Screenplay Structure Analysis

Hereditary

Written by Ari Aster · Horror · 119 pages · 157 scenes · 3-act natural structure · linear organization · Analysis confidence: High

After the death of her secretive mother, a miniaturist artist struggles to hold her family together as a malevolent supernatural force—rooted in her bloodline—begins to possess her teenage son.

Tone
Slow-burn dread escalating to visceral terror; domestic realism collapsing into occult nightmare

Tension curve

Dramatic intensity across Hereditary from first page to last, sampled at 40 points on a 0–10 scale. Values: 3.6, 3.6, 3.9, 4.2, 4.6, 5.1, 5.7, 6, 6, 5.7, 6.6, 7.4, 8.4, 7.1, 5.8, 5.4, 6.1, 7.5, 8.4, 8.9, 7.8, 6.3, 5.9, 6.6, 7.5, 7.4, 7.1, 6.8, 6.5, 6.3, 6.7, 7, 7.2, 6.4, 5.9, 5.6, 6.9, 8.2, 9.2, 9.1.

Structure at a glance

Inciting incident
Page 3, 3% of the script: At Ellen Leigh's funeral, the Graham family listens to a large woman deliver an uncomfortable eulogy about Ellen's toughness and honesty; Annie notices Charlie making clicking noises with her tongue, and a bird suddenly flies into the chapel.
Act 1 break
Page 35, 29% of the script: Charlie's decapitation in the car accident irrevocably shatters the family and sets the supernatural machinery in motion.
Midpoint
Page 57, 48% of the script: At dinner, Annie fumes while Peter compliments Steve's cooking; Annie mouths the word 'buddy' incredulously, Peter asks if something is on her mind, and they escalate into a vicious argument where Annie accuses Peter of being cold and dismissive, Peter denies wanting Charlie to die, Annie screams that he didn't save her, and Peter storms out yelling that nobody will forgive Annie.
Act 2 break
Page 73, 61% of the script: The séance scene where Annie attempts to contact Charlie marks the full transition from grief drama to supernatural horror, with the glass moving and the family fracturing beyond repair.
Climax
Page 116, 98% of the script: Peter lands face-first in the snow outside the house and lies motionless as Annie's headless shadow drifts across the snow above him.
Peak tension
9.2 out of 10, reached about 97% of the way through; the script averages 6.5.
Average scene length
1.3 pages

Structural personality

This script operates as a masterclass in misdirection. It presents as a family grief drama for its entire first act, using the grandmother's funeral as a red herring inciting incident, when the true story engine—Charlie's death—doesn't ignite until scene 46 (page 35). The structure is deceptively patient, spending 35 pages establishing domestic unease before detonating its central trauma. Act Two (scenes 47-103) is an extended psychological disintegration, tracking Annie's descent through support groups, Joan's manipulation, and the family's implosion at the dinner table. The script doesn't fully commit to overt horror until Act Three (scene 104 onward), when the supernatural becomes undeniable. This creates a structure where each act operates in a different genre register: domestic drama, psychological thriller, occult horror—all while maintaining linear chronology. The final 16 scenes (141-157) compress into a relentless 14-page sprint to apocalypse.

Pacing

The pacing is defined by strategic withholding. The first 45 scenes average 1.3 pages and maintain a slow, observational rhythm—lots of workshop scenes, bedroom check-ins, mundane family friction. Scene 46 (the decapitation) breaks this pattern with a sustained 2-page sequence of horror, then the script immediately cuts to silence (scene 47: Peter sitting in the parked car). This creates a traumatic void that the rest of Act Two explores through increasingly claustrophobic domestic scenes. The séance sequence (scene 103) is the script's longest single scene at 8 pages, functioning as a pressure-cooker midpoint. Act Three accelerates brutally: scenes become shorter, more fragmented, more visceral. The final treehouse sequence (scenes 155-157) is nearly wordless, pure visual horror. The script's genius is in how it trains you to expect slow-burn meditation, then weaponizes that patience in the final 20 pages.

Themes

Similar shapes

Screenplays whose tension curve most closely matches Hereditary.

Scene summaries and structural markers are generated by AI analysis of the screenplay text and may contain minor inaccuracies. ScriptGraph analyzes structure and does not reproduce screenplay text.

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