Movie Review: Hugh Grant is Excellent in 'Heretic'

Heretic

Directed by Beck and Woods

Written by Beck and Woods

Starring Hugh Grant, Sophie Thatcher, Chloe East

Release Date November 8th, 2024

Published November 11th, 2024

If Hugh Grant wants to become the modern age Vincent Price, Heretic is his pitch perfect audition. Heretic, written and directed by the A Quiet Place team of Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, is a showcase for Hugh Grant’s talent for holding an audience in thrall with his charisma, that malevolent twinkle in his eye, and his endlessly charming speech. Grant dominates the screen in Heretic and his performance is stunning.

Heretic centers its story on two young women, Sister Barnes (Sophie Thatcher) and Sister Paxton (Chloe East). The pair are Mormon missionaries who go door to door delivering literature about the church and helping people convert to their religion. At the end of a long day of canvassing a Utah neighborhood, their final visit is with a man who requested to have someone come to his home to help him with his conversion. That man is Mr. Reed (Hugh Grant) who welcomes the young women with the promise that his wife is in the next room.

Naturally, we know that there is no wife and that this is all a set up for the real plot. Here, Beck and Woods delay diving into the horror elements of Heretic by giving a lot of time to Grant to monologue as he pretends to be an affable and curious convert. For a solid 20 minutes we watch a conversation between these three characters dominated by Mr. Reed who starts off friendly and polite before beginning to pick at the roots of the faith of his young guests. It begins with a challenging question about the church policy on polygamy before raising further questions via other religious perspectives.

All of this is building toward the revelation of Mr. Reed’s larger, sinister motivations. He’s not going to stop at intellectually challenging his new guests, he has an even greater challenge waiting for them in his basement. Whether or not you buy into Heretic will be revealed by your reaction to what Mr. Reed really has going on in his puzzle of a house and his even more puzzling mind, all portrayed by Hugh Grant with a deeply disturbing charm that you really cannot take your eyes off of.

And that doesn’t come at the expense of Grant’s co-stars, Sophie Thatcher and Chloe East. Each of these young actors is given the chance to shine even as Grant is the looming, overwhelming presence of the film. Thatcher especially comes off strong as she’s the first to challenge Mr. Reed and throw him off his game, if only for a moment. Thatcher is terrific in an unpredictable performance. As for Chloe East, her Sister Paxton gets to show off a bit in the final act and she proves to be up to the task.

There are weaknesses in Heretic, one of which is the dialogue given to Sister Barnes and Sister Thatcher in the second act. At times, the objections raised by Sophie Thatcher as Sister Barnes come off as if she’d read ahead in the script and knows more than she really should. Later in the movie, a similar problem arises with Chloe East’s Sister Paxton coming off as if she were raising points that the screenplay was worried that audiences would view as plot holes. At times it is as if the writers used this character to head off particular criticisms of Mr. Reed’s plan.

But, I didn’t mind this problem all that much because Sophie Thatcher and Chloe East gave strong voice to these objections. Both of these young talented actors delivered their lines with a strength and conviction that made me put aside the functional purpose of the dialogue and focus on how they are delivering in the moment. In the moment, I enjoyed these characters, rooted for them, and I wanted them to have these moments of pushback. It worked for me in spite of my reservations.

I also really enjoyed the look of Heretic. Beck and Woods have come a long way as directors and are developing a terrific eye for angles and settings. A particular sight that caught my eye was a shot of the mountains in the background of a scene, framed by houses in the foreground and the left to right movement of the characters in front of the mountain. It’s a gorgeous piece of cinematography. Similarly, the architecture of Mr. Reed’s house has a satisfying visual symmetry that makes it both strange and unfamiliar and yet appealing in its odd perfection.

Heretic is a terrific movie. It’s a great example of the growing talent of Scott Beck and Bryan Woods. The directing duo is growing in talent and confidence and you can see that throughout Heretic. And you can see how smart they are by the fact that they give such a great stage for Hugh Grant to perform on. Hugh Grant’s career third act is so remarkable and so welcome. He’s become such a surprising and unexpected go-to villain in Dungeons and Dragons and now here in Heretic. The way he plays against type simply with an arch of his eyebrow and a twist of inflection, is so exciting to watch. He’s the reason to see Heretic.

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