2018’s Big Horror Film Trend: Inherited Trauma
By sheer coincidence, four of this year’s most poignant and effective horror stories are thematically connected by their exploration of familial mental illness and inherited trauma — the concept of traumatic experiences so deeply affecting that they are passed down from parents to children, whether by nature or nurture (or, in some cases, both). This idea is the driving force behind every terrifying moment in Hereditary, The Haunting of Hill House, Sharp Objects, and Halloween, all of which also happen to have another curious thing in common: Miniature houses.