Hereditary
Teaser
00:00:30 😈 SCARE PRIMING
Movie opens with an obituary. Fades to black as music rises to CRESCENDO.
00:00:57 ⚠️ JUMP SCARE
Slam from black screen to POV through sunny window.
00:01:51 😈 SCARE PRIMING — FAKEOUT
Eerie music fades up as camera pans around room, revealing a workshop dedicated to building model miniatures. Pan ends on a model house. Push in on a bedroom in the house.
🔺🔺🔺 🐦 ILL OMEN
At the funeral, Charlie clicks her tongue as she always does when stressed or bored.
00:05:44 🐦 ILL OMEN
Charlie witnesses a guest rubbing something on her dead grandmother’s lips.
00:05:56 ⏳ DEATH FORESHADOWING
As Charlie munches a chocolate bar, her father expresses concern that it might contain nuts. She tells him it doesn’t. Mom comes in shortly after to reiterate. “We don’t have the EpiPen.”
Sequence A
00:06:56 🟢 Emotional Reset
Annie paints miniatures in her workshop. Steve checks on her. Peter’s depressed.
00:09:30 ⏳ DEATH FORESHADOWING
Charlie knows that Annie will die someday, and now that Grandma has died, she’s worried about who will take care of her when Annie is gone.
00:10:37 🐦 ILL OMEN
Annie notices an odd word scribbled on Charlie’s wall. “SATONY.”
00:10:59 😈 SCARE PRIMING
Annie heads into her studio to turn out the lights but pauses — something’s wrong. She goes to a box of her mother’s things. A photo album. A book on spiritualism. Finds a note written to her by her mother, begging for forgiveness.
00:12:30 😱 SCARE
Annie’s mother waits in the dark for her. A GHOST.
00:13:14 ⚠️ JUMP SCARE
The cut from Annie’s workshop to her bedroom is jarring and accompanied by the loud thump of a closing door.
00:14:20 ⚠️ JUMP SCARE
A bird slams into the window right after Charlie is reprimanded for building a toy in class.
00:14:34 🐦 ILL OMEN
Charlie eyes a pair of scissors on the teacher’s desk.
00:15:57 😱 SCARE
Charlie uses the teacher’s scissors to decapitate the dead bird.
00:16:19 🐦 ILL OMEN
When Charlie turns around again, she notices a strange woman staring at her from a parking lot far across the street.
00:16:53 🐦 ILL OMEN
Upon emerging from her office, Annie discovers that her mother’s bedroom door is inexplicably ajar.
00:17:58 🐦 ILL OMEN
Steve receives a call from the cemetery… Annie’s mother’s grave has been, “desecrated.” He decides not to tell Annie, out of a desire not to upset her.
Sequence B
00:18:52 🟢 Emotional Reset
Annie lies to Steve about going to see a movie; goes to a grief support group instead.
00:21:13 🐦 ILL OMEN
Annie talks about her brother’s suicide note accused their mother of “putting people inside him.”
00:24:11 🐦 ILL OMEN
While Charlie is alone in her room, working at her craft desk, a ripple of prismatic light sweeps across her walls. She senses a presence…
00:24:43⏳ DEATH FORESHADOWING
The sound of Annie chopping tomatoes is juxtaposed with photos of her mother holding baby Charlie on the fridge. Chop. Chop. Chop.
00:24:59 😈 SCARE PRIMING
Charlie carries the head of the decapitated bird from her treehouse to the middle of a field.
00:26:41 😱 SCARE
Charlie comes across a strange sight — a woman sitting in a distant field, faced away, with flames burning around her.
00:28:45 ⏳ DEATH FORESHADOWING
When Charlie and Peter arrive at the party, a girl is CHOPPING NUTS on the counter.
00:30:16 😈 SCARE PRIMING
Peter distracts Charlie by convincing her to get chocolate cake while he goes and gets high with the girl he likes.
00:30:51 😱 SCARE SEQUENCE BEGINS
Charlie eats the cake, notices that it’s difficult to swallow. She interrupts Peter’s hotboxing party to tell him it’s hard to breathe. Her throat’s getting bigger.
00:32:00 😱 SCARE SEQUENCE
Peter carries Charlie to the car and flies down the highway to get help. In the back seat, Charlie struggles to breathe, kicking and flailing involuntarily. She rolls down the window to get air, leaning her head out —
00:33:24 ⚠️ 💀 JUMP-SCARE / DEATH
Peter swerves to avoid hitting an animal lying in the road, but unwittingly decapitates Charlie with a telephone pole.
