselves before he could do so. Presumably, they both realised what Annie's mom was trying to do, but were written off as mentally ill. The cult were stuck with what to do, so Annie's mom bullied her into having children. Annie on some level knows any children she has will be doomed (hence why she tried to have a miscarriage and tried to kill them when sleepwalking) and so kept Peter away but caved to letting Charlie know her grandma. As a result, Charlie was possesed as a baby by Paimon. TL;DR Charlie *is* Paimon. But Paimon doesn't want to be a girl. So the witches created this convolted plan to put Paimon in Peter, which succeeds at the end. The tragedy with Annie is: 1. She genuinely loves her kids, but wasn't raised in a loving home and struggles to be a good parent. Her violent behaviour (trying to kill her kids) was her trying to 'save them' quite sincerely. 2. She said at the start that she 'is blamed'. And she is. But really she was just like a doll in a doll house controlled by higher forces.

This is my favorite horror movie and I think this is Toni’s best performance. Her acting is godly

When Annie yells at Peter it almost looks like she's venting her pent frustration on her mother and blaming him because it's easier for her to accept rather than accepting another burden in her long list of trauma. That happens when someone regressed back to a child

There's a theory that when Peter looks at his reflection and it's that weird grin... that's the face Annie was complaining about when she said 'that fucking face on your face'. Some reckon Paimon kept the son and mom at each other's throats by manipulating what they saw; we see Peter near tears and as someone who *never* smiles, but maybe she saw a smirk.

It’s so hard to watch her try and burn the book with Steve because she genuinely thinks she’s about to die as soon as it lights on fire. She’s prepared to burn to death for Peter, so she tells her husband she loves him and has him do it. She even says “it’s going to take me too”

1:06:22 They’re the center of the entire thing. Basically that the family are nothing but dolls whose lives are being dictated by a larger being outside of the home. It’s exactly as the kid in Peter’s class described the book they were reading. That the family thinks they have free will, but really their fates are already determined. Like someone playing with dolls following a story. It’s also why the interior shots of the house was done as if you took the front of the home away and filmed it like a dollhouse. With everything feeling much too large inside.

I find it fascinating how people vary between siding with either Peter or his Mother at the dinner scene. I support Peter and I'm glad you did too.

Peter's reaction to what happens to Charlie in the car is absolutely agonizing. He's so devastated and horrified that he simply doesn't know what to do. And then the mom's reaction a few minutes later is some of the best acting I've ever seen. Soul crushing.

Some people say this movie is overrated. It’s not, it’s genuinely just so good that we can’t stop talking about it. I’ve seen it at least 5 times and I notice something new every time

From what I’ve read, Milly Shapiro who played Charlie, had a lot of fun making this movie. She even wore t-shirts on set, with pictures of cars with no tops! 😊. I honestly love her in this. Her horrifying death set off a series of traumatic events for this family. Terrifying. Even without a demon. She’s also done a lot of theater before starting this film.

I will repeat this eternally but the fact that Toni Collette didn’t get an Oscar for this is insane

Also, per your request at the end, here's my interpretation of the film's timeline/events: Grandma was the "Queen"/leader of the evil demonic cult, and they had literally been trying to summon the Hell-King demon Paimon for DECADES. Which is why Annie's brother killed himself and accused the grandma of "putting people inside him" - her brother was initially intended to be the male host, but he caught on and hanged himself before the ritual could be completed. Then, grandma turned her attentions to Annie's children. But because Annie didn't let grandma anywhere near Peter, she wasn't able to use him as a host for the demon. Then, before Charlie was born, grandma and the cult decided to settle, and successfully summoned Paimon into Charlie when she was just a newborn. That's why Annie mentions that Charlie never cried, even when she was a baby - because she was already Paimon. But then, as Charlie/Paimon grew up, the cult devised a new plan to "correct" this "first female body" in order to transfer Paimon into a "healthy, male host" (Peter). Step one: manipulate events to kill Charlie's body - notice that an early shot (when Peter's driving to the party) shows Paimon's symbol carved into the telephone pole that will eventually decapitate Charlie later that night. This implies that even if Peter hadn't made any mistakes that night, a chain of events would inevitably lead to her death all the same. He couldn't have avoided it. Step two: convince Annie to perform the séance ritual inside her house, thus opening to door to Paimon and giving the cult the power to transfer the demon into Peter. Step three: do everything in their power to unravel Peter's sanity and make him as isolated, frightened, and vulnerable as possible - because the spellbook Annie found mentioned that Paimon will possess the most "vulnerable" host. This is also why Annie was crawling on the walls, chasing Peter, and sawing her own head off - because her vulnerability let Paimon temporarily take over and puppet her around, the better to terrify Peter. And once Paimon had successfully inhabited Peter's body, Joan made sure "Charlie" remembered who/what she really was - because 13 years of living as a human girl may have muddled or faded Paimon's memory of his true self.

