You may not think you need to see Hugh Grant sing Radiohead’s “Creep” in a cheerily menacing tone, and yet, let me assure you, you do. What about seeing him do a Jar Jar Binks impression while tormenting two young Mormon missionaries? Yes, that also happens in Heretic, the entertainingly goofy new horror film from A24 which just premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival.
Don’t think too hard about Heretic—which has a lot of musings about faith and religion, none of which quite cohere. Just lean into Grant's lunacy and you'll have a fantastic time. It’s yet more proof that the former rom com star is having the time of his life in this new phase of his career where he uses his charm to play weirdos and baddies.
Heretic comes from writer-directors Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, best known for coming up with the concept for A Quiet Place and writing the first movie in that franchise alongside John Krasinski. Here they focus on Sister Barnes (Yellowjackets’ Sophie Thatcher) and Sister Paxton (The Fabelmans’ Chloe East), who are traipsing around a mountain town with their bikes looking for people to convert to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Sister Paxton is chirpy and naive. She opens the movie chattering away about Magnum condoms and a porn she watched. Her extracurricular viewing proved the existence of God to her, proof of how she sees the world through the church's teachings. Sister Barnes is more experienced, but also more mysterious. Frankly, she seems a little too cool to be a missionary, with her dyed black hair.
A photo still of The Heretic
Courtesy of TIFFTheir day starts to go terribly wrong when they arrive at the home of Mr. Reed, played with a spark in his eyes and a wide grin by Grant. The girls are not allowed to enter without a woman present, but Mr. Reed insists his wife is in the kitchen baking a blueberry pie. So they give him their coats and take a seat in his eerily homey living room.
Of course, there’s no blueberry pie. (Well, there is but it comes into play much later, and it’s not really all that appetizing.) Instead, Mr. Reed is a deranged theologist who has snared these two believers to have a discussion about God. Initially, his inquiries make the Mormons feel at ease. Rather than dismissing them, as so many people do, he’s actually interested in what they have to say.
But, alas, it turns out what Mr. Reed has planned for them is not so much of a discussion as it is an escape room from hell where the puzzles he presents are the truly unknowable kind. For instance: Is there one true religion? What kind of higher power is out there? Mr. Reed is interested in the concept of God, but he also wants to play God.
And so Beck and Woods give Grant a chance to monologue, and monologue he does with cheeky bravura. In what is perhaps the movie’s best scene, Mr. Reed presents an analogy about religion using Monopoly, The Hollies, Radiohead, and Lana Del Rey. (That’s where his serenade comes in.) He’s scary but at the same time completely captivating, like a mad professor mashed up with the guy you know and love from Bridget Jones's Diary. The Sisters are terrified—unable to leave—all the while the audience is falling just a little bit in love. He’s evil, yes, but he's making some good points, and he's sort of a snack. It's a perfect use of the power of Grant.
Heretic is frequently more funny than it is scary. That has a lot to do with Grant, yes, but also East’s performance as Sister Paxton. East has carved out an odd niche for herself playing young women who are extremely devoted to Christ—that was also her role in Steven Spielberg’s The Fabelmans—and here she mashes up earnest love for Jesus with a wide-eyed knack for pop culture punchlines.
Her high voice and sometimes peculiar delivery has the power to up the humor of even mundane lines. Thatcher, meanwhile, brings a capable savviness to Sister Barnes, who is protective over her partner. There are hints at a backstory for her character, including a father who died of Lou Gehrig's Disease, that could have used more fleshing out.
In fact, it’s best not to think that hard about any of the details in Heretic, especially as it spins into its unwieldy second and third acts. Beck and Woods have a lot of ideas about the subject at hand, but not a lot to ultimately say as they attempt to find a middle ground between respecting their heroines and questioning their beliefs. The musical The Book of Mormon is referenced on screen, and in some ways the final conclusion reminded me a lot of the one that show comes to as well, just with fewer crude jokes.
But even when Heretic slides into nonsense, it's always fun to watch thanks to the excellent trio of performances with Grant setting the kooky tone. He’s chewing up the scenery and having a great time. That means, we are too.
