50 Fun Facts About Hereditary

Time Out's review hailed Hereditary as 'a new generation's' version of which horror classic?

The Exorcist. The line went on the trailer, and Variety later argued it did the film no favours: the comparison became a meme that set up expectations no movie could meet.

Who plays Annie Graham in Hereditary?

Toni Collette. She had just told her agent to send her nothing heavy, only comedies, when the script arrived, and the more she read the more she felt she had to do it.

What is Annie Graham's profession in Hereditary?

Miniature artist. The film's first shot glides into one of her model houses, and the tiny bedroom inside turns into her son's real one.

In Hereditary, what kills Charlie when she leans out of the speeding car's window?

A telephone pole. Her brother, in shock, drives home without a word and goes to bed, leaving their mother to find the body in the car the next morning.

Who plays Annie's husband Steve in Hereditary?

Gabriel Byrne. His Steve is the family sceptic, a psychiatrist who keeps from Annie the news that her mother's grave has been desecrated.

Who plays the Grahams' teenage son Peter in Hereditary?

Alex Wolff. He had to play a teenager unravelling from trauma, stayed in that shaken headspace for most of the shoot, and called it the hardest thing he had ever done.

Who plays the Grahams' daughter Charlie in Hereditary?

Milly Shapiro. Aster, who feared he would never find the right girl for so odd a part, was relieved the moment the young Broadway actress walked into her audition.

Who plays Joan, the support-group member who befriends Annie in Hereditary?

Ann Dowd. Her Joan seems a kindly fellow mourner, until a photo album shows her as an acolyte of the coven that Annie's mother led.

What sound does Charlie habitually make in Hereditary?

A tongue click. It outlasts her: after her death, her brother hears the same ghostly sound in his bedroom at night.

In which US state was Hereditary filmed?

Utah. The Grahams' house is a real one there, but only from outside: every room inside was built from scratch on a stage.

In Hereditary, what is the name of Annie's recently deceased mother?

Ellen. She was estranged from Annie for years, yet took a close hand in raising Charlie, the granddaughter who mourns her hardest.

In Hereditary, what does Charlie have a severe allergy to?

Nuts. At a party her brother leaves her on her own, and the slice of cake he tells her to go and get sends her into anaphylactic shock.

In Hereditary, what does Charlie cut from a dead bird at school and slip into her pocket?

Its head. She snips it off with scissors after the bird flies into a classroom window, one more piece for the toys she builds out of debris and dead things.

In Hereditary, what animal in the road makes Peter swerve while driving Charlie to hospital?

A deer. It is already lying dead in the road, and Peter, who had left his sister alone at the party to go and smoke, is left guilt-stricken and withdrawn.

In Hereditary, what ritual does Joan teach the grieving Annie to perform at home?

A séance. When Annie tries it at home with her family, she begins speaking in her dead daughter's voice, and only stops when Steve throws water over her.

What does Joan place on Peter in the final scene of Hereditary?

A crown. Joan lifts it from a mannequin and sets it on Peter while the rest of the coven kneels and hails him as its king.

What is the name of the demon king at the heart of Hereditary?

Paimon. In the film's lore he brings wealth and knowledge to those who summon him but demands a male host, the detail on which the whole plot turns.

Under what name did Annie's mother lead her coven in Hereditary?

Queen Leigh. Annie learns it from a photo album in her mother's boxes, where the friendly Joan from her support group appears among the coven's followers.

In Hereditary, how does Steve react when Annie begs him to burn Charlie's sketchbook?

He refuses. Sure that his wife has lost her mind, he won't do it, so Annie throws the book on the fire herself, and it is Steve who goes up in flames.

Where does Hereditary's final scene take place?

Charlie's treehouse. Its interior was built twice on a stage: a smaller version for most scenes, and a larger one made just for the ending.

Which grimoire describes Hereditary's demon as a king of Hell commanding 200 legions?

The Lesser Key of Solomon. It also says the demon arrives heralded by trumpets, a detail the film's score honours in the final scene.

Which studio released Hereditary in US cinemas?

A24. Forecasts pointed to an opening weekend in single-digit millions, but Hereditary took more than $13 million, the best debut the indie studio had then had.

How did Ari Aster originally pitch Hereditary to avoid scaring off funders?

As a family tragedy. His line to backers was 'a family tragedy that curdles into a nightmare', though he says the finished film is unabashedly a horror movie.

Hereditary's lead actress said the script read like which Ang Lee drama?

The Ice Storm. Wary of horror, she was won over because the script grasped how people live with loss so well that it read to her like that bleak suburban drama.

In Hereditary, what does the possessed Peter slam his face against in class?

His desk. Moments earlier Joan had stood across the street from the school, shouting at him in an attempt to drive his spirit out of his body.

In Hereditary, what did the sleepwalking Annie once douse herself and her children in?

Paint thinner. She confides to Joan that she woke in her son's bedroom to find all three of them soaked in it, with a lit match in her hand.

