厄运

看到很多媒体都在吹捧Hereditary如何神乎其神。虽然本片可能没有达到这个高度，但不妨碍它是近两年我认为最好看的恐怖片，也不妨碍这部处女作在恐怖片历史上留下浓墨重彩的一笔。

这可能是我看过最悲伤的恐怖片。前半段缓慢的铺陈（虽然有些太慢了），讲述这个家庭如何一步步分崩离析。这家人似乎彼此都很疏远，但血缘的亲近仍使他们深爱自己的亲人。尤其是妹妹死后家里悲伤的氛围，实在是太真实太生动了，丧感层层叠加，要不是知道这是恐怖片，我都怀疑导演要拍一部《山中的曼彻斯特》了。片名Hereditary就已经揭示了这个家庭命中注定的悲剧结局。还有什么比这更悲惨的呢？明明什么伤天害理的事都没有做，唯一的错误就只是出生在了这个家庭，所以必须接受这无法逃脱又无能为力的命运，从出生那一刻甚至还未出生的时刻就注定不得善终。

这个主题其实有很多现实意义值得思考。如果明知道结局无法更改，你还会去努力吗？如果明知道孩子出生后很大概率会有缺陷，你还会把它生下来吗？我其实很怕负担这种责任，害怕把这种无法掌控的不幸带给别人，总觉得如果注定那么悲惨还不如没有开始。唉，又是日常恐婚恐育，还是聊聊电影吧。

影片中讲Paimon是八个地狱魔王之一。Paimon必须在男性的身体里才能完全发挥它的能力，为它的信徒带来财富。由于Charlie是个女孩，Paimon需要Peter的身体来纠正这个错误。我后来粗略地浏览了一下维基百科上关于Paimon的介绍，说很多关于Paimon外貌的描述都是一个拥有女性的脸的男人。这和影片中Paimon从女孩的身体出来后进入到男孩体内十分吻合。

这家的祖母Ellen，被称为Queen Leigh，应该是与Paimon缔结了契约，并且算是这个邪教领袖级别的人物。影片开始不久，Annie在Ellen的遗物中找到的纸条早已向我们说明了这场恶魔的交易：“Our sacrifice will pale next to the rewards” (我们的牺牲和能得到的回报比起来什么也不算)。Ellen用自己的血脉为Paimon提供精神的载体，而Paimon回赠她财富。从影片后段祖母的照片来看，的确是拿到了不少金币。

Hereditary一是指传承的血脉，二应该也是指遗传性精神病。这一家人或多或少都有一些精神问题。

Annie在互助会发言的时候，说到自己家人好像都有精神问题。母亲患有分离性身份障碍（Dissociative Identity Disorder, DID），最后又得了严重的老年痴呆。父亲患有抑郁症，活活把自己饿死。哥哥16岁就患有精神分裂（Schizophrenia）。而Annie自己在梦游的时候，似乎也会显示出另一种人格。她的儿子和女儿看起来也是与周围格格不入的怪咖。

Annie对母亲的感觉是复杂的，这一点其实和Peter对Annie的感觉很像。Peter曾亲眼目睹母亲在梦游的时候差点杀死自己，必然是害怕的，但同时他仍然爱着母亲。而Annie对神神叨叨的母亲也是害怕的，母亲的死对她来说，比悲伤更多的可能是一种解脱。所以她在葬礼结束回家后问Steve：“我在葬礼上是不是应该表现得更伤心一些？”但是亲生母亲去世怎么可能不难受，所以她去互助会寻求安慰。只可惜这并非真正的解脱，母亲留下的诅咒依然遗传在这个家庭中。

当知道答案后，再回顾剧情，发现真的有很多伏笔。Charlie说祖母希望她是个男孩就好了。Charlie割下了鸟的头，之后Charlie、Annie、Ellen的尸体都是没有头的。Annie在互助会提到过哥哥说母亲想要把别人放进他的身体。由此也可以看出，Ellen早就开始为Paimon寻找宿主了。从葬礼开始，Paimon的标志就开始有特写。Charlie撞死的杆子上也有Paimon的标志。Annie去Joan家的时候就说门口的垫子和她妈妈做的很像，预示着Joan其实和她妈妈有关。另外，Peter上课时候讨论的故事似乎也预示着这家人的悲剧。有节课在讨论Iphigenia。 Iphigenia被她父亲献祭以确保他的船队可以到达特洛伊。老师问了一个问题，大概是说因为自己犯了巨大的错误而导致不幸，和因为完全无法掌控自己的命运的注定的不幸，哪个更悲剧一些。而他们一家正是这种无法掌控的不幸。

