厄运

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.

《遗传厄运》在圣丹斯电影节首映时口碑大爆，外媒对这部恐怖片的评价不吝溢美之词，不少影迷都被吊起了胃口。

漫长的等待之后，终于看到这部影片，虽然没有想象中那么吓人，不过本片依然值得一看。

诅咒之家

和很多恐怖片一样，《遗传厄运》的故事发生在一个中产阶级家庭，偏僻郊区的大房子，也是灵异事件的重灾区。

这间大房子里居住着一家五口：外婆艾伦夫人、丈夫史蒂夫、妻子安妮、儿子彼得、女儿查莉。

在外婆去世后，安妮整理母亲的遗物，发现母亲收藏了不少灵异学书籍，其中一封遗书还表明这个家庭将要迎来厄运。

此后，安妮看到母亲的鬼魂在屋中游荡，女儿查莉惨死于一场车祸，儿子彼得也在学校里出现了自残行为。

家庭变故让安妮倍感压力，于是她选择去互助会中倾诉，原来安妮的家族似乎有某种遗传性精神病，她的父亲、哥哥皆因精神病而死，母亲生前也总是神神叨叨的。

结合这家人的异常行为，可以推测这种疾病也遗传到了安妮和她的孩子身上。其中安妮的工作是制作微缩模型，而她居然把女儿的死亡现场做成模型，令人难以理解。

女儿查莉生前的性格也很怪异，她和安妮一样喜欢手工，还曾残忍剪下一只小鸟的头，作为手工模型的素材。

当然，随着恶魔教徒的出现，我们得知安妮一家的症状并不是单纯的精神病，而是有计划的诅咒。这份诅咒在外婆那一代就已种下，目的是为了复活地狱中的某个恶魔。

在这个诅咒之家中，丈夫史蒂夫后知后觉，儿子和女儿尚需他人的保护，于是妻子安妮就成了影片着墨最多的主角。

作为恐怖片的女主角，演员托妮·科莱特贡献了不俗的演技，几场情绪爆发的戏份张力十足，面部表情也颇有《闪灵》女主角的惊悚感。

营造恐怖

亚洲恐怖片吓人的套路是各种白脸女鬼，欧美恐怖片则偏好用血浆和断肢。

《遗传厄运》属于典型的欧美风格，影片中几乎见不到鬼怪的正面镜头，几个具有冲击力的画面分别是女儿爬满蚂蚁的残躯，丈夫无征兆的被火焰吞噬，以及安妮被附身后如野兽一般的动作。

值得庆幸的是，导演在片中用蚂蚁作为吓人的道具，而不是其他更令人感到不适的昆虫，比起某些东南亚降头类恐怖片，恶心程度已经克制不少。

影片的惊吓场景重点放在了后半段，然而前面的铺陈中同样有一些令人不安的蛛丝马迹，比如偶尔在黑暗中掠过的白影，如果不按暂停键，观众很难在画面中发现这些幽灵。

用PS把画面调亮后，显示出外婆清晰的鬼影

音效也是恐怖片用来吓人的重要道具，不过这里的音效并非水琴等恐怖乐器发出的刺耳声音，而是一种剧情提示的线索。

一些小丑题材的恐怖片中，每当小丑喇叭的声音响起，就意味着危险来临。类似的线索还有铃铛晃动的声音、弹珠落地的声音、木地板吱吱呀呀的声音等等。

在《遗传厄运》中，这样的线索是女儿查莉咂舌头的声音（即舌头与腭接触发声）。

查莉生前有咂舌头的习惯，家人也习惯了她时不时发出这种声音，不过当查莉死后，家中再次出现这种声音，就令人不寒而栗了。

在电影中，镜头是观众的眼镜，《遗传厄运》的镜头同样在强化观众的不安。

无论是影片开头由房屋模型渐变到真实场景的长镜头，还是房屋外景快速的黑夜白天切换，都是在扭曲观众的空间感与时间感，营造一种怪异的效果。

你甚至无法分辨，这些场景究竟是现实世界，还是那些微缩模型。

同样的场景，一秒钟由黑夜切换成白天，仿佛换了个背景板

最坏结局

我始终认为，坏结局才是恐怖片最好的结局。因为恐怖片的目的就是吓人，而不是为了传递love&peace，好在《遗传厄运》的结局就是bad ending。

影片最后，教徒们崇拜的魔王“派蒙”成功降临，画面定格在三角形的树屋里面，与片中反复出现的三角形神秘符号形成关联，同时这个画面也像极了一个微缩模型的房间，与影片开头呼应，强调了故事的寓言性。

