Two Mormon missionaries, Sister Barnes (Sophie Thatcher) and Sister Paxton (Chloe East), are going door to door proselytizing when they find themselves at the home of Mr. Reed (Hugh Grant). He’s a friendly gentleman who invites the young women into his house — a home warm with the smell of blueberry pie. After some initial conversation, they notice that the smell isn’t coming from the pie he promised, but rather a candle. (This is a big part of distributor A24’s Heretic marketing — they’ve even hosted blueberry-pie-scented screenings.) Barnes and Paxton discover that the doors are locked and their phones have no signal. They’re trapped inside the house, and Mr. Reed shows them to a basement where their faith will be tested.
When dealing with a subject like organized religion, some feathers are bound to be ruffled — even if the filmmaker has the best intentions. But Heretic doesn’t really skate around the issue, diving into it head-on as Mr. Reed and our missionaries debate religion’s merits. Their arguments do have a tendency to devolve into something resembling a Reddit thread: Co-writers/directors Scott Beck and Bryan Woods keep things crass and tacky while staying at a collegiate-introduction-course level of discourse. Religion as a whole is broken down and examined in a manner that might be offensive to some religious viewers — and not just Mormons or other Christians.
The film is definitely carried by its lead performances, especially that of Grant as the film’s antagonist. He’s able to pull off the role of Mr. Reed with a friendly, neighborly demeanor that never breaks, even as he manages to become increasingly twisted over the course of the film — it’s almost as if our protagonists have been kidnapped by Mr. Rogers. This unnerving performance ranks as one of Grant’s career best.
Heretic scratches the surface of an interesting debate while also bringing genre thrills. Its conversation risks offending some, but for the nonreligious — or those comfortable enough in their faith to not be offended by some blasphemy — there are foundations for a deeper conversation to be had.