另一方面，我总觉得Annie或多或少知道些关于Ellen给Paimon献祭这件事。由于她知道家里的不幸和母亲有关，所以她和母亲的关系不好。她曾经想方设法地在怀Peter的时候流产，但没有成功。而生下Peter之后，她也不愿她母亲和Peter有接触。所以Ellen去世的时候，Peter几乎没什么感觉。但是Charlie和祖母很亲近。我记得Annie有说“我把Charlie给了她”。不知道是因为她觉得女孩子没有问题，还是因为想用一个Charlie去换取全家的安宁。我可能更偏向于后者，因为这正好也是一种牺牲一桩交易，就像母亲和Paimon的交易的延续。Annie在母亲葬礼后就已经开始搜索研究和灵魂相关的信息了。而在互助会上，Annie有说她有时候觉得他们家的不幸应该怪自己，旁边的人问怪她什么，她怔怔说她不知道。再进一步更阴谋论的猜想是Annie潜意识里其实也是一名教徒，她梦游时的另一重人格可能也是帮凶。所以梦游时她才会想烧死自己的孩子。所以最后的仪式上，Annie和母亲一起跪在了王座前。

以上个人的理解和解读，欢迎讨论和指正。这两年恐怖片市场突然井喷，看多了表面被吹爆实则无聊炒冷饭的烂片，总算看到一部逻辑清晰情节细腻的好片了。

恩，还有就是，看完之后有一种想在别人耳边弹舌头的冲动……

大家好啊 我是Paimon 初次来到人间，很新奇 由于人生地不熟，我想好歹先找一个人问问情况（为了行走方便顺便占用一下身体） 没想到凭借我地狱魔王的尊贵身份以及了不起的各项能力 竟然收获了一票信徒 看来人类真是非常的单纯和可爱 信徒中首当其冲的就是一位叫做Ellen的女性

很可惜，由于我的设定，我只有在男性的身体里才能达到我恐怖如斯的巅峰实力 幸运的是，当Ellen得知我拥有如此多的能力之后 她与我签订了一份协议 挺长的，就不放出来了啊 总之呢，我给她点好处，她需要提供一副健壮的男性身体 当然中间的过程我并不干涉，听最后跪在我面前的信徒们说，状况还是挺惨烈的 感动到了

当然，入乡随俗，到了人间 据说一个秘密的行动组之间一定要有一个暗号 我思考了许久，觉得用弹舌非常不错——毕竟不引人注目用的人又少，况且不失风雅也不尴尬

有了协议之后 Ellen特别的积极，她本想将她的外孙Peter献祭于我 却因为她的神神叨叨一直被她的女儿Annie干涉，不让她接触到可爱的Peter 你是不是傻啊！我当时很生气地说，不能强抢，你就智取啊，从精神上先击溃对手

终于，机会来了，在Annie又生下了一个女儿Charlie之后，她说先让我躲藏在这幅娇小的女性身体之中伺机而发 我决定给她一个机会，于是我上了Charlie的身 也正在这时Ellen竟然老死了，人类可真是脆弱啊

为了得到Peter的身心（不要误会我不是那个意思），我要先将这个家庭分崩离析 Ellen的去世对这个家庭还是挺有打击的，特别是唤起了Annie内心的感情，这是件好事 如果我雪上加霜，隔不久就把Annie的女儿Charlie也解决了 要知道，处于崩溃边缘的人最好击破了 拿出笔记本好好记记，来自恶魔的战术安排不是每天都有的

于是在一个月黑风高的夜晚，我行动了——并且圆满成功 不仅Annie几近崩溃，连Peter也吓傻了，一箭双雕秒啊

接下来的这一步异常关键 据我了解崩溃的人无法面对家人，无人倾诉 这时候我安排的另外一个信徒琼上场了

我让她告诉了Annie她可以通灵，召唤出已逝之人的灵魂 在让Annie亲眼见证之后，再一并告诉Annie通灵的方法，并且要Annie在通灵的时候拉上全家 Annie一定会忍不住使用这个通灵法 这不，她很听话地还拉上了全家，表面上看起来通灵成功了，实际上这一整家已经通过这个仪式和我又签订了契约

我可真是个小机灵魔啊！！ 而签订时的媒介笔记本，也成为了与他们生死联结的道具

哎弄了半天终于要到关键的地方了 在我们恶魔界，什么信任，不存在的 在这个家变得支离破碎后，自然本就互相排斥的成员之间最后的信任也被我所吞噬 Annie竟然还想企图烧掉笔记本来终结这一切 年轻人你这个想法真危险，有本事你烧啊

