A deranged lunatic using religion as an excuse to torture women is also the plot of Heretic, arguably the best use of Hugh Grant’s face since his mug shot, a memory that also feels upsettingly timely. The film is essentially a sandwich where the bread is monologues and the meaty filling is slightly shorter monologues. Rabid word devourers will feel gluttonous, slurping up the menacing brain games. It’s a bloodless Saw written by Aaron Sorkin’s nepo baby, a philosophy grad student.
Of course, I loved it. Why do you even have to ask?
Written and directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, Heretic is a closed-room thriller that sees two Mormons, Sister Barnes (Sophie Thatcher) and Sister Paxton (Chloe East), try to convince Mr. Reed (Grant) that the stuff he’s heard about polygamy and magic underpants are cooler than he thinks. To the credit of writers/directors Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, things are very immediately very wrong. Everybody knows it quite quickly, including the young women who would very much like to leave.
They can’t. They are forced to endure the most agonizing, excruciating persecution possible: Listening to a dude who has “done his own research” drone on endlessly. In this case, Mr. Reed reveals that he knows just a little bit about every single religion in history. He doesn’t just use this to say “see you later” to their Latter Day beliefs. He uses it to literally and figuratively entrap them in a labyrinth where faith itself is the bogeyman.
If there is one complaint to be levied, it is all the talking. Again, totally cool with that over here, but it is understandably, absolutely going to be everyone else’s top critique. If there is a second complaint, it is that you can feel how smart the film thinks it is. It really isn’t. It’s actually quite shallow. It does contain some fun, fairly unguessable developments but also winds up almost exactly where everyone would predict based on the trailer or a well-written synopsis. Not the one above, for the record.
Why is it arguably one of the most captivating movies of the year? In part, it is because Grant is finally able to leverage his manufactured affableness in a way that reveals its calculatedness. Yes, yes, he’s playing a character, but watching him slide out from beneath the stammering aw-shucks-ing feels like it has been building for years. Of course it was all an act, and what lies beneath is this madman.
The other thing that works is that Beck and Woods understand that you don’t need to go to exorcisms and demons to make religion profoundly terrifying. Atheism is also an axe blade if swung correctly. The fervent determination that you see the world correctly while everyone else is a misguided fool is the most deadly, dangerous thing humanity ever dreamed up.
Heretic is a rule breaker. It is “tell don’t show.” It is “expect the expected.” It is “love the sin, hate the sinner.” It may run afoul of the Ten Commandments but look for it on my top 10 list in a few months.
Grade = A
Other Critical Voices to Consider
Kimberly Elizabeth at Nightmare on Film Street says “Heretic has all the ingredients for a thought-provoking horror-thriller with an unsettling edge, but despite Hugh Grant’s standout performance, it feels like a theological debate that cuts to commercial before the final argument. The premise is tantalizing, the setup is fun, but ultimately, we’re left wandering a maze that doesn’t actually have a Sphinx telling riddles at its center.”
Siddhant Adlakha at Inverse says “With Heretic, Beck and Woods appear to have mastered controlled chaos, resulting in a horror-thriller that’s wildly exciting despite its inherent flaws. It won’t leave you changed or challenged, but it’ll most certainly keep you gripping fistfuls of popcorn.”
Nathalia Aryani at The MovieMaven says “You don’t need to be spiritual or religious to be taken along for the sinister and scary ride, and believe it or not, humorous from time to time. The film answers the question of what the one true religion is, considering there are numerous religions in the world and iterations over centuries. It’s refreshing to see a story with originality and creativity that not only makes you tense, squirm, uneasy and queasy, but also laugh at the same time. “