First-time writer/director Ari Aster brilliantly fuses horror metaphor and classic scares into a powerfully unsettling and disturbing depiction of familial collapse. Toni Collette gives a powerhouse performance in a film that is densely packed with big and frightening ideas. It’s a slow burn of unnerving atmosphere and palpable dread that escalates toward a descent into chaos, madness, and pure terror. There are several images from this film that once you see, you can’t unsee. It worms its way inside your head and wraps around your brain, possessing you long after you’ve left the theater. I did not sleep well after viewing. Sweet dreams everyone else. Grade: A.
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