Hereditary one hell of a horror movie, but it's also a family drama that explores how tragedy and grief can twist people into unrecognizable shapes. Much of the film is spent developing the relationships between the characters, which makes the ending--where the story finally descends into utter, terrifying chaos--a little jarring.
Whether or not you liked Hereditary's ending, there's no denying that it's sparked conversation among viewers. If you haven't seen the movie yet, don't read any further, because there are spoilers ahead!
Hereditary ends with Milly Shapiro's Charlie, Gabriel Byrne's Steve, and Toni Collette's Annie all extremely dead, expended pawns in grandma's demonic scheme to use Alex Wolff's character Peter to summon a King of Hell, Paimon, into waking life. A full on demon summoning is probably not where most people expected this movie to go, and that's no accident, according to Hereditary director Ari Aster.
"I've set up this patient, dark family drama, and then it just goes off the rails," he described during a recent interview with GameSpot.
There were plenty of hints throughout the movie that this was how things would go. Obviously the grandmother was into some messed up stuff, and many viewers probably got cult vibes long before the big reveal. And Ann Dowd's character Joan was clearly sinister in the way she deliberately inserted herself into the Grahams' life through Annie. By the end, the movie even gets into a surprising amount of detail about the demon king, Paimon, that the cult worships.
"It's interesting, because when you talk about the ending, it's easy for it to sound a little kitschy, when you talk about it and you don't see the rest of the movie, that's so grounded," Alex Wolff told GameSpot. But he added that he thinks it works both literally and metaphorically in the context of the whole film.
According to both Wolff and Milly Shapiro, the character Charlie is Paimon. She was born a demon. She's not a person who's been possessed--although she's certainly a pawn--but a literal, physical manifestation of Paimon. That explains why she's so strange, why grandma obsessively fawned over her, and why she has to die for the demon to enter a male host and the ritual to be completed (as you may have noticed, the cult's symbol was etched into the phone pole that killed her, implying the cult had some influence over the events).
But Paimon/Charlie certainly isn't the villain of the movie, and Paimon actually appears to be an unknowing participant in the cult's scheme. Charlie doesn't know what she is.
"She never knew anything different from how she is," Shapiro told GameSpot. "With possession usually, there is a person trapped in there, but there never really was anything but [Paimon] for Charlie."
"She is a demon," Wolff succinctly explained. "But I feel like it's so interesting--Ari took the approach that she's not necessarily evil. She's actually scared, and she's just in this circumstance. She's born this way, and she doesn't feel connected to the rest of the world. And I think it's kind of a sick, twisted, true analogy about being on the outside and having a mental disorder."
There are hints throughout the movie that the demon king needs a male body to successfully use as a vessel. It's outright stated at one point, but another example is Annie's brother, who died before the movie's events and allegedly suffered from schizophrenia. There's one theory that he was actually the grandmother's previous, failed attempt to summon Paimon. But at the end of Hereditary, there's no failure--Charlie's spirit, which was actually Paimon, enters Peter's body, and the ritual is complete.
"He becomes Charlie, that's the end, is that Charlie is Paimon," Wolff said. "Really I believe, yeah, in a literal sense, he's possessed by Paimon, which is Charlie, and he switches and becomes Charlie. And that's the end of the movie."
Aster confirmed that the ending is meant to be viewed literally, not simply as a metaphor for mental deterioration or as some sort of delusion on the characters' part. "It is literal," he said. "Nobody likes the 'It was all a dream' thing."
That said, there are of course more subtle, metaphorical meanings to it as well. "In a more emotional sense, I believe that it's almost like each member of the family's psyche deteriorates, and the end for me is Peter's psyche deteriorating, and everything smashing to a thousand little pieces and it being unfixable," Wolff said.
"I believe you should always interpret things as exactly what you're seeing, but it kind of doesn't matter, because whatever it is, it turns into f***ing chaos, and that's what it is," he continued. "Whatever's actually happening, the feeling is the hyperbole of absolute anarchy and the depths of guilt and the depths of trauma in a family, and feeling like you're cursed."
