You... are Paimon.


I had heard several people praise Hereditary when it was released earlier in the year and I knew I had to screen it for this years IFFF.  We live in a society where a horror film is released every couple of weeks but sadly, most of them are not received that well by both critics and the public. I glanced at a review for this film that compared it to The Exorcist which in the horror world is high praise.  Personally, I saw The Exorcist for the first time about three years ago and thought it was very slow and boring, even if I was an audience member in the 70's I would have been bored.  Still, that comparison means something to a lot of people and I gave this film a shot and it turns out it is way better than The Exorcist.
Even while watching this, I was thinking, ney, hoping that this film would make me feel like everyone else seems to feel about The Exorcist.  I prefer my horror filled with monsters and slashers, the supernatural has always been very boring to me, not scary at all.  When people say they don't like monster movies  because they are not realistic enough, I slap them for preferring moving furniture movies when talking about realism.  Cults, possessions, and poltergeists seem less interesting by comparison.
I am writing all of this to say that despite my preference for creatures, this film really brings on the creepiness that I am assuming other people see in this horror genre.  The film does a good job of disorienting the viewer and making it difficult to tell if what is happening on screen is really happening or is all in one of the character's head.  There are deaths in this horror movie (surprise) but they all come out of no where and can happen at any time which really keeps the viewer interested.  Some of the imagery is very creepy (poor birdie) and works well since the film is mostly grounded in reality.   If I had to nitpick one thing for the sake of showing both sides is sometimes the cuts are way to quick for the viewer to adjust and recognize what is being shown.  There are a couple of shots with text (letters, emails, text messages) that do not give enough time to read the entire message.  Perhaps I am just getting old and my eyes are weak.  Find out and report back to me.  This film has the right balance of scares, surprises, metaphors, exposition and psychological games and WTF moments to keep the viewer interested and make for an enjoyable movie, even if you have to watch it with the lights on because you're scared.  Sometimes that's ok and we shouldn't judge.