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5
FILM
“Heretic”
Director: Scott Beck & Bryan Woods
USA/Canada – 2024
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It has been a real pleasure to see Hugh Grant go from being slightly miserable in romantic comedies, to becoming a charismatic character actor in his older days. Grant, meanwhile, seems to have rediscovered his enthusiasm, embracing his inner dirtboot in everything from Guy Ritchie’s The Gentlemen to Paddington 2. “Heretic” is Hugh Grant’s first horror film since Ken Russell’s wild “Lair of the White Worm” over 35 years ago. A cunning theological thriller that gradually slips into a waking nightmare, and plays with complex ideas around faith and doubt. A concept M. Night Shyamalan would probably have sacrificed his first-born child and left testicle for, but with a large one probably would have managed to breed before he reached the finish line.
Instead, Heretic has become the kind of quality genre film we’ve come to associate with A24, the indie studio behind modern classics like Hereditary and The Witch. For some, it will surely be a deal breaker that “Heretic” is so dialogue-driven, a claustrophobic chamber play that mainly takes place within the walls of a house with three people. Possibly some more, but let’s not reveal more than we have to. This is a film that works best without extensive prior knowledge, so it’s a smart move to avoid the trailers – and shall I try to avoid unnecessary spoilers.
Mormon missionaries Sister Barnes (Sophie Thatcher) and Sister Paxton (Chloe East) trudge steadfastly around to preach Joseph Smith’s good news, hopefully finding converts. Both are young, outgoing and so irrepressibly friendly that it’s easy to believe they’re hopelessly naive. Easy change. The sisters are largely ignored by those they try to talk to – and a gang of sleazy girls pull down poor Sister Paxton’s skirt to mockingly snap a mobile photo of her magical underwear. Tough times for those who are strong in faith.
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Fortunately, the missionaries get a warmer reception when they knock on the door of Mr. Reed (Hugh Grant), a jovial gentleman who is more than happy to hear more about the Latter-day Saints. As a violent storm blows up on the horizon, he welcomes the sisters in, assuring them that his wife is baking blueberry pie for them in the kitchen. Inside the warmth of the living room, Mr. Reed serves coffee and Coke, as he pulls out a well-used “Book of Mormon” full of notes and color-coded bookmarks.
It turns out that Mr. Reed is a searching soul with his great doubts. He has prepared thoroughly for this theological conversation, and is very well versed in religious mythologies. Reed intends to subject the missionaries’ belief in God to a small stress test, while he asks troublesome questions about the church’s practice of polygamy, points out contradictions in their doctrine and puts everything into a context that opens up a larger discussion about what is really the one, true religion .
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Like Mr. Reed, we sense that Sister Paxton has lived a sheltered existence securely entrenched from a reality outside the church, and that Sister Barens has a more contradictory relationship to this account of faith. But even though the Mormon missionaries are young and trusting, they are far from simple. They argue sharply for their beliefs, are capable, energetic and don’t do stupid things just because the script dictates it. Both quickly sense that something is amiss with Mr. Reed, who is studiously polite as he makes it increasingly difficult for them to leave the house. The young women make well-considered decisions throughout, without necessarily helping them when the situation… slips out. It’s hardly a big surprise that Mr. Reed has his devious ulterior motives, this is a horror movie after all. But it is terribly difficult to predict exactly where “Heretic” is going, and what he is really up to.
Hugh Grant plays him as a supposed “funny” university professor, who delights in being able to teach the missionaries with his knowledge of all the world’s religions. But mister Reed is not at all as smart as he tries to be, and far from as charming as he thinks he is. The type of self-satisfied querulous who likes to start passive-aggressive discussions about religion with leading questions (or what is called “bad faith arguments” in good Norwegian), and then takes pride in his own intellectual superiority.
Hugh Grant is absolutely brilliant here, but he is matched throughout by Sophie Thatcher and Chloe East – both of whom grew up in the Mormon Church, and left the faith community in adulthood. There is very little on the resume of the under-the-radar couple Scott Beck and Bryan Woods to suggest that they would be capable of creating such a nuanced, thoughtful film as this; they had a breakthrough with the script for “A Quiet Place” (2018), before directing the Halloween horror film “Haunts” (2019) and the dinosaur flop “65” (2023).
Quite apart from being a really intense (and eventually surprisingly gory) horror, “Heretic” has a lot of smart things to say about the contradictory relationship between faith and doubt. The end is open to interpretation according to where one is on the scale between pietistic devotion and total theological denial, but without endorsing oneself with facile solutions that push the scales in a particular direction. Everything is also elegantly staged by the South Korean cinematographer Chung Chung-hoon, who has previously been behind the camera on Chan-wook Park’s “Oldboy”, “Stoker” and “The Handmaiden”.
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The film discusses religious doctrine and mythology in an intelligent way, which will probably appeal as much to us godless pagans as to those who are strong in faith. “Heretic” has in any case received a positive response among some Mormons, let alone that they are widely known to be fairly tolerant when it comes to being played with in “South Park” and “Book of Mormons”.