00:35:33 🟦 Aftermath
In shock, Peter drives home. Like a zombie, he shuffles up to bed and collapses on top of the covers. Night fades to day. We hear Annie’s screams when she discovers Charlie’s corpse. Inside their bedroom, Steve silently keeps watch over an inconsolable Annie. Peter listens from the shadows near their bedroom door as a thunderstorm brews outside.
00:38:48 🪦 Funeral
The whole family stands together while Annie continues to wail and keene. Camera descends in sync with Charlie’s casket as it disappears under the restless grass.
Sequence C
00:39:10 🟢 Emotional Reset
The funeral reception, and after. Silence and stillness. All members of the family grieve in separate spaces. Alone.
00:39:59 🐦 ILL OMEN
The word ZAZAS is written on the wall above Steve & Annie’s bed.
00:40:27 🐦 ILL OMEN
As Peter climbs into bed for the night, he fails to notice the light in Charlie’s treehouse turn on — a blood red glow.
00:40:42 🐦 ILL OMEN
Steve flips through Charlie’s sketchbook, finds a drawing of the decapitated bird… wearing a crown. It is the last drawing in the book.
00:41:00 🐤 OMEN PAID OFF
The light in the treehouse is revealed to be space heaters, keeping Annie warm as she sleeps in Charlie’s favorite place.
00:42:45 😨 SLOW SCARE
Unable to stop thinking about the accident, Peter has a panic attack at school while getting high under the bleachers with his friends.
🔺🔺🔺 🐦 ILL OMEN
Later that night, Annie tries to go to the grief counseling group to talk about Charlie, but can’t bring herself to do it. A woman named Joan — who recognizes her from the previous meeting—stops her and gives her her phone number, in case she needs to talk.
00:48:56 😈 SCARE PRIMING
Peter can’t sleep. He’s staring out the window at the tree house, whose window is lit red again. Suddenly, he hears a very quiet noise that startles him and glances back over his shoulder… the unmistakeable click of Charlie’s tongue.
00:49:15 😱 SCARE
Peter sees what looks like someone sitting in an empty chair, facing his bed. The silhouette of clothes on a hamper looks like the outline of a person’s head.
00:49:30 🐦 ILL OMEN
Closeup on mail slot. Someone slips in an advertisement for SEANCES.
00:49:48 🐦 ILL OMEN
Annie paints details in a miniature, recreating the graffiti she found on her bedroom wall above the bed. While cleaning up spilled paint, Annie finds Joan’s phone number.
00:51:08 🐦 ILL OMEN
Annie takes special notice of a unique, handmade welcome mat sitting outside Joan’s front door. She tells Joan that her mother used to embroider ones JUST LIKE THAT.
00:53:11 ⏳ DEATH FORESHADOWING
Annie talks Joan about her history with sleepwalking, tells the story of the time she covered her sleeping children and herself in paint thinner, and only awoke when she was startled by the sound of her own hand striking a match.
00:55:02 [UNCATEGORIZED]
Steve walks in on Annie re-creating Peter’s accident in miniature scale. He’s horrified by it, and by how it will make Peter feel when he sees it. Annie refuses to see the problem with it, and defends her creation angrily. (I’m including this because it’s such a shocking moment, but I’m not sure how to classify it.)
00:58:04 🤬 PARENTAL TANTRUM
The tension between Peter and Annie boils over, and Annie explodes. Lots of gaslighting, cursing, and abuse.
Sequence D
01:01:33 😈 SCARE PRIMING
Annie runs into Joan in the craft store parking lot. Unusually elated, Joan tells Annie about an amazing experience she had with a séance and her grandson.
01:04:15 😱 SCARE SEQUENCE BEGINS
Annie goes to Joan’s apartment for a seance.
01:05:31 ⚠️ JUMP SCARE
During the seance, a glass jerks out of Annie & Joan’s hand. Annie gives a startled shout.
01:06:11 ⚠️ JUMP SCARE
As the seance continues, an invisible force rustles Annie’s hair, she screams again.
01:08:22 😨 MILD SCARE
Without warning, Joan shouts, “You didn’t kill her!” at Annie as she leaves the seance, upset.
01:08:39 ⚠️ JUMP SCARE
While Annie drives home, a loud TONGUE CLICK comes from the back seat just as she’s coming to a stop.