烧掉倒好，趁你崩溃的时间先上一下你的身 去把你儿子Peter吓得跳窗

一切水到渠成 不禁放下手中的武器为自己鼓掌

终于，在各位忠实信徒的膜拜之下 我获得了这幅身体 这一路走来真是感慨万千啊 没想到这个厄运会“一惨惨一窝” 最后我想感谢一下各位支持和鼓励我的观众 如果你也有兴趣签点什么的话，可以与我联系 我会以弹舌的方式予以回应。 对了，有好学的小伙伴问 为什么每个人包括那只可怜的鸟都要把他们的头弄掉，是有什么特殊的含义和喜好吗 对啊，我喜欢，怎么着吧

对了因为我的名字paimon 还有一层含义：“叮叮当当”的声音 就是最后我接受新身体时候响起的那一阵铃铛声 你以为作法呢？别傻了那是在召唤我的名字 所以如果你听到了叮叮当当 记得要和我打招呼哦 等等，还记得我们之间的暗号吗？

作为今年最期待的一部恐怖片，这部电影我觉得有点名气大于内容，有那么一点点失望。本片与其他形形色色的驱魔/附体/召灵类电影相比没能有太多独特的地方，或许这个题材也是被挖掘的太透了。然而如果非要挑刺的话，这部电影又没有太多可以诟病的地方，悬疑设计和恐怖的情节都把握的不错，尤其是女主的歇斯底里更是亮点十足，试问谁都不想有这个一个阴郁的时常还梦游的母亲和一个长得实在磕碜的妹妹吧？然而总的看来，本片还是算不上特别优秀。

最后聊一聊恶魔学的问题，影片里的邪神派蒙出自世传所罗门王所写的《所罗门之钥匙》（或译《雷蒙盖特》）里。

《恶魔事典》里关于派蒙的描述

派蒙在书里是排行第九的大恶魔，好像也并不是归于电影里所说的“地狱八王”，而他排在前面的那些大佬诸如巴尔（游戏《暗黑破坏神》），华利弗（游戏《最终幻想X》），巴巴托斯（动漫《铁血的奥尔芬斯》）之类就更加脍炙人口了，流行文化均对上述几类恶魔都有所涉及，也让这些神秘的恶魔被世人所知。所罗门王把自己的灵魂献给魔神为代价换取了召唤72个恶魔（又称72柱神）的能力，这些恶魔能力有大有小，也有着一定的等级制度，大到帝王、大公、伯爵小到普通的使魔，构成了一个恶魔王国。然而所罗门王在去世后，入侵的巴比伦人攻进皇宫，以为关着72魔神的瓶子里装着的是财宝，于是打开封印把这些大大小小的恶魔一并放了了出来，至此，恶魔在人间里形形色色的传说开始了，也有了后世这么多关于驱魔的电影。纵观恐怖电影史，大部分驱魔/附体类电影里的恶魔都出自这72柱神。有兴趣的朋友可以搜索一下此类电影里恶魔们最后被神父用圣水和圣经逼出来的自报家门，差不多都在这七十二个恶魔之列。

烂番茄和豆瓣上都是超高评价，带着极高的期待去看，结果有点失望。。。坐标西雅图，影厅基本上满座，结果一个恐怖悬疑电影，老美们看得集体笑场多次。。。女主的出演有点用力过猛，尤其是烧女儿画本的那一段。。。女儿的相貌和行为都很诡异，儿子呆呆的，一家人就爸爸看着还是个正常人。。。全片看完多少觉得有点故弄玄虚，从头到尾都在等那个高潮，揭示那种种铺垫，结果片子都结束了也没等到那个点。。。很多好片子都有一个开放式的的结尾，但那要结合一个够有说服力的剧情，如果情节不管严谨，并不觉得开放到难懂的片子就是好片子。。。看了一下剧透和影评，对剧情还是有一些不理解的地方。。。

1. 有人说Annie知道外婆是有问题的，还曾为了保护Peter不成为Paimon的宿主想办法流产，还把Charlie交给外婆让Paimon附身，那么她应该知道Charlie在某种程度上是危险的，Charlie扭断鸟头也证实了这一点，那么Annie为什么非要让Charlie跟Peter去那个party，而且是在Charlie不下去，Peter不想Charlie去的情况下非要逼她去？