"For me, that ending is very much about how trauma can completely transform a person, and not necessarily for the better," Aster explained. "When I was first pitching the film, I was describing it as a family tragedy that curdles into a nightmare, in the same way that life can feel like a nightmare when disaster is striking."
"I wanted to make a film that collapsed under the weight of what these people are going through," he continued. "It starts to split apart at the seams. I wanted the ending, even as it's going crazy, to still feel like it was absolutely rooted in what these people were suffering through."
Shapiro said she finds the ending extra interesting because it essentially switches to the cult's point of view. For them, it's a happy ending, while for the Graham family, "it's absolute despair."
"I think the thing that makes it so relatable is everyone has felt like they were cursed or had bad thing after bad thing happen, and no matter what the family does, it doesn't stop," she said. "They don't really know what they're getting themselves into, and they don't know how to stop it, because there isn't really a way. It's something that was planned before they were born, and it's something that was always going to happen."
Rosemont, IL's Allstate Arena will host WWE's Money in the Bank PPV on Sunday, June 17. It's been a while since the last major WWE PPV, as events will no longer be just for Raw or Smackdown superstars. Going forward, each show will be dual-branded, much like Backlash was last month. Money in the Bank will be available on PPV and through the WWE Network as well.
The sports entertainment giant is pushing this PPV to be a bigger event, and Money in the Bank will have an earlier start time compared to other shows, starting at 7 PM ET / 4 PM PT, with a Kickoff show starting one hour prior. We're expecting this show to be as long as Survivor Series or Royal Rumble, and the reasoning behind this is to accommodate all the wrestlers, at least that's according to some of the MITB rumors. As of this writing, no matches have been announced for the Kickoff, and currently, there are ten matches on the card with a couple more expected to be booked.
The main events of the evening will be the two Money in the Bank matches: one for the men and one for the women. Last year, Baron Corbin and Carmella--with help from James Ellsworth--won those respective matches with Carmella successfully cashing in her contract earlier this year. In 2018, the ante has been upped as there will now be eight superstars instead of six in each MITB match. As of this writing, all the combatants are locked in, but the New Day just needs to decide which member will compete in the men's match.
Alongside those two ladder matches, Ronda Rousey makes her singles debut. Her last match was at Wrestlemania when she teamed with Kurt Angle to take on Triple H and Stephanie McMahon. Rousey will be fighting current Raw Women's Champion Nia Jax for the title. Additionally, Sami Zayn will fight Bobby Lashley, which comes from the fallout of a terrible segment where Zayn interviewed Lashley's supposed sisters who were men in drag. Even after Zayn gave a heartfelt apology, Lashley still wants revenge.
However, aside from the MITB matches, the bout to watch will be AJ Styles vs. Shinsuke Nakamura in a Last Man Standing match. The two men have been involved in a bitter rivalry filled with numerous punches and kicks to the groin, many of which have ended the match for numerous reasons. Now, the only way to lose this match is to be knocked out until the ref counts to 10. Don't worry, there will still be plenty of low blows in this match.
While it has yet to be booked, The B Team--made up of Bo Dallas and Curtis Axel--won a tag team battle royale match on the June 4 episode of Raw, making them the number one contenders for the Raw Tag Team Championships. However, even after the June 11 episode of Raw, it doesn't seem like this match will take place at MITB. It could be announced between now and the PPV, but as of this writing, that match won't be this Sunday.
Money in the Bank Match Card:
The Bludgeon Brothers (c) vs. The Good Brothers (For the Smackdown Tag Team Championship) - KICKOFF SHOW
Daniel Bryan vs. Big Cass
Nia Jax (c) vs. Ronda Rousey (For the Raw Women's Championship)
Carmella (c) vs. Asuka (For the Smackdown Women's Championship)
Roman Reigns vs. Jinder Mahal
Bobby Lashley vs. Sami Zayn
Seth Rollins (c) vs. Elias (For the Intercontinental Championship)
AJ Styles (c) vs. Shinsuke Nakamura (Last Man Standing Match for the WWE Championship)
Lana, Natalya, Alexa Bliss, Charlotte, Ember Moon, Becky Lynch, Naomi, and Sasha Banks (Money in the Bank match)
Samoa Joe, Kevin Owens, Bobby Roode, Braun Strowman, The Miz, Rusev, Finn Balor, and one member of The New Day (Money in the Bank match)
Come back to GameSpot on Sunday, June 17 for live coverage of the show.
