Ari Aster continues to collect A-lister filmmaker fans. First, Martin Scorsese wrote an introduction to “Midsommar” for the film’s collector’s edition Blu-ray. Now, it is up to recent Oscar-winner director Bong Joon-ho to write a foreword to a new A24 book on “Hereditary.”
The foreword comes as part of the latest A24 Books, which publishes unabridged screenplays for some of their films like Barry Jenkins‘ “Moonlight,” and Robert Eggers‘ “The Witch.” The “Hereditary” book includes not only the script and director Bong’s foreword, but also Aster’s breakdown of the family séance scene in the film.
It should not come as a surprise to see director Bong come out as a fan of Aster. After all, the “Parasite” Oscar-winner named Aster as one of 20 directors that will impact the future of cinema.
READ MORE: Ari Aster Says His Next Project Is A 4-Hour “Nightmare Comedy”
You can read the foreword below:
He’s facing forward in the driver seat, completely frozen. He can’t bear to look back. In the backseat is his sister Charlie’s BODY, covered in thick, tar-like blood. Only the body. No head. If he looks up ever so slightly, he will be able to see her through the rearview mirror. So he can’t even move his eyes. Eventually, he gets out of the car without looking at all. Once dawn breaks, he will hear his mother’s scream.
Even more terrifying than the decapitated girl in the backseat is the fact that we, as an audience, may have — subconsciously — hoped for Charlie’s death. Of course this is not the film’s ‘official’ stance — to root for a child’s death. But when Charlie makes annoying sounds with her tongue, or when she cuts the head off a dead pigeon, the movie is undoubtedly sending signals that fill us with sinister thoughts.
While the film is an impeccable work of genre in which occult elements are cleverly, tightly woven together, I wonder if genre is just a cover for the real horror. Because the true horror comes from the family itself. One of the most terrifying scenes in the film is the dimly lit dinner scene, which has no occult elements and relies solely on Toni Collette’s explosive performance. The film is ostensibly about the hell that a family suffers as generation after generation is swallowed by a demon, but it’s actually saying that family itself (or ties defined by blood) is hell.
In ‘Hereditary,’ Ari Aster goes beyond the trappings of genre and delivers true, profound horror. A horror that is primal and inescapable. In order to survive this overwhelming horror, we cast a spell on ourselves. We hope that the gruesome moments we witnessed will eventually settle into a “neutral view of the accident,” like an innocuous tableau made up of adorable miniature figures.
The “Hereditary” book is available on A24’s website.
