Heretic

Synopsis: Two young missionaries are forced to prove their faith when they knock on the wrong door and are greeted by a diabolical Mr. Reed, becoming ensnared in his deadly game of cat-and-mouse.

Review:

With Heretic becoming available on Max I wanted to revisit this film. Remembering back to fall of 2024 I first saw the trailer likely on Youtube it was exciting and intriguing we we should talk about the trailer as a way to sell a movie and not give away the entire story. The movie was written and directed by the duo that wrote A Quiet Place, one of my favorite takes on an alien invasion movie. That duo is Bryan Woods and Scott Beck, if you would like to hear them talk about Heretic, Sean Fennessey over at The Big Picture interviewed them and they released it on the Ringer Movies Youtube channel. My take is the first 50 minutes was the best horror film of 2024, but then it got pretty muddy and not as clear and effective in the final 40 minutes.

The film opens with two young Mormon missionaries having a conversation on a bench, Sister Barnes played by Sophie Thatcher and Sister Paxton played by Chloe East. We slowly are exposed to their personalities, Sister Barnes a bit more confident and Sister Paxton more innocent and skittish. They have spent the day talking to folks and offering to minister to them at their homes in the downtown area of a town in rural Colorado. Eventually they arrive at the home of a middle-aged man, Mr. Reed played by Hugh Grant who invites them into his home and out of the rainstorm that has started. The women ask if he has a female roommate and this leads to him assuring them that his wife is at home and preparing a pie somewhere in the house. The trio sit down and begin discussing Mormonism and other religions, with Reed making the women uncomfortable with his comments initially about their faith and eventually the nature of belief itself. Reed makes the women guess the type of pie his wife is making, blueberry is what they smell and eventually when Reed steps out of the room, Sister Barnes realizes that the smell of blueberry pie is from a candle. At this point they try to leave and find the front door is locked, and they have no signal on their phone, something that Mr. Reed mentioned offhandedly when they entered his home, there is metal in the walls.

There is a lot of debate about what to do and decide the only option is to follow Mr. Reed, this leads them into his study. They confront him about all the things that seem strange so far and he then lectures them in a threatening manner, arguing that all religions are adaptations or rip offs of one another and claims to have found the one true religion. After Sister Barnes brings the conversation back to front door Mr. Reed bluntly says that the door is latched and will not open again until the morning. During all of this we see that there are two doors on the back wall of the study that Mr. Reed writes on each door, on one “Belief” and on “Disbelief”. He gives the women a choice of two doors to go through to exit the house, to choose the one that aligns to if they believe in God or not. After much consternation and discussion the ladies enter the “Belief” door.

This is where I will leave you with this movie, the film pivots and shifts a bit and didn’t finish as strong as it started in my opinion as I mentioned in the first paragraph. It does have a truly epic beginning but also for really good performances by the main three actors, Sophie is turing into a truly modern scream queen, Chloe is a chameleon able to mold and bend into whatever the role and script asks for and Hugh Grant has proven over and over in the last ten years that he can be evil, strange or just plain cooky. A unique and fun film even with the minor criticisms I can unabashedly recommend this film! Run don’t walk to your remote and open Max, be ready to be intrigued! Which door to you take? Belief! DisBelief!!