2. 有人说Charlie的死是邪教精心策划的，但事实上Charlie是因为对蛋糕里的坚果过敏，Peter急着开车去医院被突然出现的鹿吓到，Charlie又在碰巧在那个电线杆处打开车窗把身体伸出车窗外，这些看上去都是非常随机的情况，邪教教徒如何能策划这一系列的巧合？

3. 那么在Charlie出意外的时候Paimon在她体内到底有没有意识？如果有，杀死Charlie对他有什么好处？这样在他能附上Peter之前就等于无身可附了，这对他一点好处都没有，那么他杀死Charlie的诉求是什么？

4. Annie的哥哥自杀身亡，如果是哥哥的灵魂抗拒paimon附体，那么为什么Paimon不干脆就直接在哥哥灵魂因为死亡而消失的时候附在他身上而费劲周折弄出后面这一出出戏？

5. 有人说Peter自杀后Paimon得以最终附身，这又说不通了，因为在Annie哥哥的案例上自杀身亡的身体并没有被用来附身。

6. 另外Peter其实是被吓傻了慌不择路从窗户坠下，并不是自杀

7. Peter最终被附身的时候是否还活着？如果活着，那就说明paimon其实是可以随时附身，干嘛要折腾一大圈？如果已经死了，为什么他当时又没有附在Annie自杀死去的哥哥身上？反正只是要一个body

8. Annie和爸爸到底是怎么死的？

9. 外婆的尸体是谁弄到阁楼上去的？

[遗传厄运]是今年最出色的恐怖片。

因为，电影前一多半，都在让你感同身受，家庭就是这么恐怖：

父亲大多时候是隐身的，母亲是冷漠又分裂的，她好像是个好妈妈，但又会在梦游中往孩子身上涂满了燃料待燃。

双亲与兄妹四口，一家人是貌合神离的，人与人间的微妙距离，是迎合，是冷淡，是狂躁，是漠不关心，又是相互试探。

更何况，在这家人身后，还有一个从未出场又无处不在的老太太，她是女儿口中爱恨交织的人，也是引魔鬼入门的人。

©[遗传厄运]，一家人召唤死去的女儿，却浑然不知召唤来的是恶魔

将孙子的身体献祭给恶魔之王，那个叫派蒙神的魔王隐忍数年，终于在电影结尾入主这个身体和家庭。

这个家，所谓的家，也就真的分崩离析了。

©[遗传厄运]最后的仪式

电影前半段，让你以为这是一部家庭恐怖片；到了后半小时，画风一转，其实，这是一部可以类比[驱魔人]、[罗斯玛丽的婴儿]的恶魔片。

这里，深陷恶魔套路，无处自救的家庭，让人叹息，但也让人对西方文化里的恶魔(Demon)概念多了一丢想要探究的好奇心。

传说，《圣经》中古犹太王国伟大的贤王所罗门，不仅有着超人的智慧和治国功业，而且还是一名优秀的恶魔召唤师。

他把自己召唤的咒文都写下来，称作《所罗门之钥》；然后又用里面的咒文召唤了72名大恶魔来签订契约、为己所用。

结果，后来巴比伦入侵，不小心将封印恶魔的瓶子打开，72魔神才来到世间。

被称为“所罗门之英灵”的这72名恶魔，有着一个更为著名的名字：所罗门王72柱魔神。

位列首位的“苍蝇王”巴尔(Baal)、三头恶魔阿加雷斯(Agares)、能望见过去未来的魔神瓦沙克(Vassago)、马身恶魔萨米基纳(Samigina)...

