I finally saw this for the first time, just the other day. Then I watched it again late late late last night, as I was falling asleep. BAD MOVE. REALLY bad. Bad bad bad bad bad. Did I say it was a bad move? Because it was. Damn. No good dreams at all. At ALL.

I am trying to get caught up on... all kinds of things, this board included. Family stuff too, and general life crap... So anyway, I finally saw Hereditary, and also Midsommar for the first time... I know, that's pathetic, but at least I'm getting around to doing these things now.

It's hard to talk about Hereditary without spoiling it. People here seem to be being careful about that. We can say that it's a slow burn, and that the images are really effective... I certainly agree with both those things. I would also say that the writer/director seems to be good about both showing and telling. They say "show, don't tell: is a good maxim for moviemakers, and I agree with that. But he manages to do both, very well, I think. Like, having the Toni Collette character hash out her family history in group therapy, and then later with her new buddy Joan. She just did it so dramatically, I can't imagine anyone having big problems with it.

I agree that it is in the tradition of Rosemary's Baby, but I would add that it seemed even closer to Paranormal Activity... to me, at least. And, in a good way. Maybe some of the sequels, more than the original P.A.... they all kind of blur together for me.

Anyway, just in general... yeah! Great movie.

I saw somewhere online (probably the trivia section on the IMDB page for Midsommar) that Swedish audiences just thought the whole movie was hilarious, they just laughed and laughed. It might have had a little street cred if it was made by a Swedish company, but Avi Aster is a Jewish dude from New York City, and they filmed the whole thing in Hungary, not Sweden. I mean, jeez... I do think it has some redeeming features, but it's nowhere near as good as Hereditary.

OK, now I can't stop thinking about this movie. And, it's getting pretty close to bedtime, soooo that's just beautiful. But, I just wanted to ask, does anyone have any thoughts on the nature of the daughter in the family? By her nature, I mean what the hell was she? Do you guys think she was half and half, a human girl and the demon? I'm leaning toward the theory that she was pretty much 100% demon right from the beginning, but she didn't fully understand that that was what she was.... I can't figure it out though. The way she panicked and went looking for her human older brother when she had that allergic reaction to the nuts in the chocolate cake, at the party, made her seem like a normal, human, scared girl. But, those spooky dolls she was always making implied at LEAST a deeply disturbed unconscious mind, if not necessarily that she was possessed at the time. Anyway, if anybody has any thoughts on this, I would like to hear them.

I like Toni Collette's character's workshop in Hereditary. The place where she made miniature stuff. It looked like such a cool place to be creative, with all har tools everywhere and little jars and boxes and caninets full of arts and crafts stuff. It would be a good "happy place" to be able to retreat to, when the horrors of life get too overwhelming. Her life had more than its share of horrors, of course.