Heretic (2024) – Review

Despite the fact that organised religion has seemingly taken a dip in popularity when it comes to everyday life, it still undoubted is a massive building block when it comes to the world of horror cinema. From Tina’s panicked, almost involuntary uttering of “Please God” in the face of Freddy Krueger during A Nightmare On Elm Street to the countless studies of faith that followed in the wake of The Exorcist, the existence of an almighty is a vital tool to either spell out the battle between good and evil or just helpful in spelling out the depths of someone’s fear.
However, Scott Beck and Bryan Woods’ ominous, creeping Heretic takes aim at faith and belief in a far more overt way due to the machinations of its devious antagonist in a way that you might not expect. I mean, all the barely concealed malice is there, as is a plot that involves a crazy amount of set up and planning – but in rather a new turn the main assault on faith we get here is probably the most insidious: constant mansplaining from Hugh Grant.

Sister Barnes and Sister Paxton are two Mormon missionaries of the Church of Latter-day Saints who are going door to door to perform the thankless task of spreading the word of the Lord. While both girls are noticably young, Paxton is the more overtly naive and inexperienced of the two while Barnes seems to be a bit more world wise due to some unspoken issues from her past.
Their day goes pretty much as expected as they weather the usual polite rebuttals and outright blanking, but as a large storm starts to brew in the sky, they decide to check just one more name off their convert list before the rain gets too heavy.
Their last call turns out to be Mr. Reed, an efface Englishman who seems genuinely pleased to invite them in to rap about God and have a good old meaty debate about the more weightier questions concerning faith and after Barnes and Paxton do a safety check and are assured that there’s another woman in the house (they can smell the blueberry pie that Reed’s wife us apparently making), then the discussion begins.
However, it soon becomes apparent that Reed knows way more than he’s letting on as he reveals that he is actually a hard-core study of theology and the discussion soon turns to a rather spirited – if still oddly polite –  attack on organised religion. Obviously, red flags are starting to pop up left and right to the increasing uneasy missionaries and they seem to reach a crescendo when they discover that Reed’s front door is jerry-rigged to be impossible to open once it’s closed and even though he stresses that both girls are free to leave, they’re going to have to exit at the back of the house.
It’s here that things switch from creepy to downright dangerous as Reed has a test in mind that will not only place unbelievable stress on Barnes and Paxton’s belief system, but maybe – just maybe – reveal what the one true religion may actually be…

Lately, the majority of horror/thrillers (particularly the ones provided by A24) have enjoyed pulling many a slow burn on audiences, but chances are that of all of the instances of smoldering dread that we’ve witness this year, none burn as slow as Heretic. This isn’t a bad thing of course – far from it in fact – but I feel that to get the most out of the latest film from the duo of Beck and Woods (bouncing back spectacularly from prehistoric sci-fi misfire 65), you have to be ready to deal wirh more that your fair share of long winded talky bits. It helps immensely that these aforementioned talky bits are beautifully written and even better delivered, but anyone who is expecting your simple, average, girls-in-peril movie might need to shift their expectations a bit to truly appreciate how relentlessly tense this discussion about religion truly is.
Firstly, we get our pair of leads who are endearingly played by Sophie Thatcher (mature, reserved, determined) and Chloe East (so hopelessly naive and up beat you’re practically terrified for her crossing the street, let alone putting up with the shit she’s about to face) and through a single, typically awkward discussion about porn, we know exactly what kind of people they are: Barnes has a history, Paxton is an open book – but they both are utterly enamored with the Mormonism they happily practice despite the fact that their religion has always been something of an easy target for obvious reasons.

And then they reach the front door of Hugh Grant’s Mr. Reed and immediately we know something is off even if we didn’t know we’re already ankles deep into a tense horror/thrillers. You see even though Grant is using those same affable English goof muscles that’s served him so well his entire career, he’s using them in a way I have never seen them before. Oh, he’s played villains and cads before, but Bridget Jones love rats and Paddington antagonists can’t even touch what the seasoned actor brings us here and it’s truly stunning. Creepy enough to help build up an unfeasible amount on unease in no time at all and yet still utterly charming enough that you’d honestly believe two young girls would walk themselves into such a scenario thanks to the insidious culture of not wanting to cause a fuss, the first third of the movie is a nail biting triple header as the two missionaries slowly realise how bad things are getting despite their “host” never breaking his facade of the stuffy, kindly host.
Of course, anyone who has seen the trailers knows that what Reed gas in store is a chilling test of Barnes and Paxton’s faith in a religion that’s only been around since 1830, but what the trailers don’t tell you is that before all the Saw-looking cat and mouse shit kicks in, we’re treated to three actors going at it leather and tongs as Reed excitedly attempts to deconstruct the entirety of organised religion using such out-of-the-box metaphors as the origins of Monopoly, people plagiarising The Hollies and the suspicious similarities Jesus Christ has with many other religious icons that predate Christianity. As an attack on all religion, it’s impressively scathing stuff, but thankfully Beck and Woods manage to make their protagonists passionate enough to engage in a rebuttal, even if it seems to have no effect of the choices they are eventually going to have to make.
All this is well and good, but even though Heretic loses a bit of that spark from the opening half when the horror starts to take a more familiar route, the rest of the movie ends up being a glorious merging of the sheer unpredictability of Zach Cregger’s Barbarian with the religious punch of Pascal Laugier’s Martyrs that remains completely unsettling while also being ghoulishly fascinating.

Every creak of floorboards, every off screen thud, every off-the-cuff facial expression of Grant’s intelligently driven manipulator all conspire to make you as off balance as they can at all times, but the best thing about Heretic is that like all movies that seem to openly bash the concept of faith (The Exorcist being a prime example) the denouement makes sure to deliver the one thing Grant’s Reed has been waiting for: a counter argument that can’t be ignored.
Dreadfully divine.
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