Major spoilers ahead for Heretic. You’ve been warned.
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The late genius author and futurist Arthur C. Clarke once said, “Two possibilities exist: either we are alone in the universe, or we are not. Both are equally terrifying.” I don’t know about you, but I think that’s a pretty chilling statement. Now what if you took that basic idea and applied it to religion – to the existence of God?
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Not only would you probably bend your brain into a pretzel trying to think through it, but it would also certainly give you pause when asking yourself what it is you believe. And therefore, which religion is the right one – if there is a right one? Writer/directors Scott Beck and Bryan Woods (A Quiet Place) have taken these deep, unnerving questions and turned them into Heretic. But does the flick provide a sufficiently scary story or just pose a bunch of questions and then leave you hanging? Read on to find out.
The story begins with two young Mormon women on their traditional mission trip, Sister Paxton (Chloe East) and Sister Barnes (Sophie Thatcher). Paxton wonders whether the advertising for Magnum condoms is really a lie (while the bench they’re sitting on has an ad for condoms on it), and that they’re actually the same size as regular condoms. Barnes tells her that it’s not a lie, her sister’s ex had to use them because he was especially well-endowed. Then the conversation naturally rolls into watching pornography, and Paxton assures Barnes that she hasn’t been watching a bunch of porno videos – just one.
Then Paxton and Barnes set out on their daily quest to preach the gospel, asking everyone they meet the customary, “Do you want to learn about our Savior Jesus Christ?” which everyone ignores. Then they see some kids their age, who ask to take a pic with them – and then cruelly yank Paxton’s skirt down to see if she’s wearing the Mormon “magic underwear.”
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They lock up their bikes as they arrive at the home of a Mister Reed (Hugh Grant). He’s on their itinerary as someone who expressed interest in talking to them. Reed invites them in out of the heavy rain. The girls say they need to have a female present in order to enter. Mr. Reed says his wife’s inside baking a pie, so the girls go on in.
Once inside the dim, creaky old house, he invites them to sit down. The girls politely sit and comment on the lovely smell of blueberry pie. Reed then engages the girls in a fascinating discussion ranging from Reed’s own study of religions, including Mormonism, and the touchy subject of Barnes’ father’s death from ALS. He begins to cleverly needle the girls about religion in general, and both Barnes and Paxton prove that they’re both smart, if not worldly. Then Reed finally leaves the room to get the pie.
Once he’s out of earshot, Barnes suddenly realizes that the blueberry pie smell is coming from a candle. So there’s no pie, and there’s probably no Mrs. Reed, either. That added to Reed’s strange and somewhat creepy behavior tells them they need to get out. Now. Only problem is, the door’s locked.
Their only choice is to go through the same door Mr. Reed went through, where they find a study/library that’s set up kind of like a church, with pews and a central desk like an altar. The girls politely make up a story that they’re needed back at church. But Reed says they don’t need to lie, that they’re free to go. Only catch is that they have to choose between two doors. He writes “Belief” on one and “Disbelief” on the other.
Reed then goes on a fascinating diatribe about the three main religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. He likens them all to – Monopoly. Yeah, the board game. So what most people don’t know is that the game was originally created by a woman who called it The Landlord’s Game. That idea was then stolen by a man who changed the name and ended up getting rich when it became hugely popular. So the original game? That’s Judaism, aka the oldest. Then the stolen idea that became the most popular? That’s Christianity. And Islam, being the “newest” religion to come into fashion – that’s Monopoly Go. Get it?
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Iterations, Reed says. It’s all about iterations. He then uses another example by playing The Hollies’ “The Air That I Breathe,” which neither of the girls is familiar with. Oh, but they must be familiar with Radiohead’s “Creep,” right? No, not really. Well, then, how about Lana Del Rey’s “Get Free?” So The Hollies sued Radiohead for plagiarizing their song, and Radiohead sued Lana Del Rey for plagiarizing theirs. Again – iterations.
So then the question is, which iteration of God, aka which religion, is the right one? Or is there even a right one? Is there even a God? And based on their beliefs, which door is the right one to go through? Paxton goes to the “Disbelief” door, since it seems like Reed is trying to stress an atheistic stance as the “right” one.
But then Barnes goes on the attack, poking holes in Reed’s argument, and convinces Paxton to go with her through the “Belief” door. The door opens on a dark stairway which goes down into a basement/dungeon with no way out. Reed locks them in and then speaks to them through a speaking tube in the wall. He tells them they’re going to witness a miracle.
A woman (Elle Young) covered in a dingy shroud comes in and sits down at the table with a blueberry pie. The girls watch her as she eats it, and then shortly after, collapses. Reed tells them the pie was poisoned, and the woman – whom he calls a “Prophet” – should be dead. He tells them to check her pulse, and yeah, she’s dead.
Meanwhile, as the rainstorm’s turned into a blizzard, a Mormon Elder (Topher Grace) at the local church realizes that Barnes and Paxton haven’t signed in as having returned. He goes around to all the places where they were supposed to have gone to find them. He arrives at Reed’s place and rings the doorbell, which sets off a Silence of the Lambs-type school bell in the basement.
Reed leaves his study to answer the door, telling the Elder he never saw the girls. Paxton and Barnes scream through the bottom of the door, but there’s no way anyone could hear them. Barnes spots a box of matches and they both pull on the rug to get to them. They can only manage to spill the box and grab some of the matches before Reed returns.
