MovieChat Forums > Hereditary (2018) Discussion > Enjoyed it but the more I think about it...

Enjoyed it but the more I think about it spoilers

posted 6 years ago by Arghhhh (804)
22 replies | jump to latest

The less it makes sense.

Spoilers follow....

***

So charlie is inhabited by some demon from hell... and this manifests itself by clucking? By drawing weird sketches and making little figures? If she's possessed by a literal demon from hell then she needed to be more... demonic. This would have also made for an interesting twist when the demon child dies half way through.

I presume they didn't want to go this route as it would be too 'omen' like but it doesn't make much sense as it is.

[–] Renovatio (2990) 6 years ago

Maybe there were no demons and it was just mental illness that was 'hereditary'... 🤔

[–] Arghhhh (804) 6 years ago

Yeah but that just pushes it into 'it was all just a dream' territory.

[–] Renovatio (2990) 6 years ago

a bit, but the way the father reacts fits into this...

[–] RAJH (533) 6 years ago

lol You mean when he sees the glass move on its own and then sees/hears the mother speaking in their dead daughters voice.....?
He acts freaked out. This film was not about mental illness, trust me.

[–] BrunoAntony (1198) 6 years ago

The clucking was something she picked up off the grandmother.

She's not aware that she's the human incarnation of a demon ... the weird sketches and little figurines (including the pigeon-headed thing which turns out to be a portent of Charlie's eventual fate) are just a part of her consciousnesses expressing itself.

[–] Arghhhh (804) 6 years ago

My point is that I felt she was too normal for a child with the soul of a demon from hell. Her oddness only manifested itself in relatively minor ways such as the clucking and the figures (neither of which are that odd for young children).

I felt like the story had potential but fell away in the third act even though I really liked the idea of the cult needing to move the evil entity from one 'host' to the next.

As I said above, I think it would have been a better story if Charlie was more 'evil' (for want of a better word) i.e. she exhibited psychopathic tendencies. The story would make you feel like she was going to kill her brother so when *she* dies it would be much more of an interesting twist, one that makes perfect sense when you find out *why* she died.

[–] BrunoAntony (1198) 6 years ago

Wouldn't her being a cliche "evil child" make the twist that she is the Earthly incarnation of a demon seem a little obvious?

[–] Arghhhh (804) 6 years ago

Maybe. Depends how it was done. But done well the audience would spend the first half of the film thinking Charlie was the threat, then the 2nd half thinking she was a victim. Only in the final scenes would they realise she's both.

[–] RAJH (533) 6 years ago

If she acted like a demon then she would have given herself away wouldn't she lol.
She was clearly an evil kid but she had to keep it a secret. Does that really not make sense to you?

"As I said above, I think it would have been a better story if Charlie was more 'evil' (for want of a better word) i.e. she exhibited psychopathic tendencies. The story would make you feel like she was going to kill her brother so when *she* dies it would be much more of an interesting twist, one that makes perfect sense when you find out *why* she died. "

lol! Well, I'm sure glad you didn't direct this film..
And if you need everything to be completely spoodfed for you then this probably isn't your kind of film.

[–] Arghhhh (804) 6 years ago

Well aren't you an obnoxious little twerp?

Here's a tip, if you want to get your point across saying things like "You need things spoon feeding" and insulting your fellow poster's intelligence is a pretty stupid way to do it.

As for your actual point:

The cult leader had to explain to the demon lord at the end *who* he was and what they had done so bang goes your "deliberately hiding" theory.

And my point about Charlie being more 'demonic' wasn't to spoon feed anybody anything (The cult leader actually just flat out states the plot in one or two sentences at the end of the film, so there's more than enough spoon feeding already) it was to make the characterisation fit better within what we know about the story and to give it MORE of a twist, not to make the story simpler or explain things to the audience.

