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HEREDITARY

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HEREDITARY

* * *

(Eerie tale of demonic possession)

Joyce and I sat there after two hours of watching eerie, dark, disturbing family events, trying to piece it all together while be shocked and shaken by the unusual ending. We didn't know whether to give it a * or a * * * *, so we settled on an unsettling * * *.

This is one strange movie, folks, true to its genre of things going bump in the night, hallucinations, red herrings, apparitions, insanity, and eerie background music.

The movie opens with an obituary of an old woman and her subsequent funeral. We meet her daughter, Annie (Toni Collette), and her husband (Gabriel Byrne), their teenage son Peter (Alex Wolff) and younger daughter Charlie (Milly Shapiro). Annie didn't like her reclusive, cold mother very much. Her side of the family had a history of mental illness.

Days after the burial, her grave is desecrated. Soon after that, Charlie is killed in a brutal accident that will give some viewers nightmares. Strange things start happening in the house, making you question Annie's sanity. She sleepwalks and enters her son's room at odd times.

Totally confused by weird events, Annie visits a grief support group and makes friends with a woman who encourages her to hold a séance and communicate with her dead daughter. The movie moves very slowly to its violent and confusing conclusion, causing deep discussion on the ride home.

The movie holds true to its genre, gets a bit out of control at times, yo-yos back and forth from psychological to violent to outrageous. One thing is for sure: It will hold your interest.

Rated a very big R, with profanity, nudity, drug use, blood, gore and violence.

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