CJG THE HATCHET MAN Scene Dissection — “The Dinner Scene” in HEREDITARY 2018.

Courtesy of A24. Toni Collette as Annie in an underrated performance that drew accolades, but not Academy attention.

Welcome back to CJG THE HATCHET MAN — your ultimate dissector of all things eerie, spooky, and occasionally bloody! Sometimes the goriest scenes… are at the dinner table! Here’s a brief snippet of Ari Aster’s screenplay dialogue:

“And I know you miss her, and I know it was an accident and I know you’re in pain. And I wish I could take that away for you. I wish I could shield you from the knowledge that you did what you did, but your sister is dead! She’s gone forever! And what a waste. If it could have maybe brought us together or something. If you could have just said, “I’m sorry”, or faced up to what happened. Maybe then we could do something with this. But you can’t take responsibility for anything! So now I can’t accept…And I can’t forgive because… Because nobody admits anything they’ve done!” — Toni Collette in a heartbreaking scene towards her on-screen son Alex Wolff in Ari Aster’s superbly written scene about his sister’s accidental death/beheading.

Hereditary (2018) | Annie Snaps

2010s — The Rise of Elevated Horror.

The late 2010s saw a rise in another genre classification — that of “Elevated” or “Prestige Horror”. As to which film began the trend, I don’t know, but 2014’s IT FOLLOWS, and 2015’s THE BABADOOK were considered the first genre entries, both were horror films that dealt with heavier themes found in dramas and also added the weight of psychological horror with gravitas and weight. They’d receive critical acclaim and some box office success proving that horror and artistic ambition were good bedfellows. Jordan Peele’s GET OUT, also proved that elevated horror had its place in the mainstream and could garner awards and huge box office as well.

However, first-time writer-director Ari Aster, would shatter the mold with his debut feature, HEREDITARY in 2018. He hit it completely out of the park with this merging of witchcraft, supernatural lore and demonology tropes with the dysfunctional family drama we’ve seen in various films like ORDINARY PEOPLE and THE ICE STORM. In fact, think of ORDINARY PEOPLE (1980) cross-bred with ROSEMARY’S BABY (1968) — occult conspiracy meets domestic devastation in ways that felt genuinely new.

Grief Weaponized.

The film’s emotional apex doesn’t occur when the supernatural or demonology finally take ahold of the Graham family — but at the most domestic of places, the dinner table. Yes, some spoilers if you haven’t seen the film yet, so I will pause this for now…

Seen it? Okay, Proceed!

The scene takes place after Charlie (Milly Shapiro in a breakout performance), Annie (Toni Collette, the Australian answer to Meryl Streep in my humble opinion), a miniature sculptress, still grieving for the way Charlie died (accidentally killed/beheaded by her brother, Peter, ne: Alex Wolff after her peanut allergy blows up after eating chocolate cake at an ill-advised high school party). After the funeral, the tension is so thick amongst the family that it forces Annie to ruminate over the accident, her marriage to Steve (an underused Gabriel Byrne) goes well into life support. But, at the dinner table, the fireworks truly hit.

Peter (a powerful turn by Wolff who paid a dear price for being in this film) is forced to finally own up to his role in Charlie’s death — still being shut out by his mother. The mood is ominous until Peter finally presses Annie/his mother to release herself as he says and we get that partial heartbreaking cry to Peter, blaming him for her death and also the fact that he couldn’t be up front about what he’d done (but in fairness, though not excusing him, any teenager would also be in shock if such a thing happened to them and someone else).

There’s also a painful quid-pro-quo asking Annie why a tween with a nut allergy, would want to go to a party with high schoolers, let alone without her EpiPen. This sets Annie off and also adds mounting terror as to how potentially unhinged Annie may become after. It’s here when we sense the full weight of the tragedy that awaits Peter, Steven and the rest of the Graham family — most especially when Annie’s friend, Joan (a wonderfully eerie Ann Dowd), teaches her the not-so-fine art of communing with the dead.

Still courtesy of A24 Films.

The Oscar Bias Heard Around the World.

