HERETIC (2024)
Starring Hugh Grant, Sophie Thatcher, Chloe East, Topher Grace, Elle Young, Julie Lynn Mortensen, Haylie Hansen, Elle McKinnon, Hanna Huffman, Anesha Bailey, Miguel Castillo, Stephanie Lavigne, Wendy Gorling, Carolyn Adair and River Codack.
Screenplay by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods.
Directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods.
Distributed by A24. 111 minutes. Rated R.
When we first got to know Hugh Grant in the 90s as the cute and charmingly shy and self-deprecating lead in romantic comedies like Four Weddings and a Funeral and Notting Hill, even then he was uncomfortable with this kind of typecasting. Grant had come from a dramatic background and felt that there was more to his talent than just being a handsome but neurotic guy with a nice smile and great, floppy hair.
Over the decades, Grant has made it a point to take on characters which highlighted the darker aspects of his personality, whether in comedies like Bridget Jones’s Diary and About a Boy, or dramas like Florence Foster Jenkins and Operation Fortune, or even fantasies like Dungeons and Dragons, Paddington 2 and Wonka. In fact, these days, he seems to be more likely to be playing a dark character than something lighter.
“Good guys are difficult,” Grant told People magazine recently. “They're difficult to keep from being boring.” He finds bad, damaged characters to be much more interesting as an actor.
Still, they had never come up with the idea of having him play a creepy potential killer in a horror movie, and honestly with Heretic, he nails it. His role of Mr. Reed oozes a charming malevolence which is undeniably incredibly creepy. Grant’s performance alone makes Heretic worth watching.
Surprisingly, his two co-stars keep up with him acting-wise throughout. Sophie Thatcher (Yellowjackets) and Chloe East (The Fabelmans) co-star as Sister Barnes and Sister Paxton, a couple of Mormon missionaries who visit Mr. Reed to help convert him to their faith. They are tricked into entering his house with promises of his wife and blueberry pie, but quickly realize that the man is more dangerous than they thought, and they are trapped in his cluttered, eccentric home.
Honestly, the first part of the film, which is relatively non-violent, is by far the most interesting segment of Heretic. Mr. Reed decides to start a debate on the viability of their religion – in fact of any religion – using pop culture references, head games and smooth patter to try to diminish their faith. The suspense is ratcheted up slowly to the point that it is nearly unbearable.
Things get more violent and action-packed in the last third of the movie, and while it is still good, it is not as interesting as the tense setup.
Heretic is sort of a thinking person’s horror film, with as many arguments about theology and sexual roles as there is bloodshed. And do you know what? That’s okay, in fact it’s rather good that the film doesn’t settle for lowest-common-denominator thrills, instead taxing the audience intellectually as well as trying to scare the pants off of them.
It wouldn’t work nearly as well though if not for the three fantastic performances at the heart of the film – particularly Grant’s disturbing work. Don’t be surprised to see him playing more and more deranged killers. I hope that the future films use him as well as Heretic does.
Jay S. Jacobs
Copyright ©2024 PopEntertainment.com. All rights reserved. Posted: November 7, 2024.
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