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For many years, with films like Notting Hill and Bridget Jones’s Diary, Hugh Grant was the charming, romantic leading man. In recent years, though, he has shifted away from leading roles, playing against type in supporting turns that have quietly established him as one of the great character actors working today. He has offered scene-stealing turns in films like Paddington 2, The Gentleman, and Dungeons & Dragons. We have come to realize that whenever there’s a Hugh Grant cameo, we’ll be sure to have a hell of a good time. Now, he has taken his career one step further with Heretic. How could this English gentleman’s cheerful charms translate to a horror villain? The answer to this is one of the many surprises in Scott Beck and Bryan Woods’s latest film.
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Together, the writing-directing duo has explored much of the horror landscape, from creature features (A Quiet Place) to haunted houses (Haunt) and our fear of the boogeyman (The Boogeyman), but now the filmmakers craft a film that mixes elements of horror and psychological thriller that’s a Dante’s Inferno-level descent into dark, profound questions about belief. It questions many things that people hold sacred when it comes to religion but also shows the dynamics of faith; how it can guide but also how its dogma and scripture can be used as entrapment.
Set in suburban Colorado, Sister Paxton (Chloe East) and Sister Barnes (Sophie Thatcher) are on a mission to spread God’s word. Lately, these missionaries from the Mormon Church have been struggling to find new faithful. That is until they knock on the door of Mr. Reed (Grant), a very unassuming man living in a very unassuming home. He invites them inside and says that his wife is busy in the kitchen making blueberry pie. And what’s more warm and inviting than the welcoming smile of an older gentleman in a patchwork cardigan offering fresh-baked pie?
Heretic Review
Mr. Reed seems enthusiastic about their visit, and Paxton and Barnes are equally as enthusiastic to discuss their faith with a man of such curiosity. Mr. Reed proves to be much more knowledgeable about the Book of Mormon than he seemed to be, unafraid to question the young women about their church and beliefs. Soon, an unsettling undertone creeps into the conversation and the women start to feel uncomfortable. Barnes, in particular, starts to suspect that there is no wife and no pie when she realizes the blueberry she’s been smelling is a scent from a candle. They find themselves locked inside Mr. Reed’s home with seemingly no way out, and they learn that the charming gentleman is more diabolical than they realize. His theological encyclopedia of knowledge is weaponized against Paxton and Barnes in a game that will soul-stirringly test their faith and belief in God.
Much of the film’s horror isn’t created by any visual tricks or jumpscares, as you would expect from a film of the genre. Instead, the terror comes from its words and ideas. The film’s rich dialogue is all-consuming. From beginning to end, the film has your attention because of it. Beck and Woods have created one of the best screenplays of the year, where the words of a sharp-tongued villain pierce just as brutally as any chainsaw. In Reed, the filmmakers have created a character who is, at first, likable in his charms, even entertaining as he takes religious philosophy and compares it to various pop culture references like Monopoly, Creep, and fast food. What’s so genius about Grant in this role is that he’s taking everything we love about his performances and using it against the audience. He’s so gentlemanly in that classic English way that it becomes hard to accept his escalation into horror movie monster territory. Every line of dialogue given to Grant is engaging and the film becomes a verbal sparing match between Reed and the young missionaries. It’s surprising to Reed, as well as the audience, how well-matched the women are challenging his intellect. It makes sense for Barnes, as Thatcher plays her like she’s had plenty of life experience to know not to take any shit; however, the naivety of Paxton slowly goes away as East surprises the audience with her tenacity.
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Reed uses his words as a coercive weapon, challenging religious dogmatism in a game where he essentially plays God, pulling these characters deeper and deeper into themselves and making them question what they have always believed to be true. As they look inward, Reed is dragging them deeper into his home that’s like a dollhouse with puzzle box mechanics. In one scene, the best of the film, cinematographer Chung Chung-hoon takes us on a bird’s eye view of the home in a scale model that functions like a maze. It’s an impressive bit of camerawork that shows how Reed has meticulously planned out how to be the ultimate game master, without any escape for his pawns unless they make the right moves. The production design by Phil Messina creates a claustrophobic atmosphere, full of tiny windows, locked doors, and dim corridors. You never know what to expect around the next corner, and the film’s sound design emphasizes every creaky door and floorboard, elevating discomfort. Reed’s home is an illustration of his mind, a mind so consumed by the pursuit of finding the one true religion. Each level, like Dante’s Inferno, reveals varying layers of hell; however, the disappointment of Heretic, despite how otherwise phenomenal it is, is that it doesn’t stick the landing as strongly as it could have in the third act as we reach the final level of Reed’s game.
Most horror movies explore death in various ways because death is an inevitability – and it’s terrifying. We don’t know what comes after our last breath, but religion is a comfort to try to make sense of what’s beyond. It’s less terrifying when we believe in an afterlife, of heaven where we are greeted by God and angels and are reunited with those who have left us. But Paxton and Barnes are presented with two choices in Reed’s game: Walk through the door of belief or walk through the door of disbelief. Belief means that every word of scripture is true; that God is a selfish and hateful figure who only helps those he chooses and will condemn anyone to hell for even the smallest sin. Disbelief means that God isn’t real and that there’s nothing beyond the reality that we’re just floating on a rock in space. Each character, each person, wants to cling to something that will make them feel like they have at least some kind of answer to the mysteries of our existence. But the true fear of Heretic is its emphasis that we’ll never know the truth of our beliefs until we reach the other side – whatever that means.
Grade: B
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Heretic
Two young missionaries are forced to prove their faith when they knock on the wrong door and are greeted by a diabolical Mr. Reed, becoming ensnared in his deadly game of cat-and-mouse.
Release Date: November 8, 2024
Director: Scott Beck Bryan Woods
Cast: Hugh Grant , Sophie Thatcher , Chloe East
