Heretic (2024)

I suppose that many of us have had the god-squad on the doorstep trying to peddle their philosophising but I doubt many are quite as prepared, or as tempting, as the butter-wouldn't-melt "Reed" (Hugh Grant) when the enthusiastic sisters "Barnes" (Sophie Thatcher) and "Paxton" (Chloe East) arrive at his door. Promises of a meeting with his wife and some blueberry pie lure them in and soon they are having a meaningful debate that rather puts the girls on edge. That anxiety only gets worse as there's no sign of the wife and the scented candle proves to have a most unusual, and illuminating, aroma. They conclude that getting out of his home is the best plan, but that isn't going to be straightforward. He has other plans, and they are going to have to play a game of belief/disbelief if they are to have any hope of getting back to their church. The horror aspects of this are not especially interesting - it's a sort of competent hybrid of "Escape Room" meets "Cluedo". What helps this stand out a bit more is a subtly menacing effort from Grant and the standard of the writing. The conversation between the three for the first half of the film is quite thought provoking in itself. It asks questions that are truly valid and worthy of consideration amongst those of or without organised faith. The assertions around "iterations", burgers and games of "Monopoly" also raise a few solid questions about carts and horses that I rather appreciated as we are invited to question or evaluate the whole scope of monotheistic religions and their role in our lives. The two women gel well together here too, realising that they are in some sort of peril - both intellectual and physical, and that latter threat is well demonstrated by some creepy settings and creatively used audio. I didn't love the conclusion - I actually found it really quite disappointing, as if Scott Beck had just run out of ideas or didn't quite have the courage of his earlier convictions, but this is the most substantial part I've seen Grant play in a while and he holds it together well. Not your typical psychological drama and worth a watch, I'd say.

This is a gruesome, bizarre, preposterous, and utterly watchable film. It is a twisted cocktail made surprisingly digestible thanks to Grant's impeccably dapper portrayal of pure malevolence. His performance brings a sinister charm that tempers the madness, making the film's more outlandish horrors feel almost refined.

In the new film “Heretic”, two missionaries named Sister Barnes (Sophie Thatcher) and Sister Paxton (Chloe East) spend their days in fellowship and looking to bring new members into their faith. Sister Paxton is the more sheltered of the two as Sister Barnes comes from the East Coast and joined the church through conversion and appears much wiser in the ways of the world to her colleague.

Eager to get her first new member for Sister Paxton; the two venture to visit Mr. Reed (Hugh Grant), who had earlier expressed interest in their church and as such; made his way onto the contact list for the girls.

A storm arrives at the same time the girls do but unable to enter the home of Mr. Reed without a female being present; they are assured that his wife is baking in the kitchen and accept his offer to come in out of the weather.

They find Mr. Reed charming and very well-versed in theology as he says that he has been studying religions for over a decade and his knowledge is very impressive to the girls yet his questions, answers, and tone start to become disturbing to the girls as does the absence of his wife whom he claims is just in the other room.

Looking for a chance to leave, the girls discover that they are locked in and the house has a metal overlay that blocks their cell signals. Further complicating matters is the increasingly odd behavior of Mr. Reed who insists that they are free to leave at any time yet confronts them with all manner of theological questions, theories, and challenges at every turn.

What follows is a chilling exercise in faith for the girls in a gripping film that keeps you guessing all along.

The cast is solid and Grant is very good playing against type. This is not the usual psycho slasher that audiences often see in films of this type but a deep psychological game of terror and manipulation as he believes that he is helping the girls see the truth amongst all the dogma.

The film does play a bit to Hollywood for my taste in the final act as certain revelations and outcomes went away from the clever premise that had been established in favor of more traditional situations, but the vast majority of the film was chilling, engaging, and captivating and was powered by strong performances all around.

Directors Scott Beck and Bryan Woods who also wrote the film; are no strangers to Horror and Suspense as their resumes are filled with some very tense films and have crafted a film that works as an intense thriller.

