MovieChat Forums > Hereditary (2018) Discussion > Most overrated horror movie of the past ...

Most overrated horror movie of the past decade

posted 4 years ago by [deleted]
18 replies | jump to latest

As a long time horror fan I am worried about the state of horror if "Hereditary" is considered to be "one of the best horror movies in XZY decades".

I am not too hard to please when it comes to horror movies, I enjoy bad horror movies equally as great ones, and when I finally got a chance to see Hereditary I went to see it with an open mind.
Movie started well with some really nice scene transition so I had my hopes up. "These people know what they are doing" I thought to myself. Turns out, while production looked really nice, with few well directed scenes, screenplay and pace were horrible. We are treated with family drama for about 3/4 of the movie with last half an hour being mash of horror scenes. This could work if pace was better and we didn't have to watch long monologues by a lead actress. She did her part well and she literally carries the entire movie, but after second 10 minutes long monologue where I see nothing but her face, my tolerance for her and her character has dropped significantly.

Once the horror actually starts, it does get from bad to worse, but as someone who has watched dozens of horror movies I could easily spot "homages" (or if you want to call them ripoffs) of scenes from plenty of other horror movies, mainly Conjuring, Exorcist 3 and The Sentinel.
Ending is really messy and looks like it was made on spot. It wants to be intelligent, but once you break down the scene you'll realize that someone watched The Conjuring on Monday, Exorcist 3 on Thursday, and watched The Sentinel on Wednesday.

Another problem is pace. Some scenes just drag on and on without real reason. I understand that director wanted to establish some atmosphere, however he isn't good at staging suspense so lot of scenes just drag on. Add in that some of those scenes don't really have strong payoff and you get long badly paced scenes with no real plot progression.

Some characters just show up and wonder off the movie. I nearly forgot that one such character is even in the movie until he showed up to be cannon fodder. It was supposed to be emotional and horrifying but since we know so little about him it becomes a bad joke.

I really don't know how anyone could by into hype. Did bunch of people just said "It's great!" without even seeing it, or bars for horror are so low these days that we consider cinematic mess like Hereditary and Insidious to be called "greatest of XYZ"?

[–] [deleted] 3 years ago

I don't know that I agree with some of your comments, but in general, yes, this is the most overhyped horror movie of the century. I was on board with the movie until about half way through, when I just started rooting for the mother and son to kill each other. I found the movie non-sensical in a lot of ways and the resolution wasn't satisfying at all. This movie definitely presents itself as "intelligent," but it just looks to me like someone plotted the script on shrooms and no one had the decency to tell him or her that's not a good idea.

[–] SandyR (7383) 2 years ago

Best review of this movie yet.

[–] LenkoPenko (157) 3 years ago

I saw a bit of the trailer when it came out and got intrigued enough to watch it.
The hype was quite out there, I agree, but I managed to stay away from spoilers before watching the actual movie.
I wasn't even sure if it was going to be pure psychological horror or have supernatural elements to it.

As for it "ripping off" elements of other movies, I don't think I can agree with that point.
Genres have tropes they rely on, and I think this movie utilized the ones it did quite well.
I also quite enjoyed the slow build-up, family drama and cult elements.

I'm not sure what it was trying to be besides a personal story gone fucked (with horror elements), and tbh, I don't bother with such questions.

Is it the best horror movie in decades?
I think it was just marketing. Not to mention, things like that are subjective.
It worked for me and I enjoyed it, is all I can say.

[–] samoanjoes (51072) 3 years ago

I consider this more of a thrill than a horror, but I love it.

[–] RichWorld32 (44) 3 years ago

Your opinion is incorrect

[–] [deleted] 3 years ago

Elaborate.

[–] RichWorld32 (44) 3 years ago

[–] [deleted] 3 years ago

Then your opinion is invalid.

[–] OnanTheBarbarian (10426) 2 years ago

🤣

[–] lennonforever (2453) 3 years ago

but after second 10 minutes long monologue where I see nothing but her face, my tolerance for her and her character has dropped significantly

Indeed! And how about the state of the son during that entire diatribe???!

[–] acidraindrop (3055) 3 years ago

I'd love to see what horror movies OP consider to be quality.

[–] [deleted] 3 years ago

Try It Follows, The Witch, The Descent, A Tale of Two Sister, Audition, original Halloween, Jacob's Ladder, etc.

[–] acidraindrop (3055) 3 years ago

Assuming you're actually OP, if you enjoyed It Follows (and consider VVitch to even be a horror movie), I think you're just not opening up to Hereditary, probably because you preemptively got biased by the hype (either by outrageous expectations, or because you were expecting a different type of movie).

Case in point:

We are treated with family drama for about 3/4 of the movie with last half an hour being mash of horror scenes.

This IS a family drama. Your frustration here and with the monologues sound like the people who hated the Haunting of Hill House because it wasn't something like American Horror Story. It's fine that Hill House is not one's cup of tea, but dismissing the narrative and style as a negative for the show isn't quite fair. The fact that you're putting Insidious and Hereditary in the same sentence when they're two very different types of movies for two different types of audiences... and it helps to understand why Insidious received the praise that it did. And in contrast, why Hereditary received the praise that it did.

The primary concrete criticism you have is with the pacing, which is arguably fair. I don't have anything to work with on that from what you described, so I can't really argue either way. But your favorite horror movies do seem to span a decent range. So I imagine you might have really enjoyed Hereditary had the movie not been so successful across mainstream viewers. Hell, I don't think OP even said the movie was bad, just overrated.

[–] Dainty (1863) 3 years ago

I agree with OP

[–] [deleted] 2 years ago

The first time I saw this I legitimately found it hilarious, I'm not saying that in a rough and tough boastful manner because on a rewatch I didn't find it as funny as my first viewing...I must have been in a funny mood when I first saw it. I'll never forget genuinely laughing at this film which everyone was calling the scariest film ever and this generations The Exorcist.

I found the daughter clucking and the sons ugly cry scenes in particular hilarious. Even the scene where the daughter loses her head was funny, it was done in such a blunt and matter of fact way I couldn't help but laugh.

I do agree it's so overrated. It really shits the bed in the third act, the ending is woeful.

I do like the cinematography which is very 'modern', the video editing which is sharp and Toni Collete does give a good performance. It has it's strengths but it's not a great film overall.

[–] SteveG (1370) 2 years ago

Yeah, I didnt get it.