The golden age of grown-up horror

The genre - a mix of indie fare and blockbusters - works ferociously on adult anxieties in a time of dislocation

Toni Collette plays an artist and mother tormented by family secrets in Hereditary.
Toni Collette plays an artist and mother tormented by family secrets in Hereditary. PHOTO: REID CHAVIS, A24
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NEW YORK • In Hereditary, bugs crawl from decapitated heads, ghosts lurk in the shadows and an artist tries to communicate with the dead.

But the most jarring moment of this terrifying new movie might be when Annie, a mother played by Toni Collette, tells her son she never wanted to have him and tried to induce a miscarriage.

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on June 09, 2018, with the headline The golden age of grown-up horror. Subscribe