Hereditary

Hereditary is a 2018 American psychological supernatural horror film written and directed by Ari Aster in his feature directorial debut. Starring Toni Collette, Alex Wolff, Milly Shapiro, Ann Dowd, and Gabriel Byrne, the film follows a grieving family tormented by a demonic entity after the death of their secretive grandmother. Aster's work on short horror films, most notably The Strange Thing About the Johnsons, attracted the attention of A24, who greenlit Hereditary as his first feature film. Aster conceived it as primarily a family drama consisting of two distinct halves. Filming took place in Utah in 2017, with most indoor scenes shot on custom built sets on a soundstage to give the film a dollhouse aesthetic. Hereditary premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on January 21, 2018, and was theatrically released in the United States on June 8, 2018. The film received widespread acclaim, with particular praise for Collette's performance, Aster's direction, and Stetson's score. It made over $82 million on a $10 million budget, becoming A24's highest-grossing film ever at the time, a record that was held until the release of Everything Everywhere All at Once in 2022. Plot Miniature artist Annie Graham lives with her psychiatrist husband Steve, their 16-year-old son Peter, and their 13-year-old daughter Charlie. The family attends the funeral of Annie's secretive mother, Ellen, at which Annie is surprised at the number of mourners in attendance. She attends a bereavement support group, revealing her troubled childhood and that she and her mother had a fraught relationship until Charlie was born, when Ellen became a significant figure in raising her. Meanwhile, Steve receives a phone call telling him that unknown perpetrators desecrated Ellen's gravesite, but does not reveal this to Annie.