影片开头由实（现实）入虚（模型），结尾由虚入实

这个结局的构图固然巧妙，然而也给人一种高潮乏力的感觉。

目前的欧美恐怖片，“通灵必惹麻烦，boss必是恶魔”已经成为一种常见的套路，《遗传厄运》并没有什么创新，而且在一个多小时的铺垫后，魔王降临的场景也不惊艳，缺乏大场面的支撑。

相比之下，《致命录像带2》同样有一段魔王降临的故事，其中教徒集体自杀、活死人群魔乱舞、魔王破腹而出的场景，让每一处铺垫都像炸弹一样密集引爆，带来的震撼当然更胜一筹。

因此，我可以说这是一个好的结局，因为它是bad ending，同时这也是一个平淡的结局，因为它没有呈现出更进一步的高潮。

总之，《遗传厄运》是一部惊吓指数适中的文艺型恐怖片，影片的摄影构图、演员表现要比惊悚场面更值得深挖。

尤其对比那些粗制滥造的小成本恐怖片，《遗传厄运》的质感更让人赏心悦目。

本文为《暴走看啥片儿》特约稿件，作者大海里的针。如需授权、转载请联系[email protected]

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。

放眼全部电影类型，恐怖电影很可能是活力最为旺盛的一支了——这不仅体现在能够以低廉成本来创新和试错，从而创造新的恐怖流派（如乔治·A·罗梅罗的“活死人”，山姆·雷米的“鬼玩人”，甚至是更新潮一些的《鬼影实录》）。而作为流行文化的重要一环，它也在不同程度上，捕捉和反映了当时观众的审美情趣。

恐怖电影的时代特征，不仅取决于电影技法的发展，也取决于流行文化的趋势。70年代前后，伴随着《罗斯玛丽的婴儿》《天魔》《驱魔人》《柳条人》《鬼哭神嚎》，甚至是《闪灵》的出现，恐怖片开始从低俗边角料走入主流视野，并获得重要的商业成功。我们看到，恐怖片的主题，从上个时代的怪物（《活死人之夜》）和变态杀手（《惊魂记》），逐渐转向了超自然力量和凶鬼恶灵。在约翰·卡朋特用血浆和特效打开新时代的下一扇大门之前，许多经典恐怖片，藉由宗教和邪教的外壳，去描绘了那些不是通过视觉让你恶心反胃，而是通过气氛和压迫力，令人真正感到坐立不安的邪恶本质。

换言之，70年代的恐怖片，经历了一次从已知的恐怖，到未知的恐怖的转换。

而风头正盛，极富迷影精神的独立制片和发行公司A24，在近年持续推出的一批恐怖电影中，我们也可以从中一瞥，这种富有时代感的古典魅力究竟何在。与表面复古，实则依靠突发惊吓Jump Scare的温子仁《潜伏》系不同，A24一直在不遗余力地试图复兴这一类恐怖电影，买下的片子几乎有着一个共同的特点，那就是从4、50年前的某个时刻开始挖掘和重构素材。

诚然，这些精心制作的电影，在坊间口碑与票房表现之间有着极大的落差。不能否认的是，和《潜伏》那样更讨好当代观众的电影相比，这些70年代恐怖电影的当下投射，与观众之间已经拉开了距离。这些“复刻”电影不能算是抱着创新的思路来的，但也绝不是落后和守旧的代表。

而《遗传厄运》，就是A24的最新尝试。

阿里·阿斯特可能是首次担任编剧/导演，但他显然是一位天生的恐怖大师。

如果把视野缩小，我们就会发现《遗传厄运》似乎受到了各种经典恐怖流派的启发。但《遗传厄运》中不仅能看到上述的《罗斯玛丽的婴儿》《驱魔人》《鬼哭神嚎》的影子（尤其是《罗斯玛丽的婴儿》），还能看到典型的家庭心理抓马：在血脉诅咒的折磨下，情感破裂功能失常的家庭逐渐走向无法形容的悲剧性失控。在情感暴力的鞭笞下，《遗传厄运》以自己的方式展现了一种另类的血腥和超现实主义的恐怖情景：一个拒绝真正解决问题的畸形家庭，在富有库布里克特色的精致镜头下，展现出了手术刀一般的精准痛感。

