A single-minded religious horror movie that strains to be shocking but refuses to offend, Scott Beck and Bryan Woods’ “Heretic” leaves itself with no other option but to have some cheeky fun at God’s expense. That proves easy enough for this chatty little chamber piece, as one of the story’s three main roles is a sadistic theologian played by Hugh Grant, who’s having the time of his life in a spirited performance that feels like a cross between “Paddington 2” baddie Phoenix Buchanan and real-world nuisance Bill Maher. “Heretic” may not be serious-minded enough to shake (or reaffirm) anyone’s faith, but it’s rare to experience a sermon of any kind delivered with such panache — and not only because Grant’s character sings Radiohead and impersonates Jar Jar Binks as part of his effort to prove that all of the world’s religions have gotten it wrong.
The mansplainer’s name is Mr. Reed, and two Mormon teen missionaries have the terrible misfortune of knocking on his door one dark and stormy night in the Pacific Northwest. The bubbly and naive Sister Paxon (Chloe East) and her somewhat worldlier co-evangelist Sister Barnes (Sophie Thatcher) have come to sell their new friend on the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints following a long day of failed baptisms and public humiliation (some local kids wanted a look at Sister Paxton’s “magic underwear”), and Mr. Reed is all too eager to hear their pitch.
Never mind their host’s stray comment about the metal in the walls or the fact that he already seems to know more about Joseph Smith than either of his guests, the girls are cold and it smells like Mr. Reed’s wife is cooking up a wonderfully fragrant pie in the kitchen. Then again, the church’s safety rules stipulate that female missionaries should never share a room without another woman present, and those pies sure have been in the oven for an awfully long time. The sisters are slow to suspicion (they have God’s love in their hearts), but after discovering that the front door has been sealed behind them and the blueberry aroma is coming from a scented candle, even these innocent creatures begin to fear that something more sinister is afoot. Does Mr. Reed even have a wife, or — like so many of their Bible teachings — have the girls simply accepted an unverifiable claim on the blind faith of raised believers?
Needless to say, Sister Barnes and Sister Paxton’s convictions will be tested in a wild variety of different ways during the course of the night to come. Their crucible begins in the living room, where the perversely genial Mr. Reed insists that he’s found “the one true religion,” and then — for much of the film’s second act — settles into the concave mock church in the middle of his house, where he lectures the girls about the evolution of Judeo-Christian iconography as if he were a giddy college professor goading his students towards the conclusion he set for them like trap.
To say more would spoil the fun of a movie that has little else to offer, but suffice to say that “Heretic” finds a semi-clever device by which to question the borders that separate hope, faith, and hard proof. …And that anyone who thought “Barbarian” fell a few creepy basement chambers short of its full potential will be pleased to discover what Mr. Reed has done with the place (even if the windowless nave on the main floor of the house remains the highlight of Philip Messina’s skin-crawling production design).
It won’t come as a surprise that “Heretic” graduates from theory to practice at a certain point, but the Socratic method holds court for a mighty long time before giving way to something a bit scarier (or at least more physical), and most of the film is so talky that it occasionally feels like “A Quiet Place” scribes Beck and Woods are overcompensating for the lack of dialogue in their breakthrough hit; anyone who doubted their ability to write entertainingly indulgent monologues about the relationship between the Torah and Monopoly is about to eat a lot of crow. All the same, the duo create a lasting, delicious, and sometimes rather funny sense of tension as Mr. Reed teases things out, and the self-amusement of Grant’s performance proves to be infectious. For some men, it’s not enough to be right — they need other people to be wrong, and Grant finds a palpable religious ecstasy in becoming a human manifestation of the “Ben Shapiro DESTROYS ‘Barbie’ Movie for 43 Minutes” headline construction.
East and Thatcher are similarly effective at conveying their characters’ nerve-jangled fear. While neither Sisters Barnes nor Paxton are given much in the way of depth (it’s both a blessing and a curse that “Heretic” omits all but any trace of backstory or psychological underpinning for its characters’ behavior), the young actresses playing them uncover evidence of a soul all the same. East, so memorable as teen Spielberg’s extremely Christian girlfriend in “The Fabelmans,” turns that breakthrough role into a bonafide niche by finding a real strength within Sister Paxton’s charitable spirit and “Napoleon Dynamite” inflection, while Thatcher makes the most of her “Yellowjackets” experience by endowing Sister Barnes with a more noticeable edge (an edge made all the more arresting by the veil of sadness — or is it cynicism? — that it casts over an ostensibly innocent daughter of the church).
If only “Heretic” were as serious about religion as any of its characters (either for or against), perhaps the movie’s second half wouldn’t be so quick to descend into contrived parlor tricks and too-basic displays of suspense, but Beck and Woods aren’t really in the business of pushing any buttons. Their script is smart to focus on the root functions that religion can serve (as opposed to the verifiability of various gods), but Mr. Reed can only be so devious in a story determined to leverage his know-it-all chauvinism towards a more ecumenical purpose, and the final act — for all of its squelches and secrets — can’t help but feel entirely too safe for a genre exercise that talks such a big game about Revelations with a capital “R.”
Sure, there are a few errant points about how religions advertise themselves and iterate upon each other, but “Heretic” is much too nice a film to punish or punch down at a pair of young Mormon girls who are already bullied for their faith. Which isn’t to suggest that I’d prefer if the film did either of those things (no thanks), or that “Heretic” suffers for insufficiently belittling any of the church-goers who see it, but rather to say that “Heretic” — true to its title — doesn’t believe in anything with enough conviction to make good on the experience of sitting through a film whose characters all display a profound degree of courage in their own convictions.
This is an entertainingly unambitious midnight movie that thrives on the strength of a terrific cast and some equally brilliant craftwork (cinematographer Chung Chung-hoon deserves predictably special mention for creating such a full spectrum of expression from the damp and dilapidated palette he was given). Alas, “Heretic” is never unholy enough to risk flirting with sacrilege, which is a shame, as any God worth the time it takes to worship them would surely forgive a movie in which an evil Hugh Grant hails “Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace” in the same breath as the Bible itself.
Grade: B-
“Heretic” premiered at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival. A24 will release it in theaters on Friday, November 15.
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