Why were Hereditary's house interiors built on a soundstage rather than shot in a real house?

So walls could be removed. With a wall gone, the camera could pull back far further than any real room allows and shoot from high up, dwarfing the actors.

Which theatre taboo did Ari Aster break filming Hereditary before a lamp burst?

Naming Macbeth. One of his actors had warned him never to say the Scottish play's name; Aster says he smugly announced it anyway, and the lamp blew during the very next scene.

The actors who play Steve and Peter in Hereditary had already worked together on which HBO series?

In Treatment. The younger actor had played the youngest son of the older one's therapist there, so Hereditary cast the pair as father and son for a second time.

Which saxophonist, known for playing with Arcade Fire and Bon Iver, composed the score for Hereditary?

Colin Stetson. He says Aster drew on his solo records while writing, then asked him to score the film, and that he began composing from the script before filming started.

Which Joni Mitchell song, in a 1967 cover version, plays over Hereditary's end credits?

Both Sides, Now. The film uses Judy Collins's hit recording, which came out two years before Mitchell released her own, and it starts up straight after the bleak final scene.

In Hereditary, where does Annie discover her dead mother's body after the funeral?

In the attic. The grave had been dug up not long after the burial, and the body has been laid out upstairs beneath occult symbols painted in blood.

At which film festival did Hereditary have its world premiere?

Sundance. It ran in the Midnight section, and Variety's critic liked it so much that he chided the programmers for keeping it out of the main competition.

In Annie's nightmare in Hereditary, what insects does she find swarming over her son?

Ants. In the same dream she blurts out that she never wanted to be his mother, then claps a hand over her mouth as if to push the words back in.

Before which family film was the Hereditary trailer accidentally shown in Australia?

Peter Rabbit. Parents yelled at the projectionist to stop and covered their children's eyes and ears, and the cinema later made amends with free tickets.

Hereditary's opening-weekend takings broke a studio record held by which earlier horror film?

The Witch. Forecasters had treated that film's $8.8 million debut as roughly the ceiling for Hereditary, which took more than $13 million instead.

Which 2024 film finally took Hereditary's record as its studio's biggest opening weekend?

Civil War. Even the studio's Oscar-winning hit Everything Everywhere All at Once never took the record, because it opened in only a few cinemas and built slowly.

At which awards did Hereditary's lead actress win Best Actress?

Gotham Awards. She beat a field that included Glenn Close on a night when the film's studio took five prizes, but the Oscars did not nominate her.

Which film did Hereditary overtake in 2018 to become its studio's highest-grossing release worldwide?

Lady Bird. A horror debut made for about $10 million had out-earned an Oscar-nominated comedy, and it kept the record until Everything Everywhere All at Once in 2022.

What grade did opening-night audiences polled by CinemaScore give Hereditary?

D+. The gap with the rave reviews became a story in itself: Variety's Owen Gleiberman argued audiences had punished it 'for the crime of being more artful than sensational'.

The actress who plays Charlie in Hereditary shared a Tony honor at ten for which Broadway musical?

Matilda the Musical. Four girls took turns in the title role and shared the award; a few years later one of them arrived at a horror audition sure she was too old to get the part.

In Hereditary, on what piece of jewellery is the coven's symbol seen long before its meaning is revealed?

A necklace. The same sign turns up again at the roadside on the night of the accident, one of the clues the film leaves in plain sight from its first scenes.

Ari Aster set his film Eddington in which US state, where he lived from the age of ten?

New Mexico. He has said the move there from England upended his stability; he dealt with the culture shock by diving into film.

What production company did Ari Aster co-found with Hereditary producer Lars Knudsen?

Square Peg. Their trust was forged on Hereditary, where a financier rather than Aster held final cut; Knudsen calls that fight unpleasant but says something good came out of it.

What uncredited cameo does Ari Aster make in Hereditary?

Annie's art dealer's voice. He never appears on screen: he is heard only down the phone line, calling from the gallery to offer her support after the family's loss.

Which Ari Aster film came next after Hereditary?

Midsommar. He was already in Hungary preparing to shoot it when Hereditary opened, and toasted the box-office news there with a shot of the local brandy.

At which film school did Ari Aster make his viral thesis short?

AFI Conservatory. He has said he set out to provoke the school's sensible tastes, asking himself what the worst thing he could possibly make there would be.

After Peter's fall from the window near the end of Hereditary, what enters his body?

A glowing light. It revives him, and when he gets to his feet Joan and the coven greet him by his dead sister's name.

In 2026, Ari Aster revealed he had already written what kind of follow-up to Hereditary?

A prequel. He told a Los Angeles audience that 'it never feels like the right time' to make it, and that because it isn't a sequel he doesn't know where it goes.

Near the end of Hereditary, what does the possessed Annie use on her own neck as Peter looks on?

Piano wire. Cornered and horrified, her son throws himself out of the window to get away from the sight.