4 stars out of 5

No matter what anyone might say, putting lipstick on a pig doesn’t change the fact that one is still dealing with a pig. And that’s very much the case with this dismally failed attempt at smart horror from writer-directors Scott Beck and Bryan Woods. When two naïve Mormon missionaries (Sophie Thatcher, Chloe East) visit the remote home of a creepy, loquacious middle-aged loner (Hugh Grant) in an attempt to convert him, the trio launches into a protracted conversation about the nature of “the one true religion.” To a certain extent, it’s an intriguing philosophical discussion – at least for a while – until it gradually descends into a series of longwinded fits and starts characterized by disjointed, unrelated, unresolved segments that try viewer patience. The dialogue increasingly amounts to a series of overwrought contrivances undermined by implausible character development, particularly among the two supposed innocents who begin spouting lines that are difficult to accept in light of their supposedly gullible, unsophisticated nature and narrow worldview. But then, in a desperate attempt to retain fading audience attention, the picture degenerates into little more than a meandering slasher movie, albeit with better production design than one typically finds in such fare. What’s more, this offering’s exasperating script heavily “borrows” from an endless stream of religious, philosophical and cinematic sources, one even suggesting that this could turn into the second coming of “The Butterfly Effect” and “Matrix” franchises. And, while Grant and his co-stars genuinely deliver more than capable portrayals of the three principals, even their performances aren’t enough to cover the inherent weaknesses of this material, no matter how much lipstick is applied to it. Considering the foregoing, I’m truly mystified by the much-celebrated response this offering has been accorded given its tiresome narrative and pretentious, largely pointless overall direction, an experiment that just doesn’t work. As a fan of the smart horror genre and its aim of elevating the content of more classic releases in this area of cinema, I’m seriously disappointed that the inspired creators of “A Quiet Place” (2018) haven’t come up with something better here, an outcome that’s definitely heretical in itself.

Written and directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods (65, Haunt, writers of A Quiet Place), Heretic is a so-called psychological horror that is disappointing on all fronts. After only seeing the trailer once months ago, I initially thought that Heretic was a film about a serial killer (Hugh Grant) who used his crazy mouse trap-contraption house to lure in religious, door-to-door service people and kill them.

While that is partially the case, Heretic follows two missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; Sister Barnes (Sophie Thatcher, The Book of Boba Fett) and Sister Paxton (Chloe East, The Wolf of Snow Hollow). The two women go to the house of Mr. Reed (Grant) who has expressed interest in hearing more about their religion.

As Sister Barnes and Sister Paxton make their way inside, they soon find themselves trapped in Mr. Reed’s bizarrely intricate home featuring electricity on a timer, a front door that supposedly won’t open again until morning, and that the house being made of metal blocks cell phone signals.

Reed, a theology major with vast knowledge of all religions, claims to have found the one true religion. Whether the two women will escape or if Reed knows what he’s talking about is factors into the cerebral aspect of the film.

Martin Freeman constantly looked miserable and bored out of his mind when he appeared in films like The Hobbit trilogy or the Sherlock TV series. He suddenly looked like he was having the time of his life when he shifted film genres, plunged into horror, and starred in the 2017 film Ghost Stories.

It seems to be the same case for Hugh Grant. While this isn’t his first horror film, Heretic is his first film in the genre in 36 years (Grant starred in The Lair of the White Room in 1988). Grant is noticeably lively in his performance in Heretic though and seems downright giddy to be torturing people.

With cinematography by Chung Chung-hoon (Last Night in Soho, The Handmaiden), Heretic has two visually memorable sequences thanks to how they’re shot. When Sister Barnes and Sister Paxton first arrive, Mr. Reed leaves the room to check on his “wife.” While he’s gone, Barnes turns the candle he blew out and discovers what the scent of the candle is. As she slowly turns the candle, the camera turns with it.

Reed has a miniature duplicate of his house complete with little figures that represent Sister Barnes and Sister Paxton. In a sequence when Sister Paxton is trying to run away from Mr. Reed, we’re following her movements in the miniature but it seamlessly transitions from the model to the real thing when she enters the room and slams the door.

The method in which Heretic is written is somewhat odd. Not quite horrific enough to be scary with its religion-defying dialogue taking center stage, Heretic is essentially a two-hour sermon attempting to destroy your faith with some splashes of blood and a raggedy woman or two dying in a blueberry pie.

It feels like if you walked into Heretic devoted to the Mormon religion, you’ll walk out of the theater a different person. Mr. Reed’s arguments regarding all religions stemming from the same concept are portrayed in a way that is believable and convincing.

He somehow rambles about Monopoly and board games, music, and vinyl records to demonstrate similarities between certain board games, how some songs are essentially the same tunes with different lyrics, and that all religions are more similar than dissimilar.

While the dialogue-driven film can be interesting, it’s also fairly boring. There’s an unsettling aspect to Mr. Reed’s behavior that capitalizes on the tension in the film. But there are also these long stretches where nothing happens besides the next topic of conversation or a weak payoff where someone’s throat is cut with a box cutter or something.

Heretic is beautifully shot with a stellar performance from Hugh Grant, but its intriguing concept is drowned out by the desire to deconvert the audience and have a lukewarm reveal regarding whatever the one-true religion is. Watching the film is like being trapped in a church of a religion you don’t believe in with an overwhelmingly passionate pastor trying to dissuade you from ever coming back.