Watch Toni Collette’s Iconic ‘Hereditary’ Speech Get Turned Into Heartwarming ASMR Affirmations

Partway through Hereditary, the extraordinary debut film by modern master Ari Aster, Toni Collette has a breakdown.

— Warning: Spoilers for Hereditary ahead. — 

Having lost her daughter and her mother in quick succession, she lashes out at her surviving child, Peter (Alex Wolff), screaming at him across a dinner table as silent and grim as a morgue slab. “I am your mother!” she bellows, her eyes wild, her finger jabbing at Peter.

It’s an instantly iconic sequence for a reason. Hereditary is all about alternating cycles of control and despair, a movie that tries to suppress its own roiling, painful id. There’s hysteria, bubbling below its surface, and only occasionally does that pure torrent of emotion spring forth — Aster is the master of knowing exactly when to hold tight, and when to let go. Surrounded by silence and despair, the sequence represents a break from the movie’s own form, a tragic reminder of just how out of control Collette’s Annie has become.

Over the years since the film’s release, the sequence has become something of a meme, being mashed-up in song and turned into an exploitable on Twitter. But never has it been as daringly or amusingly recontextualised as right now, with ASMR legend ALB In Whisperland turning the monologue into a series of gently whispered affirmations.

It’s a wonderful subversion of the hysteria of the sequence, a way of taking what is familiar and pulling the rug violently away from the viewer — not with horror, but with positivity. And it’s one of a number of bizarre, beautiful ASMR clips that are flooding the internet, from plague doctors cooing sweet nothings to their dying patients, to Amelia Earhart rushing through her skincare routine before her plane goes down.

Watch the disarmingly sweet and uplifting video in full right here. And then while you’re at it, why not watch Hereditary again? It is, after all, a film that rewards repeat viewings.