3:42 if you listen in the movie to this part, you hear footsteps scattering around before they walk in. It’s coming from the attic 🙃

The grandmother was creepy as hell. She wanted to breastfeed Charlie herself. She abused and traumatized her son so much, he took his own life. She treated her daughter not much better. She created a cult, willing to sacrifice her own family for what? Wealth and prosperity?!?? I’m glad my grandmother was nothing like this horrifying woman. 😅

58:31 Aw man! You totally missed mom in the upper left hand corner of the room against the wall/ceiling!

If you look behind Annie’s back at the part where she spills the turquoise paint, you see the spirit ball of light appears behind her first and then knocks the paint over

To be fair, no one in this family is really responsible for their actions. They’ve been subjected to a life of trauma and been manipulated from the start. Very symbolic of the doll house theme throughout.

This one was an EXPERIENCE for sure. I love how it captures not just the horrors of demons and creepy cults and all that, but also the horrors of tragedy, trauma, family discord, and the feeling of your life going horribly wrong.

Second Horror Movie List: 1. The Attic Expeditions with Jeffrey Combs 2. Cobweb (2023) 3. Villains 4. Torment 5. 13 Eerie 6. Nightmare Cinema 7. Planet Terror 8. Devil Times Five (1974) 9. The Resurrected with Chris Sarandon 10. Mr. Frost with Jeff Goldblum 11. Triangle with Melissa George 12. No One Lives with Luke Evans 13. Shrooms 14. The Ruins 15. Session 9 16. Parents with Randy Quaid 17. Slither 18. No Vacancy part 1 19. The Last House on the Left 20. Willard with Crispin Glover 21. Freaky with Vince Vaughn 22. Road Games 23. Lights Out 24. Dolls 25. The Entity 26. The Nun part 1 27. Demonic 28. Demonic Toys 2 29. The Omen 2 30. Carrie 31. White Noise 2 32. The Autopsy of Jane Doe 33. Curtains 34. Krampus 35. The Pact part 1 and 2 36. Idle Hands 37. Wolf Creek 1 38. Wolf Creek 2 39. Piggy 40. Mirrors part 1 41. Mirrors part 2 42. The Roost from Ti West 43. The Innkeepers from Ti West 44. X from Ti West 45. Pearl 46. Maxxine 47. Barbarian 48. Lord of Illusions 49. House on Haunted Hill 50. Wolfen 51. Day of the Dead 52. Goodnight Mommy 53. The Wailing 54. We Are What We Are 55. Lake Mungo 56. Honeymoon (2014) 57. The Canal 58. The Bay 59. Grave Encounters 60. The Old Dark House (1932) 61. The Taking of Deborah Logan 62. Trollhunter 63. Housebound 64. American Mary 65. Absentia 66. Better Watch Out 67. Hell Night 68. The Burning 69. Creepshow 2 70. Barbarian 71. Terrifier 72. Terrifier 2 73. Requiem for a Scream 74. Look Away 75. No Escape 76. Open 24 Hours 77. Patchwork 78. The Folks (2022) 79. Steel Trap (2007) 80. Pledge (2018) 81. There's No Such Thing as Vampires (2020) 82. The Last Voyage of the Demeter (2023) 83. Haunted Trail (2022) 84. Bad Things (2023) 85. Vampire Bats with Lucy Lawless 86. Haunting of the Queen Mary (2023) 87. Mother, May I? (2023) 88. Dance of the Damned (1989) 89. Habit (1995) 90. Pale Blood (1990) 91. The Nun 2 (2023) 92. Natty Knocks (2023) 93. The Retaliators (2021) is a brutal horror thriller with a killer soundtrack 94. All Fun and Games (2023) with Natalia Dyer and Asa Butterfield 95. Saw X (2023) 96. Mischief Night (2013) 97. Flick (2008) 98. Tone-Deaf with Robert Patrick and Amanda Crew 99. Totally Killer (2023) 100. I Trapped the Devil 101. V/H/S 85 (2023) 102. The Exorcists (2023) with Doug Bradley 103. The Puppetman (2023) with Michael Pare 104. The Conference (2023) 105. The Jester (2023) 106. Recovery (2019) 107. Phantom Fun-World (2023) 108. Suitable Flesh (2023) with Heather Graham and Barbara Crampton 109.Five Nights at Freddys (2023) 110. Await the Dawn (2020) 111. Benny Loves You (2019) 112. Dark Harvest (2023) 113.When Evil Lurks (2023) 114. The Beast Within (1982) 115.It's a Wonderful Knife (2023) 116. Thanksgiving (2023) 117. Onyx the Fortuitous and the Talisman of Souls (2023) 118. The Palé Door (2020) 119. Jug Face (2013) 120. Hagazussa: A Heathen's Curse (2017)

