Inherit isn’t a part of the Toronto Film Festival’s Midnight Madness lineup, but the Banjong Pisanthanakun (Shutter) film is still, nonetheless, absolutely mad. It is a midnight horror movie with cheeky humor to go along with centipedes and decapitations, as well as an ass-kicking nun who may or may not save the family in Inherit. Said family is mostly rotten to the dirty core, and they're no match for the wickedness of a scene-stealing monster.
The devil is beautiful in Inherit.
Technically, not a devil, but a possessed grandma with an 800-year-old centipede demon pulling her strings. Grandma Woranart (Davika Hoorne) is 85 years old, but she doesn’t look a day over 25 when she pays a visit to her grieving family.
Pisanthanakun’s film appropriately opens with death. Su (Sinjai Plengpanich), who’s the niece of the demon, has lost her mother. She now has a family of sinners. There is the shady husband, responsible for a chemical spill and the death of multiple children, and their two sons, a teen riddled with guilt and a father-to-be with the nastiest secret of all. The only innocent in the family is young Oui (Baipor Thitiya Jirapornsilp), who Grandma Woranart takes a keen interest in…
Su hasn’t seen her aunt since childhood. It’s a comically glamorous reintroduction as the 85-year-old enters the picture like a deadly model on a runway, all dressed in angelic white, except for her blood-red glasses. Everyone is taken aback by her youthful appearance, which Woranart excuses as having every piece of cosmetic work imaginable done.
Some buy it, some say she’s using black magic (correct), and others are too polite to remark.
It doesn't take long for Woranart to wreak havoc, nor does it take Pisanthanakun long to get to the fantastical carnage. The filmmaker delights in every one of Woranart’s kills, as she consumes strangers and sinners to keep her appearance nice and youthful. The deaths are cruel and swift, often imaginative. There’s an especially satisfying bit involving an escalator and decapitation, only held back by askew CG blood.
Davika Hoorne’s presence is the real killer in Inherit, though. Imagine Cruella de Vil if she was into the dark arts – a demon fond of ghastly kills and exquisite outfits. Hoorne is hilarious and menacing as the mysterious demon, not to mention persuasive. She’s not the monster in the movie. She makes compelling arguments. She does it all with a sly smile and evil twinkle in her eye, too. It’s a richly written antagonist, a lovable villain, and an absolute juggernaut of a performance from Hoorne, whose character’s true nature is revealed with great fun.
When Pisanthanakun does answer questions about the demon and the possession, he doesn’t dispel mystery or slow down momentum. Here, the answers are as satisfying as the blood on the walls. There’s a full mythology and world of light battling darkness here – including the coolest nun since Night of the Demons II, Nun Saengboon (Warattaya Nilkuha). A stoic and kind-hearted hero, not only the creature, pops in Inherit. Nilkuha and Hoorne going toe-to-toe, surrounded by supernatural elements, is exceptional fun.
The rest of the ensemble could’ve used a little more time to cook. Then again, the family isn’t really the point in Inherit. Sometimes it’s more exciting when the audience is closer to the hunter than the prey. Especially when the huntress is Davika Hoorne putting on a five-star show of death. The monster is a star in Inherit.
Movie Score: 4/5
A film journalist with over a decade of experience writing for Slash Film, The Credits, and High Times Magazine.
A film journalist with over a decade of experience writing for Slash Film, The Credits, and High Times Magazine.
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