Maybe horror isn’t immediately what you think of when pondering epistemology, theology, and intellectualism, but they’re popular themes in a genre built atop life-threatening scenarios. A24’s latest, Heretic, takes this to the next level for their philosophical fright built around the sparkling performance of a leading man who’s diving headfirst into his villain era.
Hugh Grant leads as Bill Maher, I mean, Mr. Reed, a pontificating homeowner bent on testing the religious resolve of two young Mormon missionaries. Posing as a prospective convert, Reed traps the streetwise Sister Barnes (Sophie Thatcher) and the soft-sheltered Sister Paxton (Chloe East) in a house of horrors made up of the props he uses to try and best young women with his intellect. Smelling blood early on, the pair tries to exit Reed’s home but his weird time locks, traps, and insistence they make faith-based choices traps them in one of the realest horrors: a dude shouting “debate me!”
As part of some sick exercise built around Reed’s need to prove to religious zealots that religions are derivative iterations of unfounded faith, he barks obvious metaphors about board games, music (he sings Radiohead out of synch with the background music, what a fright), and the history of monotheistic faith systems. Forcing them to try and defeat him with intellectual debate, the sisters are made to constantly shout that they still have faith, even if it isn’t as literal and binary as believing in the whole of their church’s teachings.
Those looking for a house of horrors made of complex machinery won’t find it here beyond a couple of quirky timers and a complicated model of the home’s walls (which mostly seems to be a main floor and a basement), but they will find some well-paced jump scares and gorgeous horror shots painted in shades of dark blue and lit with glowing candlelight. Reed’s windy dwelling would make H. H. Holmes squirm, and his Rube Goldberg machines would insult the egomaniacal Jigsaw. His home isn’t a torture maze, it’s a box disguised as an escape room where the only solution is to engage in a fruitless debate with a man who is full up with fun facts that are about as deep as TikTok essays.
But it’s not all monologues about competing messiahs, Heretic has some sparkling jump scares and delightful gags. The plucky scares are paired with a bubbly sense of comedic timing, as raised up by the stellar performances of the main cast. The dichotomy of the sisters as differing archetypes outside of cardboard cartoons paired with the square-jawed Grant smiling maniacally at his self-satisfaction is what gives the jokes depth, and the scares stakes.
Writing and directing duo, Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, are back on their scary bullsh*** coming off helming 65 and writing The Boogeyman. While they maybe stretched a premise thin here, they succeeded in creating something completely different under the banner of “religious horror.” Heretic isn’t about satanic ghosts and exorcism rituals but tests of faith and the symbolism of nails in planks of wood. The two used their single location well to create something that looks gorgeous, and their cast made it sing, but time spent setting up the house of horrors and potential escape routes felt tedious, especially in its attempt at landing third-act twists. Their film’s strength is in its first act, which painfully (in a good way) stretches out an introductory conversation that plays like a chess game. The meat of the dialogue itself isn’t a revelation (none intended), but the shifting power dynamics feel out of a solid stage play.
If you’ve ever wanted to relive the torment of your second-worst philosophy professor who read a little too much into the Socratic method, then Heretic might be just the horror movie for your autumn viewing pleasure.
Heretic had its world premiere at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival. It hits theaters November 15, 2024.