这种“自己的方式”，是阿里·阿斯特让本片找到新鲜感的重要途径。整部电影中，我们能看到非常多的经典熟悉元素——异教符号的运用，蜡烛和虫子，幻觉和超自然力量——在叙事的阴影中，潜伏着令人不寒而栗的凶鬼恶灵。但是阿里·阿斯特冒了一个非常巨大的风险：把这一切放在一个叙事缓慢的故事中。在电影的前一小时里几乎什么都没有发生，只有崩溃边缘的畸形日常——这也是导致大量观众失去耐性，给出差评的关键原因——而在后半小时中，积攒的不安全感集中获得了持久而又强效的释放，从生理到心理暴力，高潮段落接连不断层层递进，毫无喘息的机会。当观众能够坐得住的时候，这一做法有着非常震撼的效果。

《遗传厄运》很可能是那些最不应该剧透的（恐怖）电影之一，因为如果这样做了，不仅会剥夺他人的观影体验，也失去了对这样一个毛骨悚然的故事的探究：这究竟是在叙事空间里真实发生的事实，还是由于角色的遗传精神疾病，为观众带来的又一场幻觉。

现今许多好莱坞的恐怖电影，都过于以来突发惊吓，反而在艺术水平上退回到了更加低级的位置，也无法在影片以外引起真正的讨论。尽管不受主流观众欢迎，但《遗传厄运》恰恰是那种与众不同的恐怖电影：毫不忌惮对理性思维展开攻击，打乱观众已经固结的思维和语言结构，最终的目标，就是让他们重新回忆起，对未知强大力量的原始恐惧。

虽然《遗传厄运》在电影中段略显薄弱，但如果能够真正被其艺术设计和电影语言所吸引的话，还是很能被其抓住兴趣的。就这一角度而言，最适合本片的平台或许不是受众面更广的大银幕，而是定位更为成熟和精准的电视和流媒体平台。

这不是一部完美的电影，但很容易成为今年最好的恐怖片之一。

[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」

《遗传厄运》在圣丹斯电影节上映后，艳惊四座，烂番茄新鲜度100%高开。虽然是导演的长片处女座，但影片丝毫没有小成本独立电影的廉价之感，不卖弄血浆，也不主打一般恐怖片中常见的一惊一乍的鬼怪惊吓（也就是所谓的“Jump Scare”），而是依靠扎实稳健的叙事，教科书级别的镜头语言，巧妙的构图光影，惊艳的恐怖细节处理和演员出色的演绎，来讲述一个被操控的家庭命中注定的悲剧。

电影由一场诡异的葬礼拉开帷幕。随着外婆的离世，母亲安妮时常看到外婆的鬼魂在屋中游荡，女儿查莉的行为也越发的诡异。紧接着一场突如其来的车祸让查莉以非常极端恐怖的方式在家人面前惨死，儿子因为深深的自责而面临精神崩溃。骤然将至冰点的家庭关系，让母亲的心理承受力被逼到了极限，精神分裂、梦游症、自杀，关于这个家族中的一个个厄运浮出水面，揭示了这个家庭正在慢慢被恶魔侵蚀，逐步崩塌。

随着恶魔教徒的出现，我们得知安妮一家并不是单纯的精神病，而是有计划的诅咒。这份诅咒来源于外婆领导的一个邪教组织，要献祭整个家族来复活地狱中的某个恶魔——派蒙。她在给安妮的信件中写道："在一切的终点，你会明白所有的损失都值得，我们的牺牲比起我们得到的奖励来说算不上什么。"

派蒙神(Paymon)，所罗门七十二柱魔神中位列第九位的魔神，是地狱八大神灵之一，掌管西方，是Lucifer最忠实的信徒，他拥有女性的面容和男性的身躯，骑着单峰骆驼，头戴皇冠，对艺术科学文化有着极高的造诣，全身散发着神秘的、高贵的帝王之气。

