Heretic Review

Heretic is a religious horror film produced by A24. It sees the creators of 65 take a new direction for their follow-up film.

Sister Barners (Sophie Thatcher) and Sister Paxton (Chloe East) are Mormon missionaries, tasked to find new converts to their religion. They go to the home of Mr. Reed (Hugh Grant), an intelligent man who says he’s religiously curious, but an outwardly kind Englishman has his own agenda for the young ladies and sets out to test their faith.

There has been a lot of buzz before Heretic was released. A24 has been associated with quality and they produced Heretic, not just distributed it. The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and at the time of publication has an impressive 94% on Rotten Tomatoes. Plus, it comes out after a wave of religious horror films like Saint Maud, Immaculate, and The First Omen. The Church of Latter-Day Saints is now getting the horror treatment.

Heretic was made by the writing/directing duo Scott Beck and Bryan Woods. They are best known for writing the first Quiet Place film, and their work on The Boogeyman was solid, but their work as directors has been mixed. Heretic was a dialogue-heavy film where the characters engaged in a philosophical and theological debate. Due to the film being set mostly in a house during a snowstorm, the large amount of dialogue made Heretic feel like a stage play put to film.

The nature of the debate and tight setting did make Heretic feel like it was inspired by M. Night Shalayham’s filmography and Kevin Smith’s Red State. Mr. Reed was an intelligential who dissected the religious beliefs and the origins of many tenets of Christianity. Like Shyamalan Heretic felt like the writers wanted to show how smart they were and how much research they did. Heretic had more creativity behind it, like the board game metaphor, which gave the film a little more zip. Also, like Shyamalan’s work, Heretic was a twisty horror that kept the audience guessing.

Unlike other religious horror films, Heretic aimed to be a more grounded offering. The film’s villain was Richard Dawkins if he took more extreme actions to disprove religion and the existence of God. The villain’s motivation was to taunt and psychologically torture his victims instead of being a gruesome killer or occultist trying to summon a demon. Hugh Grant adds to his growing list of villain roles with Mr. Reed and he made for a compelling horror villain. He was calm, intelligent, and charming, and that made him more unsettling than any axe-wielding maniac.

The film’s best feature was the cast. Thatcher and East have growing reputations as actors. Thatcher has already proven her horror credentials in The Boogeyman and is set to appear in The Companion. Thatcher’s character was made to be more confident out of the pair, but her expressions suggest that she was not as assured in her beliefs. Sister Barnes was the one who tried to take the lead in the fightback against Mr. Reed. East’s Sister Paxton was portrayed as more innocent and naïve. She was a believer, enthusiastic to meet Mr. Reed and get her first convert, and her clothing made her look younger. Yet these appearances can be deceiving since she had an awareness of the danger she was in, and during the opening scene, Paxton revealed her spiritual awakening came from watching porn.

Besides the religious theme, Heretic looked at gender dynamics. Sisters Barnes and Paxton went into a strange man’s house who held all the power. There was an extra sense of unease because Mr. Reed could do whatever he wanted to the Mormons. Anyone who has ever worked a canvassing job can relate to the Sisters’ plight since it can be intimidating being in someone else’s home.

Heretic was a well-acted film with a compelling trio of characters, in a film that was more heavy with its philosophical musings.