It seems like when we’re rolling into the holiday season that blockbuster movies are sprinkled further apart than in previous weeks.
As such, I had a hard time committing to a new release last week, but ultimately decided on “Heretic” after reading a few other reviews online.
As you know, dear reader, I’m almost always down to watch something in the horror or thriller genre alignment and this flick falls into that mix perfectly.
I think my favorite overall part is just how creepy and unnerving Hugh Grant is as the villain of the story.
In my opinion, the duality he portrays is up there with Anthony Hopkins playing Hannibal in the “Silence of the Lambs” franchise.
Though, that could also be chalked up to the creative script, but still – it makes it that much more satisfying as the movie goes on.
Heretic is an American psychological horror film written and directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods.
It stars Hugh Grant, Sophie Thatcher, Chloe East, and Topher Grace.
The movie is 111 minutes long and rated R for some bloody violence.
Two missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Barnes (Thatcher) and Paxton (East) arrive at the home of a reclusive Englishman, Mr. Reed (Grant).
With a rainstorm breaking overhead, Barnes locks their bikes to his fence.
They enter after being told Reed’s wife is preparing a blueberry pie and they begin to discuss religion, with Reed.
He gradually making several uncomfortable comments about the Mormon faith and the nature of belief.
After Reed steps out of the room, Barnes notices that the smell of blueberry pie is from a candle.
The young women soon realize the front door is locked and they have no phone signal.
Following Reed into a dark hallway, they end up entering his study while hoping he will help them open the front door.
Instead, he proceeds to give a threatening lecture on the nature of beliefs, stating that all religions are adaptations of one another, and claims to have found the one true religion.
Offering their coats and promising he will not keep them if they wish to leave, he sadly states the front door is bolted and on a timer – it won’t open again until the following morning - so they will have to leave another way.
Barnes checks her pocket for the bike lock key, but it has somehow ended up in Paxton’s coat instead.
While Reed is distracted, Barnes slips Paxton a letter opener and tells her to attack at the code word “magic underwear.”
Reed gives the girls a choice of two doors, which he labels “Belief” and “Disbelief” to go through in order to exit the house, one if they still believe in God (“Belief”), and one if they do not (“Disbelief”).
Barnes rebels, refuting several of his claims, before they both enter the “Belief” door.
Eventually, it is revealed that both doors lead to the same outcome.
In a basement dungeon, Reed declares he will show them a miracle before a decrepit woman called ‘The Prophet’ appears.
From there, things seem quite bleak with both Barnes and Paxton still trying to desperately escape Reed’s basement and the possible future horrors their minds concoct.
Grant’s villain is the highlight of the film for me, even if the movie’s ending is rather lackluster and ambiguous in my view.
Still, you’ll have to discover your own assessment in the theater.