01:09:31 😨 SLOW SCARE
As Annie is trying to sleep, she notices huge black ants crawling all over her bed. The ants are crawling on the floor and the wall as well. She gets up and follows the trail through the upstairs hallway, to Peter’s bedroom where she discovers…
01:11:00 😱 SCARY REVEAL
PETER’S HEAD IS ENTIRELY COVERED IN ANTS [EXTREMELY DISTURBING]. Thankfully, this is just a sleepwalking nightmare.
01:11:01 😈 SCARE PRIMING
Annie is awakened from her nightmare by Peter, who realizes that Annie is sleepwalking. Peter, naturally, is incredibly upset to find his mother sleepwalking again.
As they argue, Peter and Annie become increasingly wet until it’s clear they’re both soaked in some clear liquid. And then…
01:12:43 😱 SCARE
Annie LIGHTS A MATCH. They both go up in flames.
01:12:49 ⚠️ JUMP SCARE
Annie wakes in her own bed with a gasp. The whole thing was a nightmare.
01:13:11 😱 SCARE SEQUENCE BEGINS — THE SEANCE
In a manic state, Annie sneaks into Peter’s room to wake him up and perform a seance to contact Charlie. She then wakes Steven.
01:16:38 😱 Floorboard Creaks
01:17:14 😱 Peter feels the air “flexing.”
01:17:17 ⚠️ JUMP SCARE — the glass moves!!!
01:18:55 😱 Charlie possesses Annie
01:19:41 Scare Sequence Ends
Sequence E
01:20:12 The phrase “Liftoach Pandemonium” appears on the wallpaper
01:20:29 😱 Scare Sequence Begins — Peter notices an odd light flickering on the classroom floor.
01:20:36 ⚠️ JUMP SCARE — the light bursts and spreads throughout the classroom.
01:21:03 😱 Scare Priming — Peter sees his reflection grinning at him in a classroom cabinet.
01:21:15 ⚠️ JUMP SCARE — While staring in disbelief at his reflection, Tongue Click makes Peter jump out of his chair.
01:21:39 — Annie gets a call from Steven about Peter, who is having a breakdown at school right now, terrified that a vengeful spirit is taunting him.
01:23:36 🤬 PARENTAL TANTRUM — Annie has a meltdown and destroys her miniatures.
01:23:51 🐦 ILL OMEN — Steven & Peter arrive home, Steven complains about an awful smell. He discovers that Annie has destroyed her work projects.
01:24:37 🐦 ILL OMEN — Steven notices that the dollhouse now contains a miniature of Charlie laying on her bed — sans a head.
01:24:50 💊 MEDICINE ABUSE — Steven pops a handful of pills, ostensibly to try and calm himself down.
01:25:18 😱 Scare Priming — While brooding alone in the dark, Annie hears a “faint scribbling” sound somewhere in the house, and gets up to investigate. She follows the sound to Charlie’s bedroom where she discovers that some INVISIBLE FORCE is sketching in Charlie’s old sketchbook.
01:26:29 😱 Scare Priming — Camera lingers on the attic door in the hallway before floating down into sleeping Peter’s room.
01:26:56 😱 TONGUE CLICK — Peter slowly awakes, sensing something wrong.
01:27:05 😨 Slow Scare — Peter sees Charlie standing in the corner of his room, watching him!!!
01:27:24 ⚠️ JUMP SCARE — Charlie’s HEAD ROLLS OFF and bounces across the floor!!! At 01:27:28, the head is revealed to be merely a Nerf ball.
01:27:32 😅 🐶 FALSE SCARE — A snarling DOG growls in Peter’s doorway… revealed to be Rex, the family pet—
01:27:45 ⚠️ JUMP SCARE — HANDS yank Peter by the hair from behind and drag him down to the bed, TUGGING FORCEFULLY ON HIS HEAD!
01:27:58 ⚠️ JUMP SCARE — The bedroom door slams shut! Cut to silence. Steven sleeping on the couch downstairs hears Rex yelp in surprise.
01:28:03 Without seeing how she got there, Annie is revealed to be in Peter’s room, trying to calm him down, but Peter is freaked out and thinks that Annie is trying to kill him again! Annie is HORNY to fix this!!!
01:28:40 🐦 ILL OMEN — meanwhile in Charlie’s room, the wind blows through pages of her sketchbook, revealing that it’s filled with drawings of a weeping Peter, his EYES EXED OUT.
