Family: 11 Movies like Hereditary for your Evil Horror Needs

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About Hereditary (2018 Movie)

Hereditary – Movie Trailer

Directed and written by Ari Aster, Hereditary stars Toni Collette, Alex Wolff, Milly Shapiro, Ann Dowd, and Gabriel Bryne. It was released in the year 2018.

Hereditary is a psychological horror film that focuses on Annie Graham and her family when they first attend the funeral of Annie’s mother. Unable to deal with the grief, she joins a support group and one of the members indicates that a seance might be the answer to deal with some unresolved issues. As the film progresses it becomes more and more apparent to Annie and her family that their house may be a site for Occultist practice and worship. This, of course, leads to all sorts of bizarre scenarios and possessions along the way.

During a recent re-watch I started to think of all the other movies like Hereditary who some of you may want to tick off your bucket list. Below are my 19 picks. How many have you seen? Let me know in the comments.

RELATED: Hereditary (2018): Determinism, Control and Responsibility

1. The Ritual (2017)

Movies like Hereditary: The Ritual (2017)

Directed by David Bruckner, The Ritual stars Rafe Spall, Arsher Ali, Robert James-Collier, and Sam Troughton. It was released in the year 2017.

The Ritual is about four UK friends who head out to the Swedish wilderness to bond after one of their mates died in a robbery. As they get further towards their destination one of them gets injured and so they decide to head back to civilisation. However, on the way they start getting picked off one-by-one by some ancient evil that is worshipped by a cult.

2. The Witch (2015)

Movies like Hereditary: The Witch (2015)

Directed by Robert Eggers, The Witch stars Anya Taylor-Joy, Ralph Ineson, Kate Dickie, Harvey Scrimshaw, Ellie Grainger, and Lucas Dawson. It was released in the year 2015.

The Witch is about a family of puritan settlers who are banished from their settlement and so set out on the arduous task of farming a harsh and barren land. During this time one of the kids goes missing, supposedly kidnapped and eaten by a local witch but pretty soon the family patriarch realises there’s a witch amongst them and it’s his own daughter.

3. Midsommar (2019)

Movies like Hereditary: Midsommar (2015)

Directed by Ari Aster, Midsommar stars Florence Pugh, Jack Reynor, William Jackson Harper, Vilhelm Blomgren, Ellora Torchia, Archie Madekwe, and Will Poulter. It was released in the year 2019.

Midsommar follows the journey of psychology student Dani Ardor who is left traumatised when her sister commits a murder-suicide by killing herself and their parents. When she follows her boyfriend and his friends overseas to Sweden to witness the midsummer festivities she is unwillingly brought to this commune. A commune of Swedish farmers who want to make nine human sacrifices to cure their land of all evil.

4. The Empty Man (2020)

Movies like Hereditary: The Empty Man (2020)

Directed by David Prior, The Empty Man stars James Badge Dale, Marin Ireland, Stephen Root, Ron Canada, Robert Aramayo, Joel Courtney, and Sasha Frolova. It was released in the year 2020.

The Empty Man is based on the Cullen Bunn and Vanesa R. Del Rey graphic novel of the same name. It follows an evil spirit which promises its followers anything as long as they do its bidding. Eventually the Empty Man cult begins to take over James’ town as he’s investigating who or what is The Empty Man.

5. Mother! (2017)

Movies like Hereditary: Mother! (2017)

Directed by Darren Aronofsky, Mother! stars Jennifer Lawrence, Javier Bardem, Ed Harris, and Michelle Pfeiffer. It was released in the year 2017.

Mother! is a psychological horror movie whose central focus is family. It follows a young woman whose tranquil life with her husband at their country home is disrupted by the arrival of a mysterious couple.

6. The Ring (2002)

Movies like Hereditary: The Ring (2002)

Directed by Gore Verbinski, The Ring stars Naomi Watts, Martin Henderson, and Brian Cox. It was directed in the year 2002.

Surely by now everyone has seen The Ring, right? Well, for those who haven’t, The Ring is about this mysterious tape that gets received by a group of teens, they watch it and 7 days later they die. Then a journalist who’s related to one of the victims investigates by watching the tape herself and investigating the past of the girl on the tape: Samara.

7. Us (2019)

Movies like Hereditary: Us (2019)

Directed by Jordan Peele, Us stars Lupita Nyong’o, Winston Duke, Elisabeth Moss, and Tim Heidecker. It was released in the year 2019.

Us is a psychological horror film where an African American family suffers a home invasion by four doppelgängers. They’re able to fight them off but not before they realise that every family in America is being attacked by their own set of doppelgängers. It’s an apocalypse of sorts but in the weirdest possible way – and has to be seen to be believed!

8. Black Swan (2010)

Movies like Hereditary: Black Swan (2010)

Directed by Darren Aronofsky, Black Swan stars Natalie Portman, Vincent Cassel, Mila Kunis, Barbara Hershey, and Winona Ryder. It was released in the year 2010.

Black Swan follows the story of Nina, a ballerina in a New York City ballet company whose life is all about dance. As the story proceeds, Nina starts to embrace her dark side with a recklessness that threatens to destroy her. This film is filled with sensitive themes such as the awakening of female sexuality, insecurity, obsession, and even mental illness.

The film touches on the issues facing girls and women today, unlike any other films. The story’s simplicity contradicts what’s really going on: an internal/external struggle that touches on the duality of women’s lives and asks what we’re willing to sacrifice to achieve success.

9. Secret Window (2004)

Movies like Hereditary: Secret Window (2004)

Directed by David Koepp, Secrets Window stars Johnny Depp, John Turturro, Maria Bello, Timothy Hutton and Charles S. Dutton. It was released in the year 2004.

The plot follows Mort Rainey who retreats to his cabin to work on his writer’s block and is interrupted by a mystery writer named John Shooter who claims that Mort plagiarised his writing. Eventually, it is revealed that Shooter is a figment of his own hallucinations as Mort is gradually going insane and so kills his ex-wife, her new partner a private investigator. In my opinion, Secret Window is the best example of Johnny Depp’s acting range.

10. Oculus (2013)

Movies like Hereditary: Oculus (2013)

Directed by Mike Flanagan, Oculus stars Karen Gillan, Brenton Thwaites, Katee Sackhoff, Rory Cochrane, Annalise Basso, and Garrett Ryan Ewald. It was released in the year 2013.

Oculus is a truly evil film filled with all sorts of horrific imagery. It’s about a family that moves into a house which has a mirror in it. After a while they learn that the mirror has a way of supernaturally inducing the most terrifying hallucinations. Hallucinations that will scare the you-know-what out of you.

11. Apostle (2018)

Movies like Hereditary: Apostle (2018)

Directed and Written by Gareth Evans, Apostle stars Dan Stevens, Lucy Boynton, Mark Lewis Jones, Bill Milner, Kristine Froseth, Paul Higgins and Michael Sheen. It was released in the year 2018.

Apostle is a period specific folk horror film. The plot focuses on Thomas who sneaks his way onto a remote island to try and rescue his sister which he believes has been kidnapped and is being held for ransom by a cult. Upon making his way to the island, he masquerades as one of the new cult members and begins to plan to rescue his sister and get off the island. However, he makes a disturbing discovery that the cult is holding a witch captive and in this witch is linked to the island in ways you wouldn’t believe.

Apostle also includes one of the most gruesome medieval-style torture deaths you’ll ever see so it’s worth it for that scene alone.

What did you think of this list of ‘Movies like Hereditary’?

What did you think of Hereditary? Have you seen any of these films before?
Let us know on social media.

Movies like Hereditary

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