当然，还有在[遗传厄运]中现身，72柱魔神中排名第9位的「女脸男身」恶魔派蒙(Paimon)。

©恶魔派蒙(Paimon)形象

1825年，法国神秘学家在一部魔鬼作品集《Dictionnaire Infernal》里，描绘了各种各样的恶魔形象。

其中就有派蒙，他戴着镶有宝石的王冠，身骑一匹单峰骆驼，行走在茫茫天地间。

其实，他也是掌管艺术灵感的恶魔，在科学、艺术、秘法等方面都造诣极深，而且能把这些知识在一瞬间授予人类。

[遗传厄运]里，可以看到奉拜派蒙神的这家人艺术修养都很高，老祖母织的地毯、母亲做的玩具屋展品、小女儿的绘画...等等，都成了一种暗示。

©[遗传厄运]里，母亲做的玩具屋

派蒙的名字来自公元两千多年前，古老的美索不达米亚语种，含义是“滴答”、“叮咚”的声音，就像是片子中小女孩一直在发出的弹舌音。

但在古早时，他也曾是美索不达米亚神话里中东的一位神。

在72柱魔神中，其实派蒙神的名气不大，要数最具名气的，还是排名首位的巴尔。

在安东尼·霍普金斯出演驱魔神父的电影[仪式]中，附身的恶魔便是大名鼎鼎的巴尔。

©[仪式]中，巴尔附身

巴尔是传说中统帅地狱恶灵66军团的地狱之王，相传相貌丑陋，声音沙哑，而且常以猫、青蛙、人形或是三者混合出现。

巴尔在犹太教的记载中，被描述为给人带来疾病和灾害的苍蝇王(Lord of the Flies)，他的名字，变成了恶魔别西卜(Beelzebub)。

但其实，他的形象源于公元前1300年古国腓尼基的丰饶之神，他是“巴尔王子”，是掌管太阳、雷雨和丰收的支配者。

在《圣经》里一写，他反而成了能够和撒旦本人匹敌的地狱之王和大魔神。

可见，72柱魔神形象大多都有原型，而且由异教神成恶魔的这一转变，都少不了《圣经》的大笔书写。

除了巴尔，[仪式]里现身的，还有排名第4位的马身恶魔萨米基纳，他精通回魂、降灵术，当召唤者希望他以人形显身时，他也会变成人形。

©[仪式]里的马身恶魔萨米基纳

还有在[招魂2]中出现的、吓瘫一众人马的修女，其原型是排名62位的恶魔华劣克(Valac)；

永井豪的《恶魔人》，其中和主角不动明合体的反派恶魔，则是排名第7位的魔神阿蒙(Amon)。

©[招魂2]中修女是恶魔华劣克

可以说，恐怖片中出现的大部分恶魔形象，都能回归到72柱魔神中来找原型。

不过，虽说是所罗门王72柱魔神，其实这一恶魔体系跟所罗门王没半点关系，它出自一本17世纪的恶魔学著作《所罗门之钥》(Lemegeton)。

是当时那些研究占星术、炼金术及卡巴拉的民间神秘学爱好者，假托所罗门王之名，创立了这一体系。

1566年1月，一个名叫妮可的16岁女孩被带到了法国拉恩大教堂。

“邪恶的灵魂，神的死敌，抬头看这神圣的十字架，奉主及救世主耶稣基督之名，我命令你，离开这可怜人的身体，永不复返。”

