how HEREDITARY gets under your skin [video essay]

in this video essay, i explore ari aster's fantastic hereditary and how it manages to get under your skin.
apologies for the awkward freeze frames. it was the only way i could combat copyright.
i also think that this video has the best use of the alvin and the chipmunks: the squeakquel poster since that masterpiece came out.
thought it had been long enough since my last video essay and rewatching hereditary with some unsuspecting friends made me realise just how much i loved it and there was to analyse.
twitter/letterboxd: @JakeBamEls
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Link to Hazy Daze's great Hereditary video essay on the setups & payoffs in the film: • HEREDITARY: How to Wri...
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i do NOT own any of the copyright used in this video. It is all held by the copyright holders.
Footage/Audio used from:
Hereditary (2018) - A24
Avengers: Infinity War (2018) - Disney
Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel (2009) - 20th Century Fox
Scott Pilgrim vs The World (2010) - Universal Pictures
Annabelle: Creation (2017) - Warner Bros
The Dark Knight (2008) - Warner Bros
Hell's Kitchen (2005) - Fox
Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017) - Disney
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#Hereditary #Horror #VideoEssay

[@benl4304]

*Whether its pizza burning your tongue, or your dead grandmothers cult*

[@itabrennan7420]

I know, really. Terrific commentary!😂❤

[@blackjackson11]

that part got me LMFAOOO

[@amelieviljoen6766]

the dinner scene in this movie deserved oscars

[@itabrennan7420]

Swear to God, Toni Collettes' performance. I keep watching this scene. Byrne's role as the mute bystander to the impending chaos. Wolffs' drip realisation he is being engulfed by Paimon is. Just is.

[@bruhmoment-yc5zg]

Yesterday I was thinking about Hereditary and I was finally able to put my finger on that nauseous feeling after watching it... It was the same feeling as when a cheerful, positive friend reveals their terrible family situation to you (whether it be a divorce or abusive parent), and for some reason you feel this emotional baggage just knowing about it, and you can't look at your happy friend the same way ever again.

[@itabrennan7420]

And your analysis is spot-on btw.

[@r-pupz7032]

Great essay, I saw Hereditary in the cinema and I was *terrified*. It was such a shock to the system, I loved it. Also, great opening! I hate it when your grandmother's cult tries to get you possessed by a demon..

[@r-pupz7032]

Gonna rewatch this for Halloween I think 🖤

[@thedoctorwhoexpert7]

Great video essay as always, really need to give this one a rewatch! Stellar as always from you! Man, I love the precision and attention to detail you put into these.

[@jacobsaul]

thedoctorwhoexpert7 oh you’re too kind 😉 hereditary only gets stronger on the rewatch. the foreshadowing is through the roof. makes you wonder how there was ever any mystery as to what was going to happen 😂 and please, precision and detail is my middle name 😉

[@toonydotloony]

I know this essay is 4 years old but I wanted to say something about Charlie that I haven’t seen anyone else say. The part of this movie that made me jump the most wasn’t any of the horror scenes, nor was it any of the typical “the scene that made me the most scared wasn’t the horror but the interpersonal drama” answers (like the dinner scene). I jumped the most when Annie grabbed Charlie and pulled her back into the house forcefully. I don’t know if anyone else sees it this way, but I chose to believe going in that nothing Charlie did was malicious, and everything was a product of her being autistic, young, and in a family full of drama with a mother who doesn’t know how to parent an autistic kid and a brother who calls her the r slur with his friends. When I was a young kid who didn’t understand concepts like empathy and the permanence of death, I did plenty of weird shit. Granted, I never cut any pigeons with scissors, but sometimes I would act out and hurt a classmate, or do bizarre things just to see what would happen. Charlie for sure has higher support needs than I did, and her family is a lot less stable than mine. I don’t think Charlie is the devil at all. I think her grandmother tried her best to put the devil in her, and succeeded in plaguing the poor kid with unexplainable visions, but at the end of the film I don’t think that’s the devil. With the way her eyes widen, that’s still a kid. The sickness inside her wasn’t a supernatural force her grandmother shoved in her as a baby, but the actions of her grandmother and the people she left behind. Nothing was prophesied. At any point, if anyone made any effort to understand anyone, it all could’ve been different

[@itabrennan7420]

I'm infused by your commentary. I'm obsessed with this extraordinary film.

