Heretic (2024)

3 1/2 Stars (out of 4)

Mormon After

By Jeffrey M. Anderson

Scott Beck and Bryan Woods's smart, tense horror movie Heretic is almost all talk, and yet it manages to feel cinematic, thanks to its cunning set design, editing, and camera movement, as well as three finely-tuned performances.

Two young Mormon women, Sister Barnes (Sophie Thatcher) and Sister Paxton (Chloe East), are out doing some recruiting for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The last person on their list for the day is one Mr. Reed (Hugh Grant). He appears cheerful and invites the girls in, assuring them that his wife is in the other room, baking a blueberry pie. He explains that he has been seeking a new faith and the Sisters are very excited at the idea of a new convert.

Before long, Sister Barnes realizes that something is wrong. The front door is locked and their cell phones don't work. And Mr. Reed has taken their coats, which contains the key to their bike lock. They are summoned into another room, which is decorated something like a church. The now-sinister Mr. Reed has something he wishes to say, and a test of faith he wishes to give.

Written and directed by the filmmaking team Scott Beck and Bryan Woods (writers of A Quiet Place and The Boogeyman and directors of Haunt and 65), Heretic feels heavily-researched, and indeed plays like a spirited classroom lecture about the history of religion. Or, rather, it's a debate, since the Sisters are able to give as good as they get. The discourse is intelligent, growing more and more prickly as it gets deeper and darker, and the conclusion is downright chilling.

Grant does a complete turnaround from his foppish nice-guy persona, oozing menace without getting hammy. His younger co-stars equal him with expertly modulated turns. The directors keep the bulky 110-minute running time feeling brisk and kinetic as the restless camera lurks all through the creepy house — Reed keeps a 3D model of it in his church room — while a Japanese water fountain (a sōzu) clinks and plots ominously every couple of minutes.

The movie is correctly classified as horror, but not in the "scary" sense. There are no jumps or jolts, just a general sense of dreadfulness. It may benefit from re-watching, as bits and pieces of it, in hindsight, feel like a bit of a stretch. But Heretic is still a unique achievement, a movie that offers chills for the mind and spirit as well as the body.