配合着圣水、十字架和圣饼，驱魔牧师们口念祷文，为女孩完成了一场驱魔仪式。

在此之前，女孩已经连续数周举止怪异、严重抽搐，嘴里还说着无人能懂的语言。

这是一场著名的、被官方教廷记录在案的驱魔仪式，有超过上万的民众观看了驱魔，而它的主角，就是恶魔别西卜，也就是72柱魔神之首巴尔。

1949年，《华盛顿邮报》头版上一个14岁附魔男孩被神父拯救的故事引起了轰动。

©49年，一场轰动的驱魔真事，也是[驱魔人]的原型

小男孩名叫约翰·霍夫曼，在姑妈死后出现了类似附魔的症状，于是，请来了地区主教，进行了一场长达一个月的驱魔拉锯战。

《华盛顿邮报》对驱魔过程进行了详细报道，引起了人们对这一事件的广泛兴趣和讨论。

当时，还在上大学的著名作家威廉·彼得·布拉蒂，在20年过后，以此为蓝本，写下了一本伟大的驱魔题材小说。

这就是后来改编成电影也照样引起轰动的[驱魔人]，70年代最成功的恐怖片，可能没有之一。

©[驱魔人]，驱魔时场景

也是从这时，一种现代性的驱魔概念开始深入人心。

在《圣经》中，本就有详细记录耶稣基督在人世间30余年中多次驱魔治病的经历。

比如《马可福音》第5章开篇说，耶稣在行过加拉大地区时候，发现了被恶魔附身的民众。

耶稣问其名后，用神力将其赶到了猪群的身上，才解救了百姓，后来，耶稣的门徒们也在授权下驱过魔。

©耶稣为民众驱魔治病

在基督教的观念里，灵界是真实存在的，既然有上帝存在，那就有恶魔。

而人这种由神赋予自由意志的造物，常常偏离神的道路，而堕入撒旦引导的邪恶道路。

于是，这时候，基督徒就被赋予了一项驱魔医人、引人走上正道的责任。

从过去到而今超过500多年，梵蒂冈天主教教廷每年都要进行上千起驱魔仪式，为那些身体与灵魂都被占领的人而战。

驱魔，也从以前兼有宗教仪式到而今越来越职业化，06年，梵蒂冈甚至举办了一届驱魔培训班。

这也成了电影[心中的恶魔]剧本的灵感来源。

©[心中的恶魔]和[仪式]都有关于驱魔培训课程的内容

即便目前科学界对驱魔仪式仍嗤之以鼻，颇有微词，但梵蒂冈仍然低调地承认和保留着驱魔仪式。

教宗方济各也曾在弥撒中说：这个世代还有许多其他世代，都认为恶魔是个神话，是个捏造人物，是邪恶的体现，但恶魔真的存在，我们必须对抗它。

[仪式]里，作为初接触驱魔课程的神学院学生，男主即便第一次亲眼得见女孩在十字架面前的诡异动作和怒吼，他也相信那是个可怜的病人。

的确，被附身者的表现和动作，其实常常和精神分析角度的多重人格、精神分裂、或是癔症很相像。

就像[心中的恶魔]里，那个被恶魔附身的女人，如果被精神分析师诊断，结果就是体内有七重人格。

当然，也有精神分析师从恶魔附身的角度做过治疗的尝试。

美国探索频道的一套纪录片中提到过一个案例：

一个名叫山德森的医生，在将一个多重人格患者催眠后，唤醒了他的另外一个人格，在友善聊过后，得知那是一个灵体。

山德森医生用心理治疗的方法，最终将其驱离了人体，然后患者的症状也就好了。

事实上，现在很多教会的驱魔师也不愿意直接给人驱魔，他们常常会鼓励人们先去看精神科医生。

如果医生解决不了，才是他们出手的时候了。

©一生驱魔无数的安莫斯神父，会鼓励人们先去看医生，确认真的被恶魔附身再接受驱魔

总的来说，西方文化里的恶魔概念跟他们的基督教信仰总是密切相连的。

就像恶魔的72柱魔神体系里，巴尔、派蒙等等很多恶魔的文化来源，都是其他文化的异教神。

他们由神转为恶魔的过程，伴随的是基督教统治西方文明的过程。

至于，是不是真的有恶魔存在、能不能招魂唤醒恶魔、驱魔是否真的有用，我相信，每个人也会有每个人的答案。

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作者/卷卷毛

文章首发于微信公众号「破词儿」

这个导演比较不走寻常路，通常这种悬疑性质很大的电影，导演都会回避特别清楚地回答观众疑问，他反而在各种访问、活动一一回答了大部分问题。

以下两个链接说得很清楚了：

//variety.com/2018/film/awards/hereditary-ari-aster-answers-burning-questions-1202841448/

And the fact the family is completely unaware adds to the terror. One way that I pitched the film when I was first taking it out was “it’s a story about a long-lived possession ritual told from the perspective of the sacrificial lamb.” Ultimately we are with the family in their ignorance of what’s really happening. But I also wanted to imbue the film with this sinister, more knowing perspective. Even though we are with the family in their ignorance, the movie itself knows exactly where the story is going. And everything is inevitable. Throughout the film, things are just sort of clicking into place and all those things are driving this family towards one end.

In an early scene, the subject of free will is discussed. Are you saying this family has no free will? Yeah, absolutely. I see the film as being very Greek in that sense. This is absolutely inevitable, the family has absolutely no agency.

There is nothing Annie can do to stop this from happening? No, I don’t think so. That’s where the dollhouses came in. Annie creates these miniature figures and dollhouses and they served as a perfect metaphor for the situation; they’re dolls in a dollhouse being manipulated by outside forces. Any control they try to seize is hopeless.

Is that why she thinks she can stop it by burning the Charlie’s sketchbook – the first time she tries, she catches fire — but the second time, her husband Steve catches fire? Exactly. Even that scene is meant to play as Annie’s big redemptive moment, she’s going to sacrifice herself for her son. It’s a beautiful gesture but part of the cruel logic of the film is it’s an empty gesture. Ultimately, it’s not her choice to make. She thinks there’s a design here and she can end things if she sacrifices herself. But there’s no design and there are no rules. There is a malicious logic at play.

Could it have been prevented if she hadn’t been tricked into casting the spell given to her by Joan? The thing is, that scene is ultimately a red herring, and it’s a piece of misdirection. It plays as a séance scene but really it’s a much darker conjuring and they need Annie to take part in it in order to bring it in the house and in order to further this ritual along. When she invites it in, she escalates things. But it would’ve happened anyway, we’re just seeing how it happened. We’re seeing one of the ways it could play out.

There’s a lot of talk about what a bad mother Annie’s mother was. Did she just have kids for the purpose of this ritual? That’s pretty much what is suggested. If you listen to Annie’s speech at the group therapy, there are a lot of keys in her monologue as to what came before this and how far back this goes.

