HERETIC Review: A Diabolical Hugh Grant Takes Two Mormon Missionaries On A Hell Of A Ride

A pair of Mormon missionary sisters find themselves in a dangerous battle of wills with a charming but sinister spiritual seeker in Scott Beck and Bryan Woods’s religious themed horror puzzle box, Heretic.

Sisters Paxton (Chloe East) and Barnes (Sophie Thatcher) are a pair of young, ambitious missionaries eager to make their next conversion, if they can just get in the door. Paxton is a neophyte, raised in the church but without a single baptism under her belt, she’s starting to get discouraged at her perceived failure. By her side is Sister Barnes, a more rough-and-tumble vet of the missionary game, who seems just as comfortable with success as failure but also very ready for a win.

Checking off names on their list of curious potential converts leads them to the fairy tale looking home of Mr. Reed (Hugh Grant). An older gentleman who invites them in with what seems like genuine curiosity, Mr. Reed soon initiates a sinister game of “gotcha” regarding church doctrine that puts the sisters on their heels. Before too long they realize that they are no longer there of their own volition, but as part of some kind of diabolical test of their faith, and they may not make it out.

Written and directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods of Haunt fame – they also made Adam Driver’s 65, but perhaps the less said there, the better – Heretic is an impressively high-minded horror film about the follies and foibles of faith as well as investigating those who would weaponize it for their own gain. The film carefully and deliberately reveals itself over the course of its nearly two hour run time in such a way that the viewer is never ahead of the characters, a welcome bit of surprise in a genre that has a tendency to repeat itself.

Though ninety percent of the film is spent trapped in this house with our three main characters, Beck & Bryan wisely spend the first few minutes acquainting us with Paxton and Barnes through quick vignettes that clearly delineate and humanize their characters. A quick chat on a park bench about Magnum condoms and "peen” provides a bit of early levity in a story that gets very dark very quickly, but it also serves to illustrate the innocence of these young women, or at least the innocence they wish to project. Sister Paxton’s naivete is on full display when she agrees to pose for a photo with some local teens who pull an embarrassing prank on her that she should have seen coming a mile away. When they meet with Mr. Reed, played with maleficent glee by a dad-fashion bedecked Hugh Grant, the difference in their levels of faith – both religious and in the goodness of humanity – truly comes to the fore.

There’s no denying that Grant’s unrivaled charisma is the linchpin of Heretic. Mr. Reed is an overwhelming presence in the house, he dominates with a sweetly sideways smile, the camera lingers on his face as if to signal to the audience to look a bit deeper as he offers them sodas and pie. His interest in the church excites Sister Paxton at first – Barnes is a bit more cautious, but happy that her sister is getting a respite from the constant rejection – but his interest and questioning quickly gives way to lecturing in such a way that neither the sisters nor the audience really know how to react. Grant is able to emanate sincerity even when we know he’s up to no good, it’s a powerful skill that he’s honed for his entire career, here he’s given free rein and it is mesmerizing.

Alongside Mr. Reed’s nefarious intellectual machinations, Beck and Bryan fill the nightmare house with literal clockwork devices and intricate architecture designed to keep everyone but the gamemaster off balance. The production design from Phillip Messina (Mother!) and cinematography from Chung Chung-hoon (Last Night in Soho, The Handmaiden) lend an air of expertise to the Reed house, as though its very specific aesthetic was all his doing, a perfect match of character and setting. As the game progresses, the audience descends into this abyss along with Paxton and Barnes, which leaves everyone on both sides of the screen to wonder how – or if – we will manage to get out of this. It’s terrific work.

Saying too much about the story beats would be a disservice to the film and the marvelously malevolent over-constructed nature of Heretic, but horror fans will quickly be able to identify its influences. Once again, to mention too much in detail would give away the game, but it is certainly a film that will reward multiple viewings for those of us who enjoy a good scavenger hunt.

A film about religion, about faith, about doctrine and manipulation, about innocence and pragmatism, Heretic is a film that respects its characters and its viewers, asking a lot of them intellectually but without forgetting to have fun. It’s a deliciously fiendish vortex of complex ideas, battles between good and evil, and endlessly evolving tension that kept me rapt for its entire run time. Hugh Grant has never been better, and his young co-stars put in stellar performances in a film that relies entirely on these three characters for its success. Another big win in a banner year for horror, Heretic is a hell of a ride.