冥冥之中的血缘关系让母亲继承了外婆的一部分邪教人格，而在邪教人格的另一面，正常人格的她努力维系自己的家庭，不让自己的母亲靠近儿子，却忽视了女儿，致使查莉成为了派蒙的寄宿对象。然而邪教依然觊觎彼得的男性躯干，为了让派蒙顺利附身彼得，他们计划了一场意外，让不可磨灭的创伤和心理阴影击垮这个家庭最后的防线。

熬过了电影前半段看似缓慢冗长实则精细铺陈的剧情，影片的后半段，通灵、招魂、附体、祭祀等元素一一登场，生猛的情节反复交叠。

当母亲试图烧毁召唤恶魔的手绘本时，却发现自己也跟着烧了起来，她哀求丈夫帮助自己完成这一行为，试图破解血缘关系的诅咒，却因此让丈夫瞬间被烧死。此时的她才终于明白，这个家庭中的一切都逃不出派蒙与自己母亲的契约，万般恐惧之下的她毫无招架之力，仅剩的信念也灰飞烟灭，被邪教人格完全的占据了。

于是，剧情陡然一转，受害者母亲成为了最大的邪恶力量，影片也进入了高潮和尾声。最后，教徒们崇拜的魔王“派蒙”成功降临，电影以一个bad ending结束。

《遗传厄运》贯彻了镜头是观众眼睛的理念，大量长镜头的使用，摄像机缓缓推拉的运动模式和令人心底发毛的转镜，强化了观众的不安，形成到位的恐怖氛围营造。

为了配合这种以慢取胜的沉浸式氛围营造，影片以连贯的顺时线性叙述方式，用模型屋场景还原等方式巧妙地将接近真相的线索一一给出，每一次信息的交代都自然而然的点到为止，既让影片始终笼罩在神秘感之中，又激发观众进一步探索的欲望。同时，影片中精心设置了多处令人细思恐极的细节、隐喻和伏笔，保证了诡异阴森的整体基调。

影片开篇对小树屋也就是附身仪式的地方给了全景特写，随后摄像机缓缓回拉，室内情景出现在画面中，随着镜头不断推进，直接将模型玩具屋无缝过渡成了真实的场景，预示着这个家庭被操控的命运。

之后无论是多次出现的模型屋和真实场景互相渐变的长镜头，还是房屋外景白天黑夜的快速切换，都营造了一种怪异的效果，让人无法分辨这些场景究竟是现实世界还是微缩模型。

母亲擅长手工模型的工艺设计，外婆的手织地毯，以及查莉喜欢DIY手工玩具，颇具艺术造诣的家族天赋一脉相承，这与派蒙擅长艺术的背景不谋而合，更像是恶魔诅咒这个家族的印记。

悬在高空的小树屋也成为又一个令人提心吊胆的意象。当镜头掠过夜晚卧室的窗户，兀自透射出的瘆人的红光，足以进入我们最遥远的噩梦。

（布景似乎借鉴了拉斯·冯·提尔的《反基督者》）

除了影片的结尾部分，恶魔或超自然力量始终未露真身，这种少即是多的处理方式类似于《异形》系列，即真正的恐惧永远在看不见的神秘暗处，隐而不露。

当然，氛围的营造离不开光影的运用，影片中光影的运用也是教科书级别的。主次分明的打光，恰到好处的冷暖光搭配，都无疑增加了恐怖感。

（这里总感觉小女孩的头要突然转过来）

影片的最后，在众教徒虔诚的迎接仪式上，魔王派蒙成功降临，画面定格在三角形的树屋里面，与片中反复出现的三角形神秘符号形成关联，同时这个画面也像极了一个微缩模型的房间，与影片开头呼应，强调了故事的寓言性。

《遗传厄运》以古老神秘学为背景，讲述一个以血缘诅咒为纽带的家族悲剧，从剧作层面上来说不算惊艳。但导演出色的场面调度和完备的文本结构，远比惊悚场面更值得深挖。延续的家族厄运，最亲近的家人却是恶魔的傀儡，这种无处可逃的无力感源自现实生活的恐惧，比超自然的怪力乱神更令人胆寒。

（母亲的形象真的完全是按《闪灵》的路子来的啊）