01:29:06 😱 SCARE SEQUENCE BEGINS — Annie takes Charlie’s sketchbook to the fireplace, she’s gonna burn it.
01:29:40 When the sketchbook ignites, Annie’s sleeve catches fire! They’re CONNECTED! She pulls the book out of the fireplace and stomps it out — the fire on her sleeve extinguishes.
Scare Sequence Ends.
Sequence F
01:30:26 Peter gets up, notices his mom’s door is open. Walks past it without acknowledging it.
01:30:53 Annie goes to have a fucking word with Joan about this whole seance business! Joan doesn’t answer the door, but unbeknownst to Annie, Joan’s entire apartment is now an altar devoted to DARK MAGIC, and it’s all aimed at PETER.
01:31:57 Annie realizes the connection between Joan and her mother, and runs off — without noticing the SECURITY CAMERA watching her.
01:32:10 While eating lunch outside at school, Peter hears a woman’s voice calling to him from across the parking lot. “I expel you!” she shouts at him. IT’S FUCKING JOAN.
01:32:59 Meanwhile, Annie returns home to look into those welcome mats her mom used to make. She learns that her mom was studying how to SUMMON KING PAIMON, GOD OF MISCHIEF!!! A POSSESSION RITUAL.
01:34:29 Annie discovers that Joan and her mom were FRIENDS.
01:35:11 SCARE PRIMING — At school, Peter starts seeing the light ripples following him through the hallways.
01:35:47 REVEAL —Steven gets an email from the insurance company. LEIGH’S BODY IS MISSING FROM CEMETERY.
01:36:00 😱 SCARE SEQUENCE BEGINS — Annie grabs the attic door hook, she’s GOIN’ UP!
01:36:01 🪰 BUG ALERT — THE ATTIC IS FULL OF FLIES!
01:36:49 🧟♀️ DEAD BODY — Annie’s flashlight lands on the exposed ankle of a corpse lying in a dark corner of the basement.
01:36:54 😈 SCARE PRIMING — Meanwhile, Peter sits in class. Annie’s discovery of the body and Peter’s dissociation are somehow CONNECTED.
01:37:10 🧟♀️ DEAD BODY — Annie realizes that she’s looking at her mother’s body. Crawling with flies. The head is MISSING. She retches. Scrawled in blood on the ceiling above Leigh’s body is the occult symbol that represents Paimon.
01:37:38 In class, Peter is utterly surrounded by the sound of Charlie’s clicking tongue, which seems to grow nearer and nearer as it circles him.
01:37:50 SCARE PRIMING — The sound suddenly stops, as Peter seems to lock-in to whatever’s happening to him.
01:37:58 JUMP SCARE — Peter’s arm jerks into the air above his head, his wrist bent at a bad angle, like it’s being held by some invisible force.
01:38:16 SCARY REVEAL — Peter’s face is revealed to be badly contorted, his lip drawn back, face swollen, eye red and sagging. His TONGUE CLICKS. He gargles and gags, as if unable to breath.
01:38:26 JUMP SCARE — Peter jerks forward, slamming his face into his desk! It happens again at 38:34, blood spraying everywhere, but when he bounces back he’s in control of his body again. He kicks away from the desk, stumbling backwards and screaming uncontrollably in horrified sobs.
01:38:45 Scare Sequence Ends as we cut back to the Graham home, where the phone is ringing.
While DAY-DRINKING at work, Steven gets the call that something has happened to Peter. Steven must now drive Peter home from school, despite being drunk as a SKUNK. He nearly runs a red light and slams on the brakes. Dazed and scared, the weight of his life unravelling around him finally comes crashing down. He sobs into the steering wheel.
They arrive home to find a traumatized Annie running out to meet them. Her relief at seeing her husband is dashed by the sight of her disfigured son in the backseat.
They carry Peter upstairs and put him to bed.
Annie tells Steven about finding a body in the attic. He doesn’t believe her, but he is compelled to check anyway, because of the sheer powerlessness he feels. He’s not afraid of Annie, he believes she’s losing her mind, but he’s too defeated to argue.
He goes up to the attic, sees the body, and loses absolutely any shred of respect he had for Annie. When she begs him to help her destroy Charlie’s sketchbook, he refuses and tells her he’s going to call the police. In a panic, she snatches the sketchbook out of his hands and tosses it into the fire.
01:46:38 SCARE — As soon as the sketchbook hits the fire, Steven bursts into flames. He burns to death as Annie watches, horrified. Then like a light switch flipping, she goes into zombie mode.