[–] RAJH (533) 6 years ago

"The cult leader had to explain to the demon lord at the end *who* he was and what they had done so bang goes your "deliberately hiding" theory. "

Well, first of all you've quoted me on something I never said lol
Secondly, this could easily be because he had only just awoke to this new body.
The woman then calls him "charlie" because it is of course the same entity that was in Charlies body. I never claimed she was "deliberately hiding" but she is Paimon! Not possessed by him, she was born as him. (Reincarnated)
If she acted more like a demon she would have given herself away, when the plan was to get Peters body for Paimon to use.

"it was to make the characterisation fit better within what we know about the story and to give it MORE of a twist"
How would that give it MORE of a twist? lol It was the twist...She was Paimon. That is why she acted psycho when no one was around.
Your point about Charlie needing to act more "demonic" is flawed since she wasn't possessed by Paimon.....She was Paimon in a new body. And that body happened to be a little girl.....
It is obvious she is no ordinary girl since when we see her alone she does all kind of strange things like cutting off the head of a bird.
Do you really not understand why her acting more "demonic" wouldn't have worked? Everything that happens, happens for a reason so that would make it an entirely different film.
This demon was living in the body of a little girl.....Therefore when around people, it needed to act like a little girl.
Whether the demon had total control over her or not is up for debate. I think he did.
She had a little girls brain and body so of course she acted and seemed like a little girl. But deep down Paimon was controlling her IMO.
So whether it was deliberately hiding or not, it was still hiding...You get it?

"so when *she* dies it would be much more of an interesting twist, one that makes perfect sense when you find out *why* she died. "

It all makes perfect sense, buddy lol. What is it you're not understanding?

[–] mel2000 (247) 6 years ago

...but she is Paimon! Not possessed by him, she was born as him. (Reincarnated)

No. Annie described how the grandmother tried to take over mothering the boy but Annie wouldn't let her get near him. She allowed the grandmother more access to the girl as guilt relief. So the grandmother then allowed Paimon to possess the girl instead.

[–] RAJH (533) 6 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Sybil (64) 6 years ago

I thought it was refreshing, at the end of they day no one has a proof of what a demon looks like or how it would act. I thought she was perfect on the role of a odd child. Could be in anyone family. I thought the mother was odd, the father was even odder. From the time my wife started to get all weird on our son I would be out of there and take the boy with me.

[–] [deleted] 6 years ago

Paimon is a "god of mischief", apparently. I think He just wants to be worshipped as he torments those he targets, like Peter.

[–] Arghhhh (804) 6 years ago

Could also control fish apparently!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paimon

[–] Satan2016 (23667) 6 years ago

Hereditary's Ending (And The Real Paimon) Explained https://www.lifehacker.com.au/2018/06/hereditarys-ending-explained/

[–] RAJH (533) 6 years ago

You don't seem to of understood this film.
Charlie was not "possessed" the whole time, in the same way the little girl from The Exorcist was.
She was the reincarnation of this demon. If she had acted more like a "demon" then she probably would be in a mental home. She was a little girl so she acted like a little girl...Just a very strange one.
It makes perfect sense lol

[–] mel2000 (247) 6 years ago

Paimon is probably the most boring demon ever committed to film. Fortunately, the movie was less about him than about getting him transferred into a new body.

[–] RAJH (533) 6 years ago

Ok? lol

[–] GreenLantern (188) 5 years ago

But she wasn't the reincarnation. As someone already pointed out to you above, the Grandmother had access to Charlie after she was born, because Annie felt guilty about keeping Peter away. There is nothing in the film that hints that she was a born demon.

[–] ColdOfWinter (145) 5 years ago

I didn't get the feeling she was possessed or born a demon. I got the impression that she was prepared to become the host for the Demon, but the demon preferred a boy body. So I wonder if the characters in the movie were manipulated into giving the demon what it wanted. Otherwise its just very bizarre circumstances, in an already very bizarre scenario.

Enjoyed it but the more I think about it ***spoilers***

Enjoyed it but the more I think about it spoilers