James Coleman
Research Statement
Horror movies are becoming one of the most popular movie genres in recent years. While there is a lot of horror movies franchises being anticipated by fans all over the world like Annabelle or The Conjuring, there are many horror movies that really stand out among the horror fans and Hereditary is definitely one of them. Released in June 2018, Hereditary was directed by Ari Aster, though he wasn’t as famous as Blumhouse productions or other big horror movie studios, Hereditary didn’t let the audience down. The movie fits right into the concept of Monsters and Misfits as it digs deep into the world of spiritual beliefs and demons that is seeking a way back into this world. Hereditary focused on a family that has a lot of terrifying secrets regarding its ancestry, which soon is torn apart. Our protagonists in the film are also misfits in a way, as they seemed to be hated by a lot of people, or they simply act differently from the rest because of the spirit living among them, trying to ruin a family by finding a host from one of the members for its benefit of coming back to life. From those ideas, my adaptation is going to be on how a dying character, who through a family torn apart with secrets will find a host to keep his life going. The monstrous character that would willingly do anything, even if it requires killing most of the family for their own benefits of keeping their life going.
Personally, Hereditary is a very successful horror movie in 2018 among many great horror films in recent years. Both with its amazing horror scenes that were very original, doing things that no other horror films did. The way that Hereditary achieved its jump scares and scary scenes with such new ideas that no one expected to happen, such as hitting the telephone pole, which decapitated the sister. That isn’t some typical horror scenes that always seem to appear on “every horror movies ever”. The cinematography of Hereditary is also amazing. With the mother character, Annie works as someone who creates dollhouses, the movie is also filmed in such ways that make the scenes and house layout looks just like a dollhouse. Transitions between scenes are also very well executed in conjunction with the dollhouse feelings from the way it was filmed. However, there are many things that I don’t really enjoy about this movie; for example, the storyline about the demon Paimon. The unconventional antagonist was made too subtle for the audience who were too busy being scared to actually focus on small details throughout the movie. Only to be revealed much later in the movie that there’s a demon trying to come back to life, which made the ending seems a bit too boring compared to all the horrors throughout the film. In my adaptation, I will probably make those small hints and introduction of the antagonist a bit clearer, something that doesn’t require the audience to reread or rewatch the movie a few times to notice.
Hereditary was set in an old house in the woods. The setting of being in nature, being far away from most of the society nowadays is a great place for some crimes to happen without being noticed by the outside world. However, the main parts of the plot involve the treehouse in their yard, so changing the setting would dramatically change this work. The time period, however, doesn’t have that much of an impact on the work. According to the clothing of the characters, technologies, and settings, Hereditary most likely took place in the 21st century. Yet changing the time period wouldn’t necessarily make that much of difference on the work since the idea of a demon and its followers can exist from many years, even centuries ago. Each of the characters all serves different purposes of the plot, which all take parts in making Hereditary a great movie. The mother who got out of her mind after losing her mom, losing her daughter, and finding out the secrets hidden among her family ancestry, even among her own mother and relatives that she had no clue about. Her daughter, Charlie, lives in a world of her own, a misfit in this world because she was the first host of king Paimon. From then he could get rid of Charlie, by a devastating death as she was decapitated, to approach his target, Peter. Peter, although he has more of a social life than other family members, his life was soon ruined with everything he has to face against while Paimon is slowly destroying every member of his family. Every main character and many supporting characters have a very important role, as they all make the plot so much more interesting, and horrifying as well. Therefore, removing some characters might have a big impact on the work, however, we can change the characters up a bit to add some twists to it.
In my adaptation, I would be exploring the idea of a character who would willingly do everything to extend their life. With that character being so monstrous, to the extent that it destroyed a family piece by piece, to finally be able to obtain a host for its benefit. I want to show how a real monster might not only exist in one’s wildest imaginary but right here in this world, living among us all without anyone noticing. From there, hopefully, the audience is going to see a more familiar view, to relate more to the story unlike a demon from hundreds of years ago that most of the audiences have no clue about. It would be able to show how scary a human being can be, just like an office worker by day and a coldblooded murderer by night, there is always a dark side of society.
Personally, Hereditary is a very successful horror movie in 2018 among many great horror films in recent years. Both with its amazing horror scenes that were very original, doing things that no other horror films did. The way that Hereditary achieved its jump scares and scary scenes with such new ideas that no one expected to happen, such as hitting the telephone pole, which decapitated the sister. That isn’t some typical horror scenes that always seem to appear on “every horror movies ever”. The cinematography of Hereditary is also amazing. With the mother character, Annie works as someone who creates dollhouses, the movie is also filmed in such ways that make the scenes and house layout looks just like a dollhouse. Transitions between scenes are also very well executed in conjunction with the dollhouse feelings from the way it was filmed. However, there are many things that I don’t really enjoy about this movie; for example, the storyline about the demon Paimon. The unconventional antagonist was made too subtle for the audience who were too busy being scared to actually focus on small details throughout the movie. Only to be revealed much later in the movie that there’s a demon trying to come back to life, which made the ending seems a bit too boring compared to all the horrors throughout the film. In my adaptation, I will probably make those small hints and introduction of the antagonist a bit clearer, something that doesn’t require the audience to reread or rewatch the movie a few times to notice.
Hereditary was set in an old house in the woods. The setting of being in nature, being far away from most of the society nowadays is a great place for some crimes to happen without being noticed by the outside world. However, the main parts of the plot involve the treehouse in their yard, so changing the setting would dramatically change this work. The time period, however, doesn’t have that much of an impact on the work. According to the clothing of the characters, technologies, and settings, Hereditary most likely took place in the 21st century. Yet changing the time period wouldn’t necessarily make that much of difference on the work since the idea of a demon and its followers can exist from many years, even centuries ago. Each of the characters all serves different purposes of the plot, which all take parts in making Hereditary a great movie. The mother who got out of her mind after losing her mom, losing her daughter, and finding out the secrets hidden among her family ancestry, even among her own mother and relatives that she had no clue about. Her daughter, Charlie, lives in a world of her own, a misfit in this world because she was the first host of king Paimon. From then he could get rid of Charlie, by a devastating death as she was decapitated, to approach his target, Peter. Peter, although he has more of a social life than other family members, his life was soon ruined with everything he has to face against while Paimon is slowly destroying every member of his family. Every main character and many supporting characters have a very important role, as they all make the plot so much more interesting, and horrifying as well. Therefore, removing some characters might have a big impact on the work, however, we can change the characters up a bit to add some twists to it.
In my adaptation, I would be exploring the idea of a character who would willingly do everything to extend their life. With that character being so monstrous, to the extent that it destroyed a family piece by piece, to finally be able to obtain a host for its benefit. I want to show how a real monster might not only exist in one’s wildest imaginary but right here in this world, living among us all without anyone noticing. From there, hopefully, the audience is going to see a more familiar view, to relate more to the story unlike a demon from hundreds of years ago that most of the audiences have no clue about. It would be able to show how scary a human being can be, just like an office worker by day and a coldblooded murderer by night, there is always a dark side of society.