Toni Collette is an immensely talented actress and has been in the zeitgeist for a long time now. Her debut in the 1997 Australian rom-com, MURIEL’S WEDDING, poised her for Hollywood stardom. Her role in M. Night Shyamalan’s breakout horror hit, THE SIXTH SENSE, 1999, did earn her an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress and while she didn’t win, it earned her a lot of respect and roles to come in everything from LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE, 2000’s SHAFT, KRAMPUS, HITCHCOCK, and even KNIVES OUT. So, she’s been pretty much shown her versatility with most any genre she’s been in.

Horror movies have been pretty elusive with the Academy despite many awards handed out to actors and even their makers: ROSEMARY’S BABY, THE EXORCIST, MISERY, THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS, BLACK SWAN, GET OUT and yes! Even WEAPONS of last year, broke that curse finally for a much-deserved win for 80s Queen, Amy Madigan! But between 2017 to 2024, horror movies have gotten the cold shoulder. Collette had been recognized as one of the best performances of 2018, but when the Oscar nominations for Best Actress were announced: Frances McDormand, Sally Hawkins, Margot Robbie, Saoirse Ronan, and Meryl Streep with McDormand taking the prize in the end, Collette was never mentioned, let alone considered.

The backlash was swift and merciless. HEREDITARY had themes of grief, loss, the devastation of the nuclear family as its weight as well as the supernatural horror of ROSEMARY’S BABY and SUSPIRIA, was also lauded for having some of the best performances of the year and that includes, Gabriel Byrne, Alex Wolff, Milly Shapiro and even Ann Dowd. Ari Aster made a slow-burn horror film that was still elevated enough to be included in the company of films like ORDINARY PEOPLE, AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY and WHAT’S EATING GILBERT GRAPE to name a small few. Collette’s performance was flawless even if the film wasn’t (a bit on that later). Annie was a grief-stricken parent who was dealing with two simultaneous deaths and her breakdown was not only anticipated — it was earned! For Aster to trajectorize where Annie was going to go with her character, Collette was gripping and authentic every step of the way.

Pros of Scene?

Everything! Zero complaints! Collette had turned in an iconic performance that people still talk about to this day, Oscar nom or not, and even made Naomi Scott’s equally iconic turn in SMILE 2 from 2024, caused a similar splash that also got shut out from the Awards universe, although, Demi Moore’s nomination for Coralie Fargeat’s THE SUBSTANCE made up for the Scott performance omission, despite losing to Mikey Madison for ANORA (I’m sorry, does anyone remember that film or her?). Collette had forced the Academy to finally man up about its biases toward horror and yes, due to SINNERS, FRANKENSTEIN and WEAPONS, which won for Madigan’s performance, prove horror movies/films were just as evocative and worthy of prestigious award considerations, not just the Saturn, Fangoria Chainsaw or Dead Meat Prime Rib; all viable and legit on their own terms. Horror is indeed a legitimate genre! I said it, so mote it be!

Cons of Scene?

Zero. Zippo. Nexxxxxt!!

Some Movie Cons Though…

When released in 2018, HEREDITARY had been ranked as one of the “scariest” movies of all time and still is — but not by me. I will agree Ari Aster made a chilling debut and I’ve revisited it many times and will say, MIDSOMMAR, his 2019 follow-up, cemented his horror auteur status, but certain scenes in HEREDITARY took me out of it and kept it from fully ingraining its nightmare fuel into my brain. The spectral light scene and even the dense plotting which led to the reveal of Paimon and its inception, were just a few minor quibbles I still have with it. Otherwise, I look forward to when Ari Aster fully returns to horror — eventually.

Conclusion.

Toni Collette gave us such an iconic performance as Annie Graham in HEREDITARY and the controversy of her Oscar snub is now so legendary that while she may not have intended to and for better or worse, changed the Academy voting process in its own way, so I’m glad that horror finally got some recent Academy respect and nothing to sneer at at Amy Madigan’s win (Aunt Gladys broke sticks that made the Oscar voters finally check off those boxes!). Perhaps, Naomi Scott will enter the pantheon soon. But, in the end, Toni Collette gave us many memorable performances already; KRAMPUS being one of my favorites — but Collette will have her Oscar soon. One can still hope for that.

NEXT SCENE: Lily’s Big Reveal in “LATE NIGHT WITH THE DEVIL” 2023!

Still courtesy of IFC/Shudder.