Movies
‘Hereditary’ Star Milly Shapiro Perfectly Sums Up the Polarizing Reaction to the Film
It’s not uncommon for movies to be well reviewed by critics but not exactly well received by general audiences, and A24’s Ari Aster-directed Hereditary, released into theaters last week, is a perfect example of that division. Critically speaking, Hereditary sits tall on Rotten Tomatoes with a 92% fresh, but the audience-polled CinemaScore is a dismal D+.
So what’s the story there? Why did Hereditary receive such a low audience rating when *most* critics absolutely loved it? Much of that is likely due to expectation, as star Milly “Charlie” Shapiro pitch perfectly explained in a chat with Uproxx this week.
“I think a lot of people don’t get it the first time, and they’re probably going in expecting the typical horror movie and they’re not really open to a new style,” Shapiro told the site. “It is very similar to The Exorcist and The Shining in that there is a lot of development and it’s not about jump scares. It’s about psychological scares, and I think a lot of people weren’t really sure what to expect when they went in. They just expected the typical modern horror movie, which is a bunch of jump scares, and you’re not really supposed to think about it, everything is handed to you.”
The 15 year old actress, a Tony winner and Grammy nominee who made her feature debut in Hereditary, continued, “But Hereditary isn’t really like that, and I think all the reviewers were going in with an open mind. I think a lot of the people going in to see the film that didn’t like it weren’t really open to the new ideas of it.”
For many audiences, Hereditary being billed as “one of the scariest movies ever made!!” was likely more of a detriment to their enjoyment than anything else, as it’s “scary” in a different way than we’re really used to horror movies being. In fact, it’s more deeply, profoundly unsettling than it is jump-in-your-seat scary, so I think Shapiro is spot on in suggesting that many were perhaps expecting the wrong thing from the film.
Mind you, that’s not to say anyone is wrong for not liking Hereditary (or any critically acclaimed film), as a personal opinion can never be wrong, but it’s certainly been interesting to see how audiences are reacting to the film versus how critics have been.
If I was a betting man, I’d bet that Hereditary is going to be one of those films that’s more appreciated by many on a second watch, when expectations are in the right place.
After all, that’s kinda the A24 way.
After pulling in $28 million at the worldwide box office this month, director (and star) Dev Patel’s critically acclaimed action-thriller Monkey Man is now available to watch at home.
You can rent Monkey Man for $19.99 or digitally purchase the film for $24.99!
Monkey Man is currently 88% Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, with Bloody Disgusting’s head critic Meagan Navarro awarding the film 4.5/5 stars in her review out of SXSW back in March.
Meagan raves, “While the violence onscreen is palpable and painful, it’s not just the exquisite fight choreography and thrilling action set pieces that set Monkey Man apart but also its political consciousness, unique narrative structure, and myth-making scale.”
“While Monkey Man pays tribute to all of the action genre’s greats, from the Indonesian action classics to Korean revenge cinema and even a John Wick joke or two, Dev Patel’s cultural spin and unique narrative structure leave behind all influences in the dust for new terrain,” Meagan’s review continues.
She adds, “Monkey Man presents Dev Patel as a new action hero, a tenacious underdog with a penetrating stare who bites, bludgeons, and stabs his way through bodies to gloriously bloody excess. More excitingly, the film introduces Patel as a strong visionary right out of the gate.”
Inspired by the legend of Hanuman, Monkey Man stars Patel as Kid, an anonymous young man who ekes out a meager living in an underground fight club where, night after night, wearing a gorilla mask, he is beaten bloody by more popular fighters for cash. After years of suppressed rage, Kid discovers a way to infiltrate the enclave of the city’s sinister elite. As his childhood trauma boils over, his mysteriously scarred hands unleash an explosive campaign of retribution to settle the score with the men who took everything from him.
Monkey Man is produced by Jordan Peele’s Monkeypaw Productions.
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