There are times where I need to take a step back and remind myself how what we watch influences how we respond to films. What seems novel or innovative to someone who doesn’t watch a lot of horror can seem tired or even poorly done to someone who watches a lot of horror. Horror has the added element of the crowd mentality. When you see a horror film with a group of people, the reaction of a few can really influence how you respond to a film. It only takes a few live screams or seeing other people jump out of their seats for you to start to feel a similar sense of dread or even fear.
Hereditary is one of the latest horror films to gain a notorious reputation out of the Sundance Film Festival. Sundance always has a healthy horror programming block and the right combination of acting, style, and subject matter can really help make a small horror film a big hit. Many of the kooky critical darlings you’ve heard of had their US premieres at Sundance: Teeth, The Babadook, The Witch, Mandy, Revenge, It Follows, etc. Just as a general rule, this kind of Sundance horror tends to come in two molds: harrowing family horror or shocking concept with dark humor. Hereditary tries to straddle both without really committing to either concept.