I’m going to try to recommend a new movie each day until Halloween.

Oh, what to say about this movie? There’s a lot to say…a TON to say, really…but not without spoilers. And to even give the plot of the movie is to get into spoilers, which is why the trailer for the movie is rather misleading. If you saw the trailer, you know that it’s something to do with this odd-looking girl and her weird dead grandmother. Most everyone thought this was a movie about a girl possessed by her evil grandmother’s ghost or something. And it’s not. It’s not that at all. But to say what the plot is…

…well, don’t you want the joy of finding out? Because that’s what the movie Hereditary is: learning the true plot.

I can safely tell you this: There’s a family, the Graham family. A mother played by Toni Collette, a father played by Gabriel Byrne, a 16-year-old son and a 13-year-old daughter, Charlie.

Charlie is…odd. The young actress is actually rather pretty, but they did a good makeup job on her and her acting sells it, because Charlie is disturbing. We know that she was very close with her grandmother, who has passed away as the movie begins, and the family is in mourning.

And that’s where we’re going to stop, even though, as with The Thing, I’ve barely given you the premise as the movie starts. Any more and I’d be giving you massive spoilers and would ruin the huge moment in the end of the first act and even hints of what happens at the end. All you need to know is that I not only recommend Hereditary, I recommend that you watch it, read a web site or two about the movie, and watch it again.

Toni Collette deserves an Oscar for this role, but it’s a horror film so we all know that that’s moot. She gets a monologue at a grief support group that will have you spellbound.

This film had severely mixed reviews, but I would ascribe that to the general public’s unwillingness to like horror movies that don’t immediately make sense and have a satisfying conclusion wrapped up in a bow. This one’s a thinker. After you watch it, and go read the trivia and learn all the things you failed to spot the first time, and about the meaning and symbolism of various elements, it makes a second viewing far more entertaining. Which isn’t to say that the first time through isn’t entertaining…I certainly found it did the job of a good horror movie…but much like Pulp Fiction, a second watch is better once you’ve read all the trivia on IMDb. There are many shots of this movie that are hiding things in plain sight.

I was reading one such web site about Hereditary. It provided over a dozen moments of people being in the picture, unseen by the audience. (This isn’t about jump scares. This is worse. It’s about not even realizing there is something dangerous in a shadowy corner of a room.) It also listed symbols and mythology that would make a second watch far more illuminating. And after reading all that…I read the comments section, where the readers began listing amazing things completely missed by the author!

Here is one of the most amusing tidbits, which I will hide behind a spoiler. I urge you to NOT read this until after your first viewing:

If you’re wanting a simple slasher for a party, this is not your movie. But if you’re wanting a smart horror film, try Hereditary.