I'm glad you supported Peter during the dinner scene. Obviously, Charlie's death was a horrible accident. However, a lot of people forget by that point that the only reason she forced Charlie to go to the party was to deter Peter from drinking. She literally said to him before they left, "Now you really can't drink." That was her sole motivation for sending Charlie despite Charlie stating clearly that she didn't want to go. Also, why did she not send the epi pen with them just in case? That's her responsibility as a parent. She probably did blame herself, but if she wanted so badly for Peter to own up to his end, then she should have stepped up first as the parent and had a conversation with him.

I find that the amount of people who hate on Peter for his emotional reactions and decisions in this movie are the same ones who said Jenny was the villain in Forrest Gump. 🤦🏻‍♀️ It's very refreshing to see how much empathy you have though. I've honestly never seen anyone actually see Annie for the monster she is when it comes to her treatment of Peter. #TeamPeter

I’ve seen a lot of horror movies, and this probably has the worst nightmare scenario for any parent ever.

There’s also a theory, that the girl Peter had a crush on, was actually part of the cult. That she purposely tried to distract him at the party, keeping him away from his sister. Interesting theory. But I don’t think so.

Easily one of the most uncomfortable and heart wrenching movies I've watched.. half of it is a family drama focused on unspeakable grief and then it just gets darker and darker.. I'll never forget it. I feel like this must have been the reaction our parents or grandparents had when they saw the Exorcist. Like holy hell...

"Well, if Peter is possessed by some mischievous demon spirit, he's just going to have to go to a different high school ..." And hey, the family that worships on of the eight kings of hell together stays together!

Was watching another reaction, but you know I had to stop and come here!!!!

Yes there is a LOT to dissect in this film. And talking with people and seeing others talk about this movie I think I agree that subconsciously the mother knew there was something very wrong and was trying to kill her son to save his soul from the fate the cult had for him.

Hope people realize that this entire movie was 'King Paimons doll house' in real time. because of Grandma's covenant with him ,everyone involved was a Paimon pawn working towards providing him with a male human host to incarnate in and possess. Anne, who was subconsciously trying to rebel ,was the 'good' person in all of this and Paimon took special delight in cutting off her head ( unlike everyone else whose heads he collected, he made Anne suffer the most as he sawed her head off with piano wire)

Grandma summoned paimon into Charlie’s body at first. That’s why she mentioned that she wanted Charlie to be a boy. Paimon moved to the new host and the old host need to decapitate somehow to complete the transfer

OMG YOU FINALLY DID IT!!!

Alright. LETS DO THIS.

39:10 Joan's exact words were that "everyone in the house must be PRESENT". So yeah, that would mean involved 41:18 If ghosts don't care, why should you?

I love this movie so much, it revived my love for horror movies and it's the only one that has scared me / disturbed me in a long time

To there is NO FUGGIN WAY your last Haunting of Hill House reaction was ELEVEN MONTHS AGO. I refuse to accept that!! It cannot possibly have been 11 months since the finale video!!!

