Acting: Terrific. Production and Set Design; Fantastic. Cinematography: Beautiful. That said, this is a movie built on being mysterious to create tension; and it successfully creates tension through the entire movie. Sadly, the story is weak. The clues are rare and are not used to build understanding of a mystery. The clues are confusing and lacking, and then are suddenly put together in an unsatisfying ending.
Possible spoiler: This movie is more about "possession" than "heredity".
— Rebecca ( )

Second watch, February 23, 2023:

It resonated more with me this second watch. That being said…

I deeply dislike Annie. I understand she is coming from a place of childhood and adult trauma (that breastfeeding miniature makes me want to take a purging sauna and a Xanax), but she is so closed off from empathy in a deeper way that I think is her character and that explains Charlie’s peculiarity.

What the hell is Peter’s crown made from? It looks like a combo of ostrich skin and Silly Putty.

Can we stop making horror movies using the names of real demons? Mess around and invoke, that’s my motto. How hard is it to make up a name? This is about the seventh or eighth movie I’ve watched now using a demonic name from history. I don’t want to spin a Blu-ray one night and end up possessed, thank you. I’m already chronically ill and disabled. I don’t need to complete that trinity.

When Peter asked his friend to hold his hand because he is panicking, I nearly teared up. Poor baby.

And poor Charlie. They really went there and named her Charles. I missed that the first time, saw the embroidered mat this time. Didn’t have to go that extra step, oof.

I wonder about the demonic/magic names/words all over the house. Obviously they were invocations of some sort, placed by her mother, and Annie knew about them; she even included them in her artwork. What was her personal reasoning for them, since she didn’t know/didn’t remember that her mother was in a Satanic cult?

You know me, always with the questions. Back to that gross crown. That couldn’t have been human flesh. The puckers were too even, and it was too much like Silly Putty. Help a girl out?

Comment: I also noticed for the first time the cult’s symbol on the telephone pole. And that Annie, at the end, created a beheaded Peter and placed it in his miniature bed. So eerie.

Third watch, February 26, 2023:

New details noticed (my husband wanted to see it):
the last time the miniature crash scene is shown, Charlie’s head is missing.

The statue of Paimon is not only made from Charlie’s head, it’s also made from a life-size art model posable doll. Symbolizing not only Charlie’s and Annie’s compulsive art creation, but also manipulation?

Not noted last time: Joan claims the chalkboard belonged to her grandson, but she bought it at that art store where she ambushed Annie in the parking lot with the news. There is a brief shot of her open trunk, and you can see it there.

There is a deleted scene that we both agreed should have been included: Steve goes to check on Peter, and Peter sobs to him that he should have been the one to die, that Charlie was talented and he does nothing, then there’s a cut to Annie in bed. It’s obvious she can hear Peter in immense pain, but doesn’t go to him. It fits the theme of substitution, and also fills in more detail about the toxic family dynamic, and is a beautiful scene depicting grief. ( )

Toni Collette stars in this supernatural horror written and directed by Ari Aster. When her mother dies, Annie Graham (Collette) and her family find themselves being terrorised by an evil force which has been left behind. With the presence seemingly focused on her teenage daughter Charlie (Milly Shapiro), Annie desperately tries to uncover the horrifying secrets of her ancestry as she looks to protect her family from the sinister entity intent on destroying everything they know. The cast also includes Gabriel Byrne and Alex Wolff.

Cosas extrañas comienzan a suceder en casa de los Graham tras la muerte de la abuela y matriarca, que deja en herencia su casa a su hija Annie. Annie Graham, una galerista casada y con dos hijos, no tuvo una infancia demasiado feliz junto a su madre, y cree que la muerte de ésta puede hacer que pase página. Pero todo se complica cuando su hija menor comienza a ver figuras fantasmales, que también empiezan a aparecer ante su hermano.