Early on, Charlie cuts the head off a pigeon and makes a strange figurine out of it. Can you elaborate on that? I don’t want to be too obvious but we find later that Charlie has been building these figurines to populate a diorama she’s been building that serves as a shrine to Paimon. It also functions as a metaphor for what Paimon is doing to this family. If you look at the diorama you’ll see they’re headless figurines bowing to a pigeon-headed creature with a crown on its head, which is not far away from what we’re left with in the last scene of the film.

Annie talks about how her mother got “her hooks” into Charlie at an early age. Are we meant to think Charlie is in on it? Charlie is the first successful host for Paimon. It’s transferred from Charlie to Peter at the end.

Because Paimon wants a male body? Exactly.

Is there ever a Charlie or is she Paimon from the moment she’s born? From the moment she’s born. I mean, there’s a girl that was displaced, but she was displaced from the very beginning.

In an odd way, that makes me feel better. (Laughs) That’s nice. See, it’s a happy ending. But obviously, there’s a boy who’s horribly displaced by the end.

http://www.vulture.com/2018/06/explaining-the-end-of-hereditary.html

Is Paimon a real thing? He is! Well, real in the sense that if you believe in hell and the Devil, Paimon is an actual entity that people do worship. Across various sources, he is designated as “a great King,” “one of the chief demons,” and “one of the most significant Angelick Rulers.” He pledges intense fealty to Lucifer, and is often rendered riding atop a camel (as we see in the movie).

There are conflicting points of view on whether or not Paimon and the demon Azazel are the same. According to the Black Witch Coven, “He is one of the demonic princes overseeing the four cardinal directions, West being his domain,” which is why Joan (Ann Dowd) and her minions “looked to the Northwest” to summon him in the movie. According to the Joy of Satan Ministries, “Paimon gives the power to influence and control others,” and that seems to scan with how he operates in Hereditary. However, the Ministries also describe the hell king as “full of energy. Loud noises and bright lights tend to make him more active. He is very colorful and very friendly.” Maybe the “party naked” side of him just got left on the cutting-room floor, because that guy seems like a downer.

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What are the “rewards” Annie’s mom wrote to her about in that note? In the Invocations book that Annie pulls out of her mom’s box of things, a photo opposite the image of Paimon shows a person sitting atop a mound of treasure that says “Riches to the conjurer” in a caption beneath. When Joan speaks to Peter/Charlie at the end and crowns him, she asks Paimon to give her and the other followers “knowledge of all secret things, honor, wealth, and good familiars.” She also asks that he bind all men to them, as the worshippers have bound themselves to Paimon.

Those sound like “riches,” and what with a king of hell being resurrected, being recognized as one of his privileged followers will probably be a lot safer than, well, not. In a description of his abilities, Satan Ministries says Paimon “teaches the arts and sciences” in addition to providing “good familiars and gives one position and honor. He can reveal anything about the Earth and one’s mind.” At least some rulers recognize the necessity of science education!

So is Peter Charlie? Or is Peter Paimon? It’s likely that Charlie never knew she was imbued with the spirit of a king of hell, but as Annie says in her grief-counseling group, her mother got “her hooks” in the young girl from the time she was a baby. (Annie’s mom, Ellen, even insisted on feeding baby Charlie — and one of the miniatures depicts grandma offering the infant her exposed breast — which is probably the most unremarked upon insane thing that happens in Hereditary!) As we learn in the opening eulogy, Annie’s mom had “private rituals” and “private friends,” a lot of which probably revolved around putting Paimon into Charlie.

Clearly, though, the long game was to get Paimon into Peter, since Paimon desires a male host, and Charlie sure didn’t seem like she knew she was a preferred underling of the Morning Star! So Paimon was bound to Charlie, and when that little light flash dissolves into Peter’s limp body after he pitches himself out of the attic window at the end, that’s the spirit entering him. With the transfer complete, Joan seems like she’s ready to let Charlie (in Peter’s body) know about everything that’s been going on, and who she really is.

Remember, too, that Annie’s brother hung himself at the age of 16, leaving a note behind saying that his mother had been trying put people inside of him. Ellen failed to secure her son as a host, and she missed her first shot with Peter since Annie had excommunicated her, so she used Charlie as a temporary vessel until the ritual was able to be completed later on. As Aster told Vulture, “The film is about a long-lived possession ritual that is seen from the perspective of the sacrificial lambs.”

