I've never liked horror movies. Partly being because I get scared easily (the ending of the first "Harry Potter" movie kept me up for a week), and I don't really like the aim of a movie being to try to scare me. When this is the goal, I feel like all of the effort goes towards crafting these jump scares which results in a lackluster movie overall. However, after seeing the initial reviews for "Hereditary," I could tell this horror movie would be different. And, holy f*cking sh*t, it was.

A non-spoilery blurb for this movie would be: When Ellen passes away, her daughter Annie (Toni Collette) begins to discover all of the secrets her mother had been keeping from her. But you see, that's super lame and doesn't even begin to illustrate how awesome this movie is. So, I'm just gonna spoil it for you below.

So, basically, Annie's mom was the host for Paimon, a God of Hell. And there is this hereditary (get it?) possession ritual she has taken part in for generations, egged on by her cult of followers (yeah, it's a literal cult). So, once she dies, Paimon needs a new host. So, understandably, her cult followers begin to harass the family (Annie and her husband [who we don't care about], their son Peter and his little sister, Charlie) and finesse their way into their lives to get a new host for Paimon. Charlie is a perfect target for Paimon, but there is a slight problem: Paimon prefers a male host. So, the cult essentially has to get Charlie's spirit into Peter's body. And because the family, and viewers, have no idea this ritual exists, shit gets freaky really fast.

There are two scenes in particular that made this movie one of my favorites ever, as well as showing me all the horror genre has to offer. I cannot stop thinking about them; incredible considering I saw this movie June 8th and as I write this it's June 27th. The first: Charlie's death scene.

This was undoubtedly one of the most haunting scenes I have witnessed in my life. As Charlie has an allergic reaction to peanuts and is sticking her head out the window, Peter is driving 70, 80, 90 miles an hour on a road in the middle of nowhere to get her to a hospital. Your heart is racing and the music swells, you know something horrible is going to happen. A dead animal appears in the middle of the road, and while Peter swerves to avoid hitting it, Charlie is decapitated by a telephone pole. THE WORLD FUCKING STOPPED. We see Peter slam on the breaks knowing exactly what happened. As well as knowing his life isn't going to be the same once he looks in the backseat. An incredible part on Alex Wolff's part, Peter stares forward at the road gripping the steering wheel for dear life and cries for what seems like a small eternity, and then he drives away. He gets home, walks around the car as to not see Charlie's body, and goes to his room without a word to his parents. The next morning, we see a shot of Peter's guilt ridden face while hearing Annie wail as she discovers Charlie's decapitated body in the backseat of the car.

This entire sequence was about 15 minutes and I swear I took maybe three breaths.

I said two scenes shook me to my core, still, almost a month out. However the second wasn't even a scene, it was a SINGLE SHOT.

This takes place much later in the movie. We know that there is some demon/possession action happening, but we're still not exactly sure how it's going to unfold. So, among the chaos, we get a sort-of two-dimensional shot of Peter in his bed from the side; almost as if a kindergartner were asked to draw their room. He's the center of the viewer's focus, and, based on the lighting being primarily dark except for a light glow from the window, this light glow is being broadcasted onto the back wall. We see this shot for forever (like, 20 seconds in movie time). And, as your eyes adjust to the light, you begin to see a figure in the upper corner of the screen: Peter's possessed mom who is literally coming for him.

This scene was an experience in a theatre I will never forget. Everyone's eyes adjust to light differently, so everyone is horrified at different times. The popcorning "oh shit" that gained momentum as time progressed was a moment I never thought a film could produce. But, leave it to director Ari Aster to wreck everyone in that theatre.

From the beginning, you knew it was a scary movie; that was never trying to be downplayed. But what Aster does is create this broken family and it's not something that is as entirely far-fetched as some other horror movies I've seen. One of the reasons I never really watch horror films is because it seems like they were made to be an adrenaline rush; you're sitting in the theatre nervous cause there's a creature going to pop out at any moment and the music is loud and you're overwhelmed. But in "Hereditary," it is so much more than that. Every minute detail contributes to the overall story, and they give you enough time to put it together. From the get-go, you realize that the idea is that the family is being tormented from an outside force. And it was incredible.

Please go see this movie and support this cast and crew, you will not regret it.