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When they come back down, Paxton realizes that the Prophet has moved. As they try lighting a fire, the Prophet comes up behind Paxton and mutters about her death experience – light, clouds, and something about it not being real. Reed then comes down and tells them that he’ll sacrifice one of them in the same way, and then bring them back.
Barnes argues that there was no miracle – that the original Prophet died and was replaced by another. She then tells him about her own death experience when she was sick with food poisoning. But then Reed suddenly slits her throat, promising Paxton that she’ll return.
But when she doesn’t, Reed checks Barnes over. He cuts into her arm and pulls out a piece of metal. During their initial conversation, Reed saw the scar on her arm, which is how he knew where to cut. He shows it to Paxton, claiming that it’s an implant. Which means that Barnes wasn’t a real person, so she can’t come back. In fact, nothing Paxton has seen or experienced is real. Basically she’s stuck in The Matrix.
But Paxton knows better. She tells Reed that she knows that piece of metal is in fact a birth control device. And not only is everything real, but he’s also full of sh*t. The Prophet died and was replaced with another woman with a script. But the new Prophet left her a clue by going off-script and saying none of it was real.
So if the original Prophet died, then where’s her body? Paxton realizes there’s a door in the floor and goes down to find the body. She not only finds that, but finds yet more rooms, including one full of cages with similarly shrouded women in them. Reed asks her what the one true religion is, and Paxton says, “Control.”
But before Reed can “sacrifice” her, Paxton stabs him in the neck with a letter opener Barnes stole from his desk. She runs but Reed catches up to her and stabs her in the gut with the same letter opener. Reed says she should pray as they both bleed out, but Paxton says praying doesn’t really mean anything, except as an act of kindness.
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So she prays for them both, as Reed crawls over her, resting his head on her shoulder, ready to finish her off. But then Reed gets suddenly slammed in the head – by Barnes, who grabbed a piece of wood with nails in it, that she earlier ripped out of the ceiling. Then she collapses and dies – and doesn’t come back.
Paxton manages to find her way out of the house via an air vent. She stumbles along in the daylight, with the sun out and the storm passed. She then looks at her hand and sees a butterfly there. Which refers to something she’d said earlier about wanting to return from the dead as a butterfly and land on her loved one’s fingers to let them know she’s okay. But then it suddenly disappears. So was any of it real?
***
To call Heretic a horror movie is kind of a misnomer – or at least, a classification that doesn’t give the flick its full due. What Heretic is best at, is being a supremely clever psychological thriller. I don’t think I’m overstating when I say that Hugh Grant should definitely get an Oscar nomination for his work here. His portrayal of Mr. Reed is all of what you would expect from him, the usual tics and ways of enunciating that’s uniquely Hugh Grant. And while some may find that to be a turn-off, I think it actually helps the character to stand out in a sea of cinematic serial killers.
Grant’s Mr. Reed is all at once friendly, genteel, soft-spoken – and yet also quite sinister and definitely not all there even though he’s extremely well-read. The first half of the flick, where he’s engaging Paxton and Barnes in the battle of wits, is by far the best part. Both Scott Beck and Bryan Woods should also get nominated for their writing – the whole Monopoly/“The Air That I Breathe” thing is one of the best-written scenes I’ve seen in a long time.
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And while it would’ve been easy for Hugh Grant to monopolize (no pun intended) all the attention, being the speaker of most of that fantastic dialogue. But both Chloe East and Sophie Thatcher’s performances make sure that their characters aren’t minimized. They imbue Paxton and Barnes with both youthful naivete and intelligence. They stand their ground against Mr. Reed’s arguments, and even though they’re just a couple of nice kids they’re not doormats.
And while it doesn’t quite fit the bill of a proper character arc that they both stay pretty much who they are throughout – I would say that the fact that Barnes and especially Paxton remain believers in the face of such horror is enough development on its own.
Unfortunately, once the horror movie aspect of Heretic really gets going, the flick suffers. The whole thing with the “Prophets” just doesn’t feel like it belongs, story-wise, like it was part of a different flick. And even though Heretic takes tons of cues from Silence of the Lambs (1991), the filmmakers didn’t follow the most important one. Their choice to have so many other victims in play at the same time takes away from Paxton and Barnes’ plight.
On top of that, the whole confirmation-of-a-miracle thing – even though it’s manufactured – just doesn’t make a lot of sense. It just doesn’t seem like that’s what Reed would really be after, given everything you’ve seen and heard up to that point. But I would have accepted it better had they just cut to Barnes’ death and Reed awaiting her resurrection.
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But Heretic does manage to get back on track once the focus shifts to Paxton. Being the more innocent of the two, her journey through the literal horrors of Reed’s labyrinthine basement and her struggle to hang on to her own beliefs – and her life – brings everything together at the end.
And the filmmakers’ choice to end the flick with an Inception-type question feels earned, as a fun way to stimulate thought and discussion once you’ve left the theater, and not just a truncated scene. So even though Heretic doesn’t quite reach its full potential as a true horror movie, it’s definitely creepy, and by far one of the smartest flicks to come out in a while. I know I’ll never look at Monopoly the same way again.
Written and Directed by: Scott Beck, Bryan Woods
Release date: Nov. 8, 2024
Rating: R
Run time: 1hr, 51min
Distributor: A24
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