Annie has left the chat.
Sequence G
01:47:00 Emotional Reset — Asleep in his bed, Peter awakes with a start. Aching from his injuries, he looks over and sees —
01:47:22 ILL OMEN — the light is on inside Charlie’s treehouse.
Peter gets out of bed to find the whole house dark and seemingly empty. He calls out for his mom, but can’t find her anywhere.
01:51:37 SCARE PRIMING — In the living room, Peter discovers a charred corpse on the floor in front of the fireplace.
01:51:57 JUMP SCARE TELEGRAPHED — As he steps closer to the body to figure out who it belongs to, he does not see Annie crouching on the high shelf near the ceiling behind him.
01:52:48 BAIT & SWITCH SCARE — Peter senses something watching him, but rather than look up and see Annie, he turns to his left and finds a NAKED PERSON standing in an open closet doorway.
01:53:08 ICONIC SCARE — Peter hears a THUD as if something heavy landing on the floor, turns around to find the room empty. When he looks back, ANNIE LUNGES from the shadows — Peter flees for his life!
Peter runs upstairs and climbs up into the attic, pulling the ladder closed behind him.
However, Annie BANGS FORCEFULLY on the attic hatch in a fast rhythm (a call-back to the rhythm of the knives chopping from the first act).
01:53:26 SCARE — Outside the attic, it’s revealed that Annie is CLINGING TO THE CEILING, kneeling on the attic hatch, KNOCKING ON IT WITH HER FOREHEAD while Peter begs her to stop!
01:53:45 SCARE PRIMING — The knocking suddenly ceases, leaving Peter alone in the attic with only the buzzing of the flies.
01:54:18 SCARE PRIMING — Peter realizes the attic is full of LIT CANDLES, as if in preparation for a ceremony.
01:54:47 REVEAL SCARE — Peter discovers the outline of Leigh’s body in dust on the floor, surrounded by lit candles. A single candle stands between the legs of the silhouette, like a beacon.
A photo of Peter lies on the floor beside, his eyes BURNED OUT with cigarette holes.
He closes his eyes and turns around, believing finally that he must be dreaming, and attempts to force himself to awaken.
01:55:16 AUDIO SCARE — Peter freezes in his tracks as he hears the sound of flesh tearing and squelching in the gabled ceiling above him.
01:55:44 REVEAL SCARE — GORE WARNING. Dangling in the air above Peter, ANNIE saws through her neck with a piano wire. Back and forth, back and forth! Faster and faster as the terrifying music rises!
01:56:17 REVEAL SCARE — the scary music cuts out as Peter hears a metal ‘clink’ sound in another corner of the attic, where three SMILING, NAKED, MIDDLE-AGED STRANGERS watch Peter and wave at him in a friendly manner.
Peter screams in fright, and instinctively dives for the only exit he can think of — the attic window.
01:56:30 Peter lies motionless in the garden, 30 feet below the attic window. The sound of sawing ceases, followed by a heavy THUMP as Annie’s body, head, or both, hit the attic floor.
01:56:47 A white wispy thing, like the shimmering lights that have plagued both Peter and Charlie all movie long, flutters over Peter’s back and then seems to dissolve into him.
Peter groggily lifts his head just in time to witness ANNIE’S BODY floating silently, headlessly, up to Charlie’s treehouse.
Sequence H
01:57:30 Peter gets to his feet, staring dully at the treehouse, and seems to make some kind of decision.
He clicks his tongue.
As Peter makes his way to the treehouse, he spies more NAKED, MIDDLE-AGED PEOPLE watching him from the trees all around.
Peter climbs up into the treehouse, which is filled with even more naked people, who all kneel before…
01:59:38 REVEAL SCARE — A mannequin, wielding a hooked wooden cane in its left hand, its right hand held palm up with pinky and ring fingers curled. Atop its shoulders, underneath a radiant crown of wood, rests the severed head of CHARLIE GRAHAM.
Peter regards this monstrosity, and looks down to see the headless corpses of his mother and grandmother kneeling at its feet.
Realization dawns. They’re worshipping Charlie… HE is Charlie.
One of the cultists removes the crown from the effigy and places it upon Peter!Charlie’s head.
Joan tells Peter!Charlie that he is Paimon, one of the 8 Kings of Hell.
02:02:43 AUDIO SCARE — As Peter!Charlie stands in shocked silence, the cultists begin to shout and chant, “Hail Paimon!”
END OF MOVIE.