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With that in mind, you can think of the movie’s sinister events as being carried out by an invisible hand, of sorts. That sigil painted above grandma’s headless body in the attic? It’s the actual symbol of Paimon, and it was also carved in the utility pole that tore Charlie’s head off. The leafy bit that Annie brushed off her lip when she was drinking tea at Joan’s apartment? Probably a witches brew of some kind (or another red herring, because by now you’re paranoid!). Peter feeling his throat close up and taking the posture of Charlie’s decapitated body before ramming his head into a desk? His body was being primed for a spiritual takeover. Those scrapbook photos of Ellen wearing a white dress and a veil as she’s being showered with gold coins? That sure looks like a wedding ritual, once you see her framed portrait in the satanic tree house, which has a placard with “Queen Leigh” fixed to the top. Does that mean grandma was spiritually married to her granddaughter and therefore breastfed her husband-grandchild when she was an infant? It seems like it!

Did Annie do any of those weird things — decapitating her dead mom’s body, spying on Peter outside his window — or was it the Paimon cult? Aster told Vulture that, “The audience is supposed to suspect that it might be Annie (Toni Collette), but it is the cult of which Ann Dowd is a very significant part. But you are supposed to feel through the film that there are people on the periphery that are watching this family and are hovering just outside.” Therefore, Annie’s sleepwalking was not resulting in her exhuming bodies and cutting their heads off. It was a red herring! Aster laid a sort of bread crumb trail throughout the whole movie, tipping the audience off that the Grahams were always being watched by associates of Ellen and Joan: the man who smiled at Charlie at Ellen’s funeral, all those “new faces” who mourned her death, the woman waving at Charlie across the street from her school, the person breathing in the dark outside of Peter’s window — all of whom we probably saw naked in the tree house during the finale.

What was with that book setting people on fire? It seems like a safe bet that the book was bound to protect itself. The cult did demonstrate they had a pretty long reach when it came to influencing events, and they even stashed a whole headless body in the Graham’s attic when no one was looking. When Annie tried to destroy the book, it protected itself, but Annie was also essential to completing the possession ritual, so she couldn’t just burst into flames and die. We’ll call that a warning shot by the book.

But Steve (Gabriel Byrne)? He had to get out of the way, and the moment he died, Annie stopped being Annie and started being an agent of Paimon, much like when she channeled Charlie into her own body during the previous seance. When that ring of light flashes over her, that’s Paimon beaming into a new host, as Collette explained to Vulture, “Ari was standing to the side, and he let me watch this person be on fire for a while [laughs] and then he said, ‘Okay. Now, Paimon, the light, is going to enter you.’ We never talked about what that would ever look like or be like. I just did one take and that was it.” And that, ladies and gentlemen, is called acting.

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What about Annie’s sleepwalking, then? Go with us on this one. What if the sleepwalking was Annie’s subconscious way of fighting her mother and the ritual? She tried to set Peter and Charlie on fire once before, but snapped out of it, right? And then in the dream we see where she admits she wanted to abort Peter but her mom wouldn’t allow it — and so she tried to force a miscarriage — she screams at him, “I wasn’t trying to kill you! I was trying to protect you!” Somewhere in Annie’s subconscious, she must have known her children were in danger, and just as her brother had to kill himself to escape Ellen’s clutches when he was a teenager, Annie must have known deep down that as long as the kids were alive they were existentially threatened.

As Collette told Vulture, in that moment Annie is surfacing what’s in her subconscious, which “allows the audience to know that this is a kind of murky, not entirely understood, gray area about the safety of her children and the intention behind the creation of them — and how her mother was involved, right? So it’s still not entirely clear, but there is an indication of some concern there.” Annie realizes after it’s too late, though, that she part of that threat, and must die if she wants to protect her kids. But by that point the toothpaste is out of the tube, and it just isn’t going back in.

Are the decapitations part of Paimon-related lore? Not really. Aster added that element himself, and he’s not into explaining why. As he told Vulture, “I think it would be disingenuous for me to give any sort of intellectual answer. I feel like there are a lot of really good reasons and I like all of them, but uttering them kind of robs them of something. But I do like all the things that they might provoke in somebody.” As for Collette, she has formed her own theory about all the rolling heads. “We’re so attached to our bodies, we’re so attached to the brain and the mind. They’re like the control center, and that once you lose that metaphorically, you become nothing, and therefore you are able to give yourself over to this greater force?” Speculate away!

So why did he use Paimon? No special reason, really. Aster said to Vulture that he just didn’t want to deploy Lucifer again, and hey, that’s fair. If you need a more substantial explanation than that — just let it go. Sometimes creepy is enough.