Scott Beck and Bryan Wood’s 2024 thriller Heretic hit theaters this past Friday to high critical and audience acclaim. The film follows Mormon missionaries Sister Paxton and Sister Barnes on their journey through the Saw-esque madhouse of the psychopathic Mr. Reed (Hugh Grant) as he tests their faith, morals and sanity through a series of intricate and absurd philosophical hurdles. The film is tightly told and focuses almost exclusively on the sister’s journey, deviating only briefly to build tension when their elder realizes they are missing.
Hugh Grant steals the show in this film, acting at a caliber rarely seen in relatively lower budget films of this nature. He effortlessly switches between congenial neighborly eccentric and horrifying heartless killer with only the subtlest shifts in tone and facial expression. His character is best described as a mix of Mr. Rogers and Jigsaw, with a smattering of the insane ideological fervor of someone like the Joker. The terrifyingly absurd and complex clockwork manor that he has built serves as a dark reflection of the twisted and intricate inner workings of his own mind, showing the depths of his beliefs. It is a fittingly surreal setting to stage this kind of horrific deconstruction of faith and the ideas behind religion.
The themes explored in Heretic are interwoven in a satisfyingly dense manner. The film does not shy away from serious and convicting questions about belief, but it manages to treat these questions with a manner of tact and nuance that I was not expecting. The film sets itself up for a gut-punching philosophical smackdown between the menacing and intellectually domineering Mr. Reed and the two seemingly timid Sisters. However the film quickly establishes that this initial prospect is far from the truth as Sister Barnes (and later Sister Paxton) continually rebuttal and contest Mr. Reed’s atheistic monologues and pseudo-intellectual ramblings. His murder of Sister Barnes at the halfway mark of the film marks not only the shift of character perspectives, but also the moment when Mr. Reed begins to lose control and shows the cracks in his ideology. Things continue to spiral from there until the final act when–bleeding out and crawling across the floor–he tries fruitlessly to kill Sister Paxton as she prays over him, despite her own admission of prayer’s ineffectiveness. This moment, accentuated by the dramatic temporary resurrection of Sister Barnes, drives home the conclusive message of the film: that belief is about more than just control–it’s about hope.
The film ends in a suitably ambiguous manner, with Sister Paxton bleeding out in the snowy morning outside the house watching a hallucinatory butterfly land on her finger. It leaves the conclusive answer of whether religion is real open-ended but concludes with an optimistic if bittersweet note.
Heretic is a film that seeks to tackle deep philosophical and religious questions in an absurd and horrifying setting. Unfortunately, as a natural byproduct of this aim it lacks some of the traditionally entertaining qualities of a Saw-type thriller. However it more than makes up for this in its nuanced and respectful exploration of themes and deep philosophical questioning. It is a film that boasts the fantastic production design quality that has become nearly ubiquitous with A24’s brand, with the sets, costumes and other elements of the world accentuating the absurd realism of the film’s setting. For horror fans, it has plenty of moments of gut-wrenching tension, and a few scares that may have you on the edge of your seat, but for the majority of the film, the horror serves as more of a genre framing device for the messages that the film is trying to convey. Overall it is a tightly told and thrilling deconstruction of religious belief and the many nuances behind such belief.
Heretic Review (Spoilers)
Scott Beck and Bryan Wood’s 2024 thriller Heretic hit theaters this past Friday to high critical and audience acclaim. The film follows Mormon missionaries Sister Paxton and Sister Barnes on their journey through the Saw-esque madhouse of the psychopathic Mr. Reed (Hugh Grant) as he tests their faith, morals and sanity through a series of intricate and absurd philosophical hurdles. The film is tightly told and focuses almost exclusively on the sister’s journey, deviating only briefly to build tension when their elder realizes they are missing.
Hugh Grant steals the show in this film, acting at a caliber rarely seen in relatively lower budget films of this nature. He effortlessly switches between congenial neighborly eccentric and horrifying heartless killer with only the subtlest shifts in tone and facial expression. His character is best described as a mix of Mr. Rogers and Jigsaw, with a smattering of the insane ideological fervor of someone like the Joker. The terrifyingly absurd and complex clockwork manor that he has built serves as a dark reflection of the twisted and intricate inner workings of his own mind, showing the depths of his beliefs. It is a fittingly surreal setting to stage this kind of horrific deconstruction of faith and the ideas behind religion.
The themes explored in Heretic are interwoven in a satisfyingly dense manner. The film does not shy away from serious and convicting questions about belief, but it manages to treat these questions with a manner of tact and nuance that I was not expecting. The film sets itself up for a gut-punching philosophical smackdown between the menacing and intellectually domineering Mr. Reed and the two seemingly timid Sisters. However the film quickly establishes that this initial prospect is far from the truth as Sister Barnes (and later Sister Paxton) continually rebuttal and contest Mr. Reed’s atheistic monologues and pseudo-intellectual ramblings. His murder of Sister Barnes at the halfway mark of the film marks not only the shift of character perspectives, but also the moment when Mr. Reed begins to lose control and shows the cracks in his ideology. Things continue to spiral from there until the final act when–bleeding out and crawling across the floor–he tries fruitlessly to kill Sister Paxton as she prays over him, despite her own admission of prayer’s ineffectiveness. This moment, accentuated by the dramatic temporary resurrection of Sister Barnes, drives home the conclusive message of the film: that belief is about more than just control–it’s about hope.
The film ends in a suitably ambiguous manner, with Sister Paxton bleeding out in the snowy morning outside the house watching a hallucinatory butterfly land on her finger. It leaves the conclusive answer of whether religion is real open-ended but concludes with an optimistic if bittersweet note.
Heretic is a film that seeks to tackle deep philosophical and religious questions in an absurd and horrifying setting. Unfortunately, as a natural byproduct of this aim it lacks some of the traditionally entertaining qualities of a Saw-type thriller. However it more than makes up for this in its nuanced and respectful exploration of themes and deep philosophical questioning. It is a film that boasts the fantastic production design quality that has become nearly ubiquitous with A24’s brand, with the sets, costumes and other elements of the world accentuating the absurd realism of the film’s setting. For horror fans, it has plenty of moments of gut-wrenching tension, and a few scares that may have you on the edge of your seat, but for the majority of the film, the horror serves as more of a genre framing device for the messages that the film is trying to convey. Overall it is a tightly told and thrilling deconstruction of religious belief and the many nuances behind such belief.