Money in the Bank has quickly become one of WWE's bigger events of the year. The titular matches involve a contract with a title shot contained within a briefcase, hanging above the ring. Whoever climbs a ladder and grabs the case first is the winner, which sounds like an easy task, as long as you're up for the challenge. One of the superstars involved in said match is Raw newcomer Ember Moon. She's had quite the busy week, spending some time at E3 in Los Angeles.
Moon spent the past week at E3 as part of the Smash Bros. Celebrity Invitational, and along with two other celebrities, took on professional Smasher Nairo. "The new game is phenomenal, it really is," Moon told GameSpot. "It brought back everything that was good about the GameCube and the Wii version and brought it all into one console. Man, it was great." During the Smash Bros. Ultimate tournament, Moon used Pikachu, in a lucha outfit, and easily held her own. "I thought I was going in for a tournament, and we faced a pro, and we just got brutally demolished."
On June 17, Moon will head to Chicago for the WWE PPV Money in the Bank, where she will compete with seven other women in a ladder match for a championship contract. "I'm pretty confident," Moon said. "It's not my first time getting to have fun with some ladders. There is a bit of uncertainty just to have competitors I've never been in the ring with, ever."
However, Moon is afraid of heights, which comes into play in a match in which you have to climb a ladder to win, but she's all about overcoming that on her road to becoming a WWE Champion: "Conquering fears. I don't think everyone knows I'm afraid of heights, but I constantly challenge that fear every single time and then being in the ring with seven other superstars as well that have completed so many accolades and goals in their careers, and I'm just getting started it seems, yeah, that can be a little scary. But like I said, I'm ready to rise to that challenge, and it's not going to deter me from getting that Money in the Bank contract."
What's amazing about that fear is that Moon's finisher, The Eclipse, is a top rope maneuver and a wondrous sight to witness at that--which you can see in the video below. "When I first started doing The Eclipse, I did it off the second rope. I was totally terrified to go to the top rope. I remember going to [Booker T, one of her many trainers during her career], and he was like, 'Man, you really need to try to top that off the top rope.' I'm like, 'No, I'm cool. I'm cool on the second. This is my home right now. We're going to be good here." And he talked me into doing it off the top rope, and it was so much more fluid as well because when you do it off the second you have to spin a lot faster 'cause you have to make sure you get around, but doing it from the top rope just worked."
Moon is a newer addition to the Raw women's roster, which has thankfully gone through some major changes the past few years, elevating the women to the same level as the men. They have been given the same opportunities, like competing in matches like Hell in a Cell, Royal Rumble, and Money in the Bank, which had its first women's match in 2017: "It just proves that the women that did the first one did an amazing job, and they had to do it twice," Moon said referring to the June 27 episode of Smackdown where the women got a MITB rematch after interference from Carmella's valet, James Ellsworth. "They did a phenomenal job both times and this is only the evolution of that first time and this is going to be the second of many more to come. And it's just continuing to prove that one, we're just as good as the men too. We're not Porcelain Princesses, and we can take a hit."
Additionally, Moon stated that she'd love to do an Extreme Rules match and a TLC match, two of the more brutal bouts in WWE's canon. And again, Moon has no problem climbing up ladder, despite her fear, which is incredibly admirable to see that level of dedication to the craft.
She takes that dedication to craft and character outside of work with her, in her free time, when she plays Dungeons and Dragons as well. "I'm a big fan of 3.5," she said. If Moon's character was a in D&D she'd multi-classed. "I feel like I'd have to go Mage/Rogue, maybe. Like in that range. But like go toward that class of assassin with the rogue. So, I feel like that would be the best." However, Moon stated that she loves playing as a Monk, and it's her preferred class. Hopefully, we'll see Moon hitting a Flurry of Blows on her competitors at Money in the Bank.
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