An excerpt from Reals’ script review for Hereditary which will be available 06/10/18:
What Needs Work
6. Pg. 21 – The support group speech to give exposition is kind of lazy. Think of more exciting ways to give this information visually.
7. Pg. 35 – Getting Charlie’s head ripped off was something I didn’t see coming – a pretty shocking end to what was kind of a cliche build-up (sneaking to a party, doing drugs, ect.)
8. I think we have talked about this before, but man is this dark. Like, unrelenting, oppressively dark. There need to be some moments of calm or even humor in between the heavy moments to break it up, otherwise it isn’t as effective.
I have a favorite quote that I will again reiterate because I am seeing this problem with so many series’/films recently:
“If everything is funny, nothing is funny. If everything is sad, nothing is sad.” – J. Michael Straczynski
Most notably, or most recently, this was a huge problem for me in 13 Reasons Why: Season 2. Yes, I watched it because I enjoyed what the first season had to offer and was curious to see where they would go with the new season… the answer is they would go nowhere very slowly and painfully.
9. Pg. 41 – There are a lot of “We see…” “We do…” etc. in this script. This is poor writing. Find a way to direct the camera without resorting to this. Plus, it’s Hank’s pet-peeve, so don’t do it for his sake!
10. Pg. 45 – This is a pretty dull drama right now, there really isn’t much horror at all. It didn’t have the initial scare or horror hook (Drew Barrymore’s death in Scream) and it’s just kind of dragging.
11. Pg. 61 – Who greenlit this thing? Nothing has happened but dark, depressing drama stuff. It’s not a horror at all but a tedious drama.
12. Pg. 75 – We don’t do anything supernatural or creepy until page 75 of 119? That’s really stretching it and doesn’t really work, even for a slow-burn horror.
13. Pg. 83 – I wish I could kill all dream sequences for all time.
14. Pg. 92 – At this point, the “rational” dad should take the kid and get the heck out of that house. Or at least have the mom committed to a psych ward, for their safety.
15. And the end was pretty lame and not really set-up at all.
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