David Farnor | On 15, Feb 2025

Director: Scott Beck, Bryan Woods
Cast: Hugh Grant, Chloe East, Sophie Thatcher
Certificate: 15

Two young missionaries visit a man at his cavernous house to discuss Mormon doctrines but get drawn into a psychological game of terror and manipulation

It’s been 37 years since Hugh Grant starred in Ken Russell’s The Lair of the White Worm, and his return to the horror genre is worth the wait. Here, he plays Mr Reed, a middle-aged man who lives alone in a remote house. A knock on the door brings with it two missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints: Sister Paxton (Chloe East) and Sister Barnes (Sophie Thatcher). He invites them in to talk religion – and things get darker from there.

What is the one, true religion? That’s the question that the sisters think they’ve gone to answer, but Mr Reed turns out to be the one wanting to offer up answers instead. That subtle shift in conversational dynamics immediately leaves us feeling like we’re on the wrong foot, and writer-directors Scott Beck and Bryan Woods make sure we never quite feel on certain ground again.

Sister Paxton, raised in Utah, is the more naive of the pair, with Sister Barnes having been converted in Philadelphia, given her a bit more life experience – and a slither of skepticism. But as their conversation grows, considering the similarities between different religions and the idea that belief systems are just repackaging pre-existing concepts, it turns into an examination of why people believe what they do.

Mr Reed’s own agenda, of course, is more about power than enlightenment, and part of the fun lies in simply watching Hugh Grant in action. He deploys every Grant trick in the book, but flips them upside down into something chilling familiar and unnervingly not – he’s exceptional as a friendly, joking, avuncular type with a steely stare that matches his metal-rimmed glasses and grows steadily colder.

Sophie Thatcher and Chloe East are excellent as the sheltered and unprepared messengers, making them much more than the stereotypical missionaries that they could have been – the characters have their own experiences and personal beliefs that colour their actions and elevate them above the righteous cartoonish depiction that other filmmakers and performers might have fallen foul of.

Beck and Woods, who previously gave us A Quiet Place, are experts at crafting tension from very little, and they escalate the nastiness on display with precision – a strange door here, a suspiciously placed table there. By the time we’re in full-on shadowy staircase territory, Heretic is a truly nail-biting ride. But its strength is that it’s a thoughtful and cerebral chiller, rather than just a slasher. Over the taut two hours, what emerges is a thought-provoking question: is it better to approach things cynically or with an earnest, open heart? If you can smell blueberry pie being cooked by someone’s partner in the kitchen, but you can’t see them, do you still believe they exist?

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