Heretic

Image credit: cinemaclock.com

Don’t you just love it when you go and see a movie on a whim and it turns out to be fantastic? Sometimes the smallest reason to do something can yield the biggest bouts of enjoyment – it’s an important tip to remember when going through life.

I experienced this a little while ago when I decided to take a little time for myself and go the movies. Perks of my job had gotten me a free ticket to Heretic – definitely not a title that piqued much interest when I first heard it. In fact, I knew next to nothing about this film when I went and saw it. Hugh Grant’s face stared sinisterly at me for a week, daring me to jump on Google and check out the trailer. I didn’t take the bait. It was when a scene from the movie floated across my desk at work that I became genuinely fascinated. The scene depicted a seemingly friendly conversation between Hugh Grant and two women in which the women became increasingly uncomfortable, their nervous energy positively wafting off the screen and hitting the bloodstream through osmosis or something. I don’t even think I blinked – for five minutes. The day couldn’t be over soon enough after that.

The film tells the chilling story of two young Mormons, Sister Barnes (Sophie Thatcher) and Sister Paxton (Chloe East) who visit the home of a friendly middle-aged man during their rounds. Mr. Reed (Hugh Grant) invites them in, putting them at ease with the promise of his wife being in the kitchen preparing a pie and begins an earnest conversation about their religion and beliefs. But soon something begins to feel off. The wife fails to appear and when Mr. Reed leaves the room for a moment the girls discover the smell of the ‘pie’ is coming from a candle, they have no phone signal, and the front door has been locked.

This is a very clever and modern thriller that faithfully sticks to the building blocks of the genre and uses simple and minimal techniques to create an overwhelming sense of dread. The tricks of sound and mise-en-scene are used to brilliant effect – letting the smallest disturbances trigger the largest ripples of fear. From the moment the girls enter the house subtle cues in the lighting and sound design work to visually and audibly manifest the growing sense of dread that they experience having this deep and loaded conversation with this man. Every creak of the house is magnified and echoes through your body, making you jump when something louder happens. The warm light illuminates and blinds; letting us see everything around the room but also creating too many shadowy corners for comfort. And then there’s the hook of the candle. While the audience immediately calls the twist the moment the candle appears, the punch of seeing the words ‘blueberry pie’ on the label is intense, mirroring what the girls would also be experiencing, and thus reeling you via a natural tether of empathy into the terrifying situation the girls now realise they are in.

And then we have the performances. Thatcher and East are both really compelling. While religious beliefs and theology can be a real social point of contention, you can’t help but still take a liking to these girls in their sincerity. Sister Barnes is a confident conversionist who has taken the timid Sister Paxton under her wing – the two are very different and each goes through an intense character change as they become exposed to more and more horrific conversations and situations at the hands of Grant.

Image credit: cinemasight.com

Without a doubt, the film is all about Grant. Seemingly cashing in on the career renaissance through an era of villainy a la Michael Keaton, Hugh Grant uses his signature endearing warmth and charm mixed with smarminess but then turns it in a completely different direction that takes it from uncomfortable, to unnerving, to terrifying within the span of half an hour. The fastest half an hour that I’ve experienced in ages. His performance is intense and incredible, a real standout in his career!

With its minimal cast, dialogue-heavy screenplay, expert environment building and brilliant performances, Heretic is an absolutely brilliant modern thriller that I would highly recommend. It’s different and fresh, but also familiar; a return to classic thrillers like Rope or The Night of the Hunter. It’s incredible!

Director(s): Scott Beck & Bryan Woods, 2024

Cast: Sophie Thatcher, Chloe East, Topher Grace & Hugh Grant