The first few minutes of the film “Hereditary” are harrowing, almost to the point of turning it off. But once you get through that, the rest of the 2018 film builds a nice blend of psychological thriller spiced with a few pinches of supernatural. Without using gore, the intensity ratchets up.
Until the last 15 minutes, that is.
To say they’re bonkers is an understatement but, since “Hereditary” is ostensibly a horror film, that’s not necessarily a bad thing as long as it fits into what’s come before. But “Hereditary” doesn’t do that. It throws in a crazed super-supernatural ending that makes only a smidgen of sense compared to the rest of the film. It comes out of the blue and, as such, pretty much erases the suspense of the previous two hours.
Bad endings can ruin good or even semi-good films. Horror and science-fiction movies seem to be especially susceptible. Perhaps it’s a matter of the director or screenwriter spending so much time building the plot or character development or just in oh-wow action scenes that they look up and suddenly realize they’re at the end of the film and haven’t written an ending.
Quick! Come up with something. Anything.