INHERIT THE WOUND - My Review of HEREDITARY (3 1/2 Stars) It's rare these days to see a horror movie without the jump scares, hurried editing, and insane CGI third act nonsense. Think back to the classics, such as ROSEMARY'S BABY, DON'T LOOK NOW, THE SHINING, and THE EXORCIST, all of which took their time with characters, had a mounting sense of dread, and featured completely practical effects. One could even fairly say that DON'T LOOK NOW isn't really a horror film except for possibly the most soul-shaking, final moment jump scare in cinematic history. Ari Aster, in his feature debut, has obviously studied these classics, pouring so much of what makes them great into HEREDITARY, and as such, he's been hailed as the second coming of M. Night Shyamalan, but without the narcissistic cameo appearance. It's certainly an auspicious debut, and with his keen understanding of breathing room, mounting tension, composition, and a stellar use of sound and music, he certainly has the goods. Bonus: He gets an unforgettable performance out of Toni Collette. So why didn't I like this movie more? Let my spoiler free review do the work. Set shortly after the death of Annie's (Collette) mother, we meet her not-so-grieving family, affectless husband Steve (Gabriel Byrne), sullen stoner teen son Peter (Alex Wolff), and disturbed, recessive, tongue-popping daughter Charlie (Milly Shapiro). Grandma, it turns out, didn't exactly possess the warm and fuzzies, so nobody's crying too hard over her loss. Still, a pall hangs over the air in their Utah-based, gorgeous craftsman home, complete with a sky-high treehouse. It's hard to put a finger on what's ailing this family. Annie makes miniature dioramas of her family's history and doesn't earn her husband's confidence that she'll finish in time for a big gallery showing. The opening shot of these miniatures effortlessly gives way to their real world settings, bringing home the metaphor that this family is controlled by outside forces. Peter shows typical teen angst while Charlie, in a world of her own, makes frequent clucking sounds as she beheads animals to make creepy statuettes out of them. Clearly no good will come out of this warped family dynamic, which appears to be rotting from the inside. Then, out of nowhere, tragedy strikes. It's gut-wrenching, caught me totally off guard, and will stand the test of time as one of the great horrific moments in cinema. The grief that follows, however, threatens to swallow the film whole if it weren't for the great performances all around. From this point forward, despite the fact that the film has its share of frightening moments, chills, and utter dread, the film turned into a somewhat empty exercise, sometimes tedious, but still creepy as hell. I had trouble at first putting my finger on why it wasn't working for me, when moments from THE EXORCIST and THE SHINING kept coming to mind. William Peter Blatty knew what he was doing when he made Ellen Burstyn's character a prickly film star. She's established in the early scenes as prickly, impatient and easily flustered. Part of the horror of THE EXORCIST emanates from her discomfort as a human being, so when her daughter gets possessed by a demon, you have this very vivid character reacting with everything in her stable of emotions. Same goes for THE SHINING, where in a stunning early scene, Shelly Duvall's character lets her cigarette burn too long without flicking the ashes as she tells a story which shows she's in denial about her abusive husband. The characters' intense back stories strengthen the terror to come because we know their blind spots. With HEREDITARY, we just don't get enough detail about these people, so when they stare at things in anguish (which happens a LOT in this film), we're seeing an idea of great horror but not feeling anything specific. THE SHINING famously used these same silent scream close-ups to great effect, because we knew so much about their characters. The cast here has to do a lot of screaming and crying, and as fantastic as they are at these emotions, they're all fairly close to being ciphers. It's not enough to wreck the film, but, to me, it keeps it from being truly great. So much of the films works. Having Ann Dowd in any cast is always a big plus, and she definitely knows how to make friendly, casual conversations in to something more worrisome. Aster introduces elements of the occult and the supernatural into the film in a similar fashion to ROSEMARY'S BABY. We also have scary flames and things crashing through windows, which serve as EXORCIST signposts. It all works and is sometimes truly frightening, and much of the credit goes to Collette's commitment to the bursts of grief and moments of clarity her character navigates. She's just great. Wolff has some incredible scenes, especially one in a car which feels so personal that we shouldn't even be watching. That and the sequence preceding it is one of several classic moments. Nothing in Cinematographer Pawel Pogorzelski's credits prepared me for his great work in this film, displaying a keen understanding of negative space and offscreen tension. Credit goes to the Editors, Lucian Johnston and Jennifer Lame, who know just when to reveal something creepy and when to hold back. Colin Stetson also contributes greatly with his truly unnerving score. The film goes off the rails in its third act, and many will shrug at its truly bizarre ending. Personally, I like where it went, daring to be completely out there, if only it had given us a little more to chew on with character minutiae. It's a bit of a swing and a miss, but I appreciate a film that goes for it, regardless. It's a film about grief, and as such, has its pretensions and lacks humor. Aster has provided us with many indelible moments, but next time out, I hope he rounds out his characters just a little bit more.