We love our metal here at Metal Injection… but we dig movies too! Welcome to Cinema Fix, a movie guide tailored for the metal faithful. Sit back and relax after a long week of work and/or blast beats and enjoy one of our prestigious film selections. This week's pick is:
Hereditary (2018)
Quick Pitch:
Disturbing family psychological drama meets wild supernatural thriller.
Synopsis:
A tortured family begins to fall apart at the seams following the death of their secretive grandmother. Annie Graham is an artist, struggling to complete a massive new installation piece after her mother Ellen dies. Ellen was a cold, standoffish woman who only ever made time for her granddaughter, Annie’s daughter Charlie. Ellen’s death unleashes years of repressed feelings in the Graham household and sets off a series of grizzly and terrifying supernatural events that not only puts Annie’s family through, but might actually, literally unleash hell. Writer/director Ari Aster’s first feature film is a slow burning psychological thriller, rife with gorgeously disturbing cinematography and nuanced commentary on family dynamics and mental health issues…for the most part. Hereditary’s final act takes a hard left turn and devolves into good old fashioned horror film buffoonery [of the best kind]. We’re talking séances, immolations and blood thirsty naked cult members oh my!
[youtube]https://youtu.be/V6wWKNij_1M[/youtube]
Why it’s metal:
Decapitations and demonic possessions galore, Hereditary plays out like heavy metal album art and lyrics come to life. Annie’s deceased mother Ellen wasn’t just a wicked and rude old lady. She was low key, the leader of a demonic cult bent on conjuring the end of the world. Ellen aka Queen Leigh aka Evil Grandma [our preferred nickname not the film’s], dedicated her life to serving Paimon, one of Lucifer’s favorite henchmen and kings of hell. Lord Paimon requires a male host to possess in order to walk the Earth and enslave the planet. Since Ellen’s demon infused parenting style led her son, Annie’s brother, to commit suicide back in the day, Queen Leigh [Evil Grandma] becomes fixated on Annie’s children. Hereditary’s plot is really just an elaborate body swap switcheroo story. How Paimon’s creepy death cult plays poor Annie into getting their demon lord’s spirit out of her daughter Charlie, whom Evil Grandma had taken under her wing and exposed to the black magic lyfe, and into her the body of her oldest son Peter; who had no contact with his grandma growing up and thus, remained demon free…until now.
Most modern “scary” movies are big on jump scares and light on substance. Hereditary, even without its crazy supernatural-isms and “spooky” subject matter, is a genuinely disturbing film. It just knows how to handle ritualistic decapitations, grave desecrations, and demonic sacrifices; with care.
Suggested listening:
Infernal Angels – "Paimon: The Secret Of Mind"
For obvious reasons.
[youtube]https://youtu.be/Xhm8h4-fDks[/youtube]
