Ask Spling – Episode 20: Which movie made you feel like you needed a shower after watching it?
In Episode 20 of ‘Ask Spling: Reel Talk and Real Life’… Spling answers: “Which movie made you feel like you needed a shower after watching it?” – a question from No_Bob.
Spling Verdict
While Ari Aster’s Hereditary stands as a masterpiece of modern psychological and folk horror, its profound visual and emotional lingering effect makes it a film I ultimately cannot recommend. It is an exceptional piece of cinema that achieves its dread so effectively that you are left desperately wishing you could shed the experience.
Key Insights
Masterclass in Contemporary Dread: Director Ari Aster (Midsommar) proves his status as a modern horror student by turning a grief-stricken family tragedy into an oppressive, satanic cult nightmare.
Toni Collette’s Career-Defining Work: Collette’s grounded, emotionally devastating performance anchors the narrative’s descent into generational trauma, making the supernatural horror feel brutally real.
Audio-Visual Psychological Triggers: Unsettling motifs – most notably young Charlie’s tongue click – and deliberate pacing create a tactile sense of unease long before the explicit horror escalates.
Folk Horror Peak with a Flaw: The climactic cult gathering elevates the film into extreme folk horror territory, managing to stay deeply haunting despite a brief third-act narrative speed wobble.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Hereditary worth watching for horror fans?
It depends on your tolerance for long-lasting psychological discomfort over standard jump-scares. From a technical and artistic perspective, Ari Aster’s feature debut is a brilliant addition to the contemporary horror canon, featuring a career-best performance from Toni Collette and intricate direction that rivals classic modern cinema. However, its exploration of inherited trauma and satanic cult rituals creates a lingering, oppressive atmosphere that stays with you long after the credits roll. From a South African critical perspective, where cinema often touches on heavy structural motifs, Hereditary hits extraordinarily hard. It’s a masterpiece of dread, but its psychological toll is so severe that I regularly caution viewers before they press play.
Does Ari Aster’s direction make Hereditary a successful horror film?
Yes, Ari Aster’s direction is nothing short of masterful, establishing him alongside the absolute best modern auteurs of the genre. By treating Hereditary first as a grounded family drama about grief and generational dysfunction, Aster builds an authentic foundation before introducing supernatural elements linked to the family’s secretive matriarch. His precise camera work, paired with subtle spatial design and unsettling audio cues – like the iconic, haunting tongue click – builds unbearable tension. Even when the chaotic third-act folk horror climax suffers a brief narrative speed wobble, Aster’s vision holds strong. The film achieves exactly what high-art horror sets out to do: it invades your psyche and lingers indefinitely.
Why do critics find the ending of Hereditary so unsettling?
Yes, the ending is precisely what transforms the film from a standard haunted house narrative into an unforgettable folk-horror nightmare. As the grandmother’s dark legacy culminates in a surreal, horrifying gathering, the film shifts from psychological breakdown to total cult subjugation. While the rapid escalation nearly derails the movie’s established pacing, the sheer audacity of the final imagery leaves a profound mark on the viewer. It creates a physical sense of contamination – a feeling so heavy that you feel the urge to metaphorically shower or shed the experience entirely. That inescapable lingering effect is why the climax remains one of the most discussed and disturbing sequences in modern horror history.
