With great power comes great responsibility, he says. Spider-Man, she says. Voltaire, he corrects her.
Reed is particular about getting things right. The two young Mormon Church missionaries who are sitting in his living room trying to convert him to their belief system are only just beginning to sense how far he will go to disagree with them.
Having entered Reed’s home during a snowstorm, Sister Barnes (Sophie Thatcher) and Sister Paxton (Chloe East) initially welcome Reed’s hospitality, the offer of blueberry pie and his questions about their faith. Demureness by the women and civility from Reed (Hugh Grant) prevail, even as lights flicker funnily and a mysterious thump is heard. The women sportingly combat Reed’s irreverent and inappropriate but always pleasantly made comments about all religions in general and Mormonism in particular.
Heretic is a slickly staged encounter between belief and disbelief – Reed’s magnificent obsession – that is sinister but also very funny at times. Even after it is clear what they are up against, the Mormon sisters do not drop their proper ways. “I think we’re being studied,” one of them says.
Writer-directors Scott Beck and Bryan Woods elevate the usual house of horrors movie by avoiding jump scares and other gimmicks. Understatement is the order of the day, a welcome change from the sordidness found in such films. Set almost entirely in a single location, Heretic generates the chills from storytelling devices – cinematographer’s Chung Chung-hoon’s lighting pattern is a big contributing factor – and its winning conceit of a theological debate tucked into a psychological horror movie.
The truth behind Reed’s intentions isn’t exactly revelatory or even shocking. But the 110-minute film has already converted us to its cause on the strength of its performances alone.
Sophie Thatcher and Chloe East are suitably earnest and decorous as the Mormon missionaries. Hugh Grant packs a wallop as the insistently polite and entirely nutty Reed. Grant’s recent acting choices have been exemplary. Heretic is the latest instance of this personable British star’s talent for unorthodox characters with dubious charms.
