Given our country’s horrific post-election predicament, the movie Heretic is sickeningly relevant. Sure, its debate about outdated belief systems fits the horror genre like a tiny hand in a snug, spiked glove. But Heretic hits extra hard after a red-state rout during which loyalty to traditional values reigned supreme over progressive ideals – with the power of fire-and-brimstone religion arguably damning the nation’s future.
Such thoughts form the basis of Heretic, a cerebral thriller that plays with theological disputes as suspensefully as a tennis match on a minefield.
Hugh Grant plays Mr. Reed, a genteel Colorado suburbanite who welcomes two Mormon missionaries, Sister Barnes (Sophie Thatcher, recently seen in MaXXXine) and Sister Paxton (Chloe East), into his living room for some quintessentially American blueberry pie and repartee about God. The girls, reluctant to enter without a woman present, agree to come inside after Mr. Reed assures them that his wife is baking just out of sight.
Once they’re locked in, they notice a blueberry pie-scented candle burning bright on the living-room table. As the sprinkling rain turns into a raging storm outside, so, too, does conversation about the gospel of Jesus Christ grow more treacherous. Is this a battle of wits, a meaningful dialogue about religion in society, or the devil himself claiming innocent souls to drag into the fiery pits? If God is like warm baked pie, and pie doesn’t exist, then…..?
Heretic is directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, who (along with John Krasinski) penned the breakout hit A Quiet Place. Where previously they found frights through sound-sensitive creatures, the creative duo map dangerous territory via verbal assault and the taboo-in-mixed-company topic of religion. As the sisters sit politely pitching the Church of Latter-day Saints, Mr. Reed fires back with extensive knowledge about the history of both Mormonism and every other religion. When the girls try to backtrack on points, or avoid answering certain inquiries at all, Mr. Reed both good-naturedly and devilishly pressures the girls to question their premises.
Thatcher and East give compelling performances as two delicate little lambs locked into the house of a wolf. Their bond and unflinching persistence of spirit make them easy to root for, whether or not one respects their rhetoric. Yet it is Grant’s enticing turn as Mr. Reed that gives the film both teeth and something to bite into. The charismatic quirks that usually make Hugh Grant trustworthy are mutated into tools of menace. He lures the girls, viewers, into a false sense of security, eventually unveiling more sinister tactics.
Grant has a blast playing against type. Heretic is worth watching just to see how deftly he wields his tongue like a sword, parrying witticisms and insights until zeroing in on heart-piercing points. Along the way, his Yoda impression will make you laugh, and a radically humorous use of the band Radiohead’s song “Creep” ranks as one of cinema’s funniest moments of the year.
The movie’s eerie descent into madness is downright beautiful to look at, thanks to cinematographer Chung-hoon Chung, whose credits include Park Chan-wook’s Oldboy, Stoker, The Handmaiden, and more recently, Andy Muschietti’s It and Edgar Wright’s The Last Night in Soho. As the girls follow Mr. Reed into a room filled with church-like pews and gothic vaulted ceilings, they are given the choice between two doors labeled “belief” and “disbelief,” and Chung-hoon captures every nervous twitch and sweaty glance with nuance.
It’s fascinating to see scares established through religious speech, especially given the real-world ramifications of whether public figures acknowledge a “higher calling.” Horror films often transcend genre to provide trenchant social commentary, and 2024 has been a banner year. Heretic joins the ranks of Longlegs, Late Night with the Devil, The First Omen, Immaculate, Azrael, Arcadia, The Front Room among those successfully examining religious themes. The film also illuminates fears about crime, mental illness, and the breakdown of the nuclear family.
Heretic stands out, though, by dispensing with subtlety. The film does not mince words. Mr. Reed doesn’t target one group or brand of fellowship as problematic – he’s taking on the concept of religion as a whole. Eventually, he builds an argument that blind faith is irrevocably damaging to the survival of the human species.
I’ll leave out spoilers about what lies in wait for the girls, but will say that Heretic is not to be missed. If you can, find a quiet, preferably pie-scented, theater. In America’s current and ongoing sickness, Heretic’s playful but piercing confrontation feels more relevant than ever.
[Want another take on Heretic? Read our other review of the film.]
