Heretic

HERETIC (15)

D: Scott Beck & Bryan Woods

A24 / Catchlight / Shiny Penny (Stacey Sher, Scott Beck, Bryan Woods, Julia Glausi & Jeanette Volturno)

US 🇺🇸 2024

111 mins

Thriller/Horror

W: Scott Beck & Bryan Woods

DP: Chung Chung-Hoon

Ed: Justin Li

Mus: Chris Bacon

Hugh Grant (Mr. Reed), Sophie Thatcher (Sister Barnes), Chloe East (Sister Paxton), Topher Grace (Elder Kennedy)

Hugh Grant is perfectly sinister as the mysterious Mr. Reed in this suspenseful thriller with a religious twist. 

When two Mormon missionaries visit to spread their faith, they find themselves trapped in his house, where he picks apart all religious beliefs with some analogies which I thought (as an atheist) were incredibly well thought out, delivered with the greatest confidence by the enigmatic character of Mr. Reed, almost leading to one of the young ladies admitting the denouncement of her faith, if only as a ruse so he can allow her to leave.

Unfortunately, the final act descends into usual horror movie fare, which doesn’t quite undo the intelligence of the first two acts, but doesn’t feel consistent with the characters as we’d seen them up to that point.

Nevertheless, it’s an atmospheric slice of suspense with an excellent central performance from Hugh Grant and two solid breakthrough performances from both Sophie Thatcher and Chloe East.

7/10