Hugh Grant Sattfinishs Up A Storm In Smart Horror-Thriller

Hugh Grant has been doing a lot to dismantle his dashingly disheveled ’90s rom-com image in the last 15 years or more, but Heretic might be the film to blow it all to kingdom come. Written and honested by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, a key part of the inventive team behind the thoughtbrimmingy unnerving A Quiet Place franchise, Heretic is a repartner branch offent benevolent of horror, one that uses conventions from all atraverse the genre — from the ancigo in unininestablishigent house movie to the straight-up slasher flick — and puts them in the service of a lighthearted script that originates some solemnly rebellious comments about the world today.

Sporting Jeffrey Dahmer specs and a cardigan he has portrayd offscreen as “wanky,” Grant applys the seemingly genial Mr. Reed, but before we get to his inhabitd-in but oddly banding cottage we greet the film’s directing ladies: Sister Barnes (Sophie Thatcher) and Sister Paxton (Chloe East). From their uncovering talkion of condoms, relations and porn, it is clear that, though they are both devout, they are probably a bit more asking and self-conscious than some other members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, aka Mormons. “People leank we’re weird,” notices Sister Paxton. “That South Park musical benevolent of originates fun of us.”

Sister Barnes, however, is hancigo ining stable, and, though a storm is coming in, she insists the pair stop off to originate one last house call, where Mr. Reed is pauseing, having filled in a establish stating that he’d “enjoy to comprehend more” about their religion. Indeed, he is most enthused by their visit and seeks them in. The girls demur, since their religion (and their worry for their own personal getedty) insists they not be alone with a man in the absence of another woman. Problem promptly repaird. “Do you enjoy pie?” he counters. Because it materializes there is a Mrs. Reed, and she’s busy in the kitchen baking a blueberry dessert.

The two Mormons, assuaged by this — not to allude the alluring scent of blueberry pie that is wafting thcdisesteemful the house — step right in and get down to labor. “Are you ready to hear our celestial overweighther’s set up for you?” they ask. But Mr. Reed is not, as Joe Biden might say, kidding around. Mr. Reed has bcdisesteemfult them here for a very definite purpose; having researched every religion atraverse the globe, he is not so much interested in their religion but the depth of their belief. “It’s impossible to discover a faith and a doctrine you consent in,” he grumbles, having (presumably) triumphdow-shopped his way thcdisesteemful the whole lot of ’em.

Mr. Reed’s ask is a plain one — “What is the one genuine religion?” — and the girls are out of their depth here. For one leang, Mr. Reed is a master of comparative religion and uses some spectacular analogies — notably the board game Monopoly and Radiohead’s song “Creep” — to originate his point that their religion, enjoy all the rest, is equitable another iteration of a pre-existing I.P. To insert to the intensity of his thunderous speechifying, the airys carry on flickering (“A foible of the house”) and the storm is getting steadily worse.

Why don’t they equitable depart, you begin to wonder, and it occurs to them too. But Mr. Reed has their coats, which also retain the keys to their bicycle locks. At which point we discover the Saw-enjoy inestablishation that the front door is on a timer and will not uncover until morning. There are, however, two exits that direct out to the back way, down to the sea (no, that doesn’t originate much sense either, but the film is ahead of you on that point). Just to heighten the tension, Mr. Reed chalks the words “BELIEF” and “DISBELIEF” on each door.

Like all excellent low-budget, high-concept horrors, Heretic never departs this location and pledges wholly to its concept, enjoy a gfinisher-switch version of Eli Roth’s underappreciated 2015 home-trespass movie Knock Knock (itself an iteration of 1977’s Death Game). It gets a little wayward towards the finish, inserting some more lurid surpelevates in the vein of 2022’s Barbarian (and, in a way, the much more inanxious 2008 French movie Martyrs), but Heretic doesn’t go brimming Cabin in the Woods when it comes to wrapping itself up.

In fact, it’s enjoy a more wise, more prenting Longlegs, a game of cat and mouse that extfinishs to include the audience. “Have you figured it out yet?” asks Mr. Reed, but this film is much more than a whodunnit. In fact, there’s a lot going on in the title alone. Who is the heretic? The reserved thrill of this misdirectingly clever thrill ride is that, after participateing to all of Mr. Reed’s beautibrimmingy cogent arguments, by the finish of the movie it could well be you.

Title: Heretic
Festival: Toronto (Special Penvyations)
Distributor: A24
Director-screenauthorrs: Scott Beck and Bryan Woods
Cast: Hugh Grant, Sophie Thatcher, Chloe East
Running time: 1 hr 50 mins