At 23:44 - yes thats Lydia from the LeftOvers, (Ann Dowd) shes also in the new Exorcist movie

Pro tips, peter the actor, wanted to actually break his nose during the desk slamming scene. The director said no, plus impossible since the desktop was foam. But what he and peter didn't know, was only the top half of it was foam! So when he slams his face into it, he dislocated his jaw! Later in the scene, when Peter's face looks distorted, ...thats not makeup folks! Also a Holloween tie-in and i don't know if it was intentional. During his first class scene at 13 minutes, the topic being taught is about escaping one's fate....same as in Holloween! And this movie was released, same day as the Holloween 2018 reboot, trailer came out!😮. And remember, her brother hung himself in grandma room, because he said she kept putting people inside of him! So I think mom instinctively didn't want to have Peter, to protect him from her mom. And Charlie was already possessed, Paymon was causing her clicks, and the cult caused her death, by their sign on the telephone pole, and later had said, they CORRECTED her first female form! So really, grandma, mom, Charlie, all were possessed by Paymon. And the only murder that took place was by the cult, to Charlie and Paymon killed dad. All the relatives of the mom died of some type of suicide or self destruction, cuz of the crap that dear old Grandma was into. And for what? To possess Peter? Cuz I don't see what good that is going to do for the cult. He's the king of mischief. He's not going to make them rich....he doesn't need them anymore. He's just gonna mess with them and get them to suicide! I also find it ironic that his name is Peter.... Jesus' man of faith, who could walk down streets in Jerusalem and people would get healed and demons would flee! So what was Hereditary, wasnt mental illness, but dear old mom, or who knows who else in her family's past, all into cult devil worship! 😮😮Did u watch, The Nun? Good one! Also Drag me to Hell , and Barbarian is also horrendous! Also, The Descent, is quite good!..

😮😮😮😮 such a crazy movie.

Charlie’s death in the film, I don’t know if I should say inspired but, a nearly identical true event actually happened in 2004 in the news 🗞️ when a man, while intoxicated, sideswiped a telephone pole not realizing his buddy had his head out the car window, and decapitated his friend’s head!!!! I’m shock, he drove and went to bed, leaving his friend’s headless corpse in the truck.

Imo this is the best horror film that I have seen in years. Great cinematography, creepy af score and brilliant acting especially by Toni Collette (Annie) and Alex Wolff ( Peter) . Yep... same production company and director so Midsommar and Hereditary will forever be linked but I agree with you... Midsommar while disturbing, really didn't do it for me. Keep up the good work!

This was one of the most genuinely unsettling movies I've ever seen.

57:56 This instant and absolute change in expression on her face. I'm still not sure if it's some kind of morphing effect or if Toni Collette is just capable of DOING this but... yikes

This probably is the best horror movie since the Exorcist. It’s a one in 50 years movie.

A24 really picks out interesting movies. EEAAO, Hereditary, Midsommar - hopefully you will be able to watch X and Pearl as well once they are available, 2 of the highest rated horror films from A24, with Pearl serving as a prequel to X.

You thought Charlie was creepy. , you didn't like her vocal tick, you wanted her to "stop it". Well, she's decapitated like the bird ✂ 🐦 😱 it's all your fault 😆 LOL

I always compared it to the movie Ordinary People meets The Exorcist.

i noticed annie was touching steve all over with paint thinner.

Annie gave Charlie to her mother Ellen because she probably felt guilty for shutting her out of Peters early childhood. Cult people at smasher manipulators so when Ellen and Annie got into contact again she probably made Annie feel guilty. And Ellen also really needed another host for Paimon (as her son Charlie probably was supposed to be the first host, but something went wrong and it didn’t work successfully) so she probably did everything in her power to get this baby. Btw Charlie is never the „real“ Charlie in the movie, she has completely been replaced with (part of) Paimon who doesn’t even know he is Paimon. This movie has so many details it’s crazy

I want to recommend the movie Coherence :D

“Not the scariest movie I’ve seen…..” Pray tell, what is?

Thank you for this actual reaction. I’ve watched a bunch of reactions or so they say but they’re just spouting stupid commentary and not reacting. Does that make sense? I think so. I was very critical of Annie the first time watching as well but after knowing the story and what’s going on, she’s just as much a victim as everyone else.

Was Peter at fault for not keeping a better eye on Charlie at the party?? He knew his sister has a serious allergy, yet he told her to go get some cake 🍰!!!! Without even checking to see if there was anything she could have an allergic reaction to!!!!! I mean, they were chopping A LOT OF NUTS!!!!!!!!!

:)