Heretic (15)

Sister Barnes and Sister Paxton are missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, who gladly travel door to door to share their devotion to the Lord under the guidance of Elder Kennedy. The two young women knock at the door of the warm and welcoming Mr Reed, whose wife is busy in the kitchen. He invites them inside and the sisters unknowingly become ensnared in a deadly game of cat-and-mouse with a predator who will test their faith to breaking point.

LondonNet Film Review

Heretic (15) Film Review from LondonNet

Since his first utterance of a plummy f-bomb in the fraught opening scene of Four Weddings And A Funeral, Hugh Grant has traded heavily on the archetype of a bumbling, confused yet charming British gentleman with clumsily articulated amorous intentions. Such was the dazzling brilliance of his adorably self-deprecating upper-class clown, Four Weddings co-star Andie MacDowell’s love interest was famously blinded to the torrential downpour that greeted his declaration of love at the end of the film: “Is it still raining? I hadn’t noticed…”

Another deluge clatters on windowpanes in Heretic but the sun shines brightly on Grant, who retains a soothing British accent but gleefully subverts his nice guy persona to play the most deadly predator of all: one who hides in plain sight, clad in a patchwork cardigan with a Bless This Mess embroidery on the living room wall, and cajoles lambs to the slaughter with razor-sharp rhetoric. He is both the icing and the booze-spiked cherry on top of a delicately flavoured cake mixed by writer-directors Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, which rises perfectly for the opening hours then falls a little flat when weaponised words are traded for a familiar array of deadly blades.

The filmmaking duo, who co-wrote the first instalment of A Quiet Place, conjured a literal boogeyman in their previous film based on a Stephen King Short story. Here, they unleash a sociopathic scholar, who plays diabolical minds games with two Mormon missionaries, challenging their notions of belief, faith and devotion and inviting the discombobulated prey to fling themselves into the jaws of various intellectual bear traps. Tight close-ups of the actors – the film is essentially a three-hander – are unsettling by design.

His unsuspecting victims are Sister Barnes (Sophie Thatcher) and Sister Paxton (Chloe East) from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The young women knock at the door of Mr Reed (Grant), armed with literature and compelling scripture to shepherd their host into the flock. Rules dictate that a woman must be present in a home for the Sisters to enter. “My wife has a pie in the oven,” warmly explains Mr Reed, beckoning Barnes and Paxton out of the rain to play a deadly theological game of cat-and-mouse.

Heretic challenges the structural foundations of most mainstream religions as Grant’s wolf in cosy knitwear delivers his diabolical sermon. Thatcher is a compelling foil for Grant’s polite menace and their scenes fizz deliciously like droplets of water hitting smoking, hot oil. One traditional jump scare and visible gore are reserved for a loopy final reckoning that leaks tension at an alarming rate but avoids implosion thanks to Grant’s powerhouse portrayal.

– Kim Hu