Heretic Review: Hugh Grant Horror Deserves Your Leap Of Faith [TIFF 2024]

I love it when filmmakers can surprise me. "Heretic," written and directed by the duo of Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, surprises on multiple levels. I knew Beck and Woods could write a good horror movie due to their script for "A Quiet Place," but that was a specific type of horror: a high concept mainstream crowdpleaser focused on funhouse frights over big ideas. I absolutely hated "65," the Beck and Woods-directed flop that somehow made "spaceman Adam Driver fights dinosaurs" boring. Neither my best nor worst experiences with this team could prepare me for their work on "Heretic."

Neither will the trailer really prepare you for what's in store — though by now, moviegoers should know that trailers for A24 horror films always make them look more traditional than they actually are. In terms of the basics of the plot, the trailer gives an accurate summary: two Mormon missionaries, Sister Barnes (Sophie Thatcher) and Sister Paxton (Chloe East), visit the house of Mr. Reed (Hugh Grant), only to find themselves trapped inside and put up to a test of their faith. What the trailer can't get across is how this story plays out — as a wordy, intellectual debate about the nature of religion ... and music ... and board games ...

Especially for its first hour, "Heretic" is a movie of conversations. Funny, suspenseful, revealing, challenging conversations. And the writing is just fantastic, at different moments recalling the works of Quentin Tarantino, Jordan Peele, and Richard Linklater. I had no clue Beck and Woods had this sort of script in them. Mostly a three-hander, all of the lead actors do an excellent job with this material. The only thing holding "Heretic" back from instant classic status is its final act, where some of the big secret reveals end up a bit disappointing after so much great build-up.

In the opening scene, Sisters Barnes and Paxton are talking to each other about the moment that convinced them the Mormon Church was right. For Paxton, it was watching a pornographic video — "not intentionally," of course — and thinking about what she read as a moment of embarrassment and regret for the video's star. Barnes doesn't have a story like that, but she does have a stronger record of converting new members to the church. Paxton feels mocked by "that South Park musical," while Barnes thinks the songs are funny. At a glance, it would be easy to peg the wholesome-looking Paxton as the true believer and the goth-y Barnes as the skeptic, but both women have their own complicated yet committed relationships with their faith.

Speaking of complicated, Mr. Reed knows more about Mormonism, and seemingly every other religion, than the missionaries themselves — and in his extensive study, he's determined that all of these religions are wrong. Is he simply a hardcore atheist in the Richard Dawkins mode, or is something stranger afoot, with his insinuations that he's finally discovered "the one true religion"? Is the grace the missionaries give him, even when it becomes more and more obvious he means them ill, indicative of the problems with religion itself?

Hugh Grant is clearly having a blast in his villain era. From "Cloud Atlas" to "Paddington 2" to "Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves," the former rom-com icon has been at his best when he gets to play evil. "Heretic" is his first foray into horror since "The Lair of the White Worm" 36 years ago, and with that comes his most impressive villain performance yet (one context-free tease: he does a Jar Jar Binks impression). The funny thing is a large section of the audience will find themselves with up to 90% of what Mr. Reed says — Grant may be among this crowd, noting at the film's Toronto International Film Festival premiere it was easy to get into character as a nonbeliever himself. But then there's the remaining 10% that will have even anti-theists surprised how much they're sympathizing with the Mormon girls.

So we have to talk a bit about the ending of "Heretic" to acknowledge why it doesn't completely work. The final act piles on twists, many of them reminiscent of ones from other movies (I won't name titles to avoid spoilers, but I'm thinking in particular about an older work from a recent Oscar winner crossed with a more cult horror film from a couple years ago, with a red herring threatening to enter the territory of another recent A24 mind-bender). The derivative nature of these twists isn't the problem — if anything, that's fitting for a movie preoccupied with the subject of derivation. It's more that, as presented here, the way these twists all come together will really strain your suspension of disbelief.

Then again, maybe that's also fitting for a movie about why someone might choose to believe in the seemingly unbelievable. By this point, "Heretic" has been such a fun time that if the destination can't measure up to the journey, it's not the biggest problem in the world, but it is the big issue keeping this from being a full-on 10/10 rave review. And even when the narrative logic gets messy, the conclusion still finds satisfying ways to play off running gags and character moments while also introducing new wrinkles to both the pro- and anti-religion arguments.

Those arguments are sure to continue among moviegoers long after the film ends. People with completely different beliefs and backgrounds will come to this film and take away different things; some might find their viewpoints challenged, others might find them strengthened. Both the protagonists and the antagonist of "Heretic" think they have the correct answers about the nature of God, but in the end, "Heretic" has no intention of giving such solutions to you. It merely seeks to provoke — and to entertain. On both levels, it's a sinfully sweet success.

"Heretic" premiered at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival. It opens in theaters on November 15.