[@andrejbajer9190]

How does this not have more views?? Well written. Well recorded audio. I hope you get recognition you deserve :)

[@jacobsaul]

awh that's very kind of you, thank you ☺️

[@Skyler_Momoko]

This is a phenominal video essay - absolutely incredible!

[@jacobsaul]

thank you! glad you enjoyed it:)

[@danielvitor6977]

I will never aloud myself to forgive you to put the Alvin and the chipmunks poster to cover her head because I lost it so hard. I was so into the deep narrative. Jesus that was hilarious

[@jacobsaul]

alvin and the chipmunks 2: the squeakquel just hits different

[@ashleywalker1411]

How low vibrational you truly are. But have fear. We are only beginning with you.

[@melpomene541]

I just found your channel and I’m in love how did it take me so long......,,,

[@jacobsaul]

awh thank you, glad you're enjoying it🥰

[@scotscub76]

Great video. This is now my favourite horror ever.

[@jacobsaul]

thank you! glad you enjoyed it:) can definitely see why it's your favourite!

[@scotscub76]

@@jacobsaul I get something out of it with every new view. I'll never forget the impact of "That scene" in the cinema. Toni Collete's portrayal of grief just had me frozen in my seat. That scene is real emotional horror. It was that moment I realised I was no longer in control as a viewer. Ari Aster had me prisoner for the whole ride. totally .

[@jacobsaul]

@@scotscub76 as a filmmaker he holds such power over the viewer that really suffocates and envelopes them into the experience by employing some fantastic techniques. have you seen midsommar? interested in your thoughts of that

[@scotscub76]

@@jacobsaul yes I really enjoyed it too. It didn't affect me as much as Hereditary. The opening scene was powerful.

[@ashleywalker1411]

@@jacobsaul I recommended it. Now you follow in the path I pave for you.

[@Zachary_L]

Again those Laurels have been earned

[@itabrennan7420]

Paul Glazer is a genius. Simple.

It is a catholic "bu! Scare!" Wtf "9 king of hell" that is for teens to scare. :-)

[@antarathakur3046]

"charm" hmm

[@vindictussuccubus8302]

I love how the film is able to to do so many things with emotional responses and how it works with suspense in a way I've never experienced before

[@Terry-Cybil]

Batman couldn't save them... Come on.

[@MK_1Ultra]

Hmmm🤔 avid horror film viewer here, and ill admit the film had a great theme and range of intensity but i wasn't impressed overall. There were no real gags that got me, i figured the head would come off the minute she was gasping out the window, i knew the mother would take it hard, but really annoyed me the most is that there was no real kinetic connection between the witchcraft and the happenings. I wanted a better realization than just the creepy nice lady that befriends the grieving mother. That sucked. Nothing in this film said horror to me, even as the father spontaneously caught fire and the mother was possessed. These tropes work well for mediocre audiences but for horror fans it lacks.

[@buggentleman]

I think the movie conveys horror in a more personal, human way than most modern horror. With the world we live in today people are almost desensitized to the common horror tropes of jump scares and strange creatures. Ari didnt want to make a movie that makes you scream. He wanted to make a movie that haunts you to the core.

[@buggentleman]

Not saying this to make it seem like I dont like good old fashioned horror tropes. After all It Follows is one of my favorite modern horror films. I love the way it uses common horror themes while also not being afraid to do something new with them.

[@MK_1Ultra]

@@buggentleman it felt unhaunting in the sense that i wasnt leaving the theater with that warm rush most get from a film.

[@JesusGomez-ob2qt]

What you said at the end is quite the opposite lol horror fans love this film. You clearly aren't a horror fan and just want cheap Jumpscares and ghouls instead of something horrific aka the name of the genre..

[@winstonmarlowe5254]

@@JesusGomez-ob2qt Imagine basing your personal identity on the entertainment you consume. Grow up, dude.