The horror movie Martin Scorsese calls “wonderful filmmaking”
In an industry saturated with films aiming to shock, those that truly resonate with viewers and transcend the screen are a rarity. Yet, these extraordinary movies often find advocates amongst cinema’s most esteemed names. One such instance came to the fore when master director Martin Scorsese lavished praise on a work he deemed “wonderful filmmaking'”.
During the 57th New York Film Festival, where Scorsese was busy promoting his own gangster epic The Irishman, the director found time to offer high praise for Ari Aster’s Hereditary. The 2018 A24 horror movie stood out amongst its contemporaries for its ability to tap into the most profound fears of its audience – not simply supernatural dread, but the terror of inescapable, inherited fate.
“When you find something that stands out, it’s amazing,” Scorses began. “And this did. The story – some of it I forget, but what I didn’t forget was the family.”
Further praising the performances, the director explained: “The three of them, these actors – they’re astounding. I remember the actual supernatural plot of it – I remember the ending very well. But what I really think is powerful in the film is really dynamic. And what this kind of metaphor is.”
Centred on the Graham family, Hereditary slowly peels back the layers of grief and inherited trauma, revealing a haunting tale of possession, deception, and inescapable destiny. Both a critical and commercial success, the movie features an outstanding performance by Toni Collette as the matriarch Annie, a detail Scorsese found particularly compelling, referring to Aster’s talent with actors as “what’s important in terms of this filmmaker”.
One pivotal scene attracted special commendation from Scorsese. This sequence involves Collette’s character reaching a state of peak hysteria, culminating in her witnessing her husband’s spontaneous combustion. “The intercutting and how it’s done – it’s just wonderful filmmaking, really,” Scorsese remarked. It’s a scene that fans and casual audiences alike won’t be forgetting any time soon, and clearly, it directly impacted the Goodfellas director.
Coming from a maestro known for making some of the greatest contributions ever to film history, this high praise for Hereditary reinforces that the movie isn’t your average scary movie – it’s a testament to the immense emotional weight a horror film can carry when approached with creative ingenuity and emotional sensitivity.
Agreeing that the film was “disturbing, no doubt”, the director nevertheless asserted that Hereditary was “more than that” and, in a final comment that Aster will probably hold close to his heart for decades to come, he concluded: “It reminds me of the best of the horror”.
