Movies
Find Los Angeles movie showtimes, read movie reviews, find theaters in your neighborhood and buy movie tickets here. Plus, browse the top film events in L.A.
'Hereditary' star Toni Collette and director Ari Aster on their terrifying new horror film
Outside: a thick snowfall. An icy midnight silence. But if you were in the theater during that shivery January weekend when Hereditary first traumatized its Sundance audiences, you were surrounded by a riot of noises. They mostly came from those of us in the crowd: low moans of dread exploding into full-throated shrieks, then laughter at how completely owned we were. A hypnotic stretch of stillness, followed by a quiet, John Carpenter–worthy reveal (and a wave of impressed applause). Finally, afterward, loading into the festival bus in a stunned, post-film daze, one perverse viewer clucked his tongue—a recurring motif in the movie—and everybody jumped. “Thanks a lot,” someone groused. “The hyperbole has been fun to soak in,” admits 31-year-old writer-director Ari Aster, responding to the praise that’s mushroomed around his feature debut, a supernatural nightmare about a suburban family’s descent into hell. “I think that’s probably not healthy,” he adds quickly. “I wasn’t aiming to make a horror landmark—I was aiming to make a horror film that I would like. Because I haven’t liked any in a long time.” Over a few beers at April’s genre-centric Overlook Film Festival in New Orleans, where Hereditary also killed, Aster is a sweet guy, prone to shy smiles, thoughtful pauses and self-deprecation. He’s somebody who listens to Martin Scorsese interviews on his iPhone, a geek who’d rather chat about Criterion Blu-rays than opening grosses. Ari Aster and Toni Collette on the set
