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Heretic Movie Review

Heretic is a 2024 horror film directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods and starring Hugh Grant. It’s a brilliant movie in its premise, but somewhat uneven in its execution.

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“I promise you, the last thing I wanted to do was find

the one true religion – but unfortunately, I did“

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Two young missionaries become ensnared in a deadly game of cat and mouse when they knock on the door of the diabolical Mr. Reed and become trapped in his home. This is probably the most unique horror flick of the year, one that is surprisingly dialogue-heavy for the genre. It’s a one-setting film for the vast majority of its runtime, which easily could have made it feel too stagey and confined if it had been in the wrong hands, but this directing duo elevated it to a cinematic status thanks to superb technical aspects employed.

I particularly admired the cinematography. There are a couple of sequences that move the camera from one part of the house to the other and then outward to reveal the entire construction as sort of a jigsaw puzzle. Not only did those scenes make sense in terms of the narrative, but they also elevated this production to a more ambitious one. The score is solid, but it is the evocative sound design and very strong editing and directing from Beck and Woods that transcended its theatrical trappings effortlessly.

Hugh Grant went gloriously against type here and delivered one of his most memorable turns in quite a while. I have never seen him play a villain before, so it was at first quite difficult to buy him in the role of the twisted Mr. Reed, but it wasn’t long before he disappeared into this very well written role. I found him to be terrific when all is said and done. The movie is quite creepy because of him and it’s that perfect type of real fear and danger that can happen to anyone.

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Sophie Thatcher and Chloe East play the two Mormon missionaries and they were very believable in their roles and surprisingly competent for actresses that I haven’t seen before this movie at all. Sister Barnes is the more confident of the two while Sister Paxton is the more naïve and demure one, but eventually it is revealed that she connected all of the dots about Reed and his place, confirming that she is much smarter than previously realized.

Mr. Reed is an instantly iconic modern horror villain, and in a unique spin for Hollywood, he is a devout atheist instead of being the usual diabolical preacher. This type of characterization is much more in line with this period we are living in and thus I found it to be quite realistic (Reddit atheists instantly spring to mind). He’s such a well written and intriguing character.

Heretic is also surprisingly open to interpretation in its conclusion and overall themes. It is devoid of preachy messaging and it never takes sides. The main antagonist says numerous things about organized religion and how all major monotheistic religions are connected and oppressive, which will certainly ring true to non-believers, but the ending also felt more ambiguous in its possibly religious connotations and the very fact that the final girl is a believer and the twisted villain is an atheist further muddled these lines of who is right and who is wrong.

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So yes, the dialogue is stellar and quite sophisticated at times, though I would have personally gone without those overt and annoying pop culture references. Another issue is the entire third act. I did like that the supernatural elements were reduced to a minimum and that his plan was explained in a Poirot-like manner, but the first two thirds of the movie were so grounded and brilliantly written that this final section felt rushed and disappointing, especially in the typical stabbing and running conventions that are the clichéd staples of the genre. It is very difficult to write a proper ending to this type of ambitious and original story, and they could have done much worse for sure, but I wasn’t fully satisfied with it either.