Hugh Grant is one of my favorite actors. Charming, curmudgeonly, silly, sometimes all three at once. Turning those attributes on their heads in the psychological horror flick Heretic he invites a couple of Mormon missionary girls into his house and engages them in a theological debate that becomes darker and creepier as the film develops. And he is wonderful!
Grant plays Mr. Reed a man living in a house on a hill who answered a call from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints asking if he’d like to know more about their teachings. So Sister Barnes (Sophie Thatcher) and Sister Paxton (Chloe East) head on over. He tells them his wife is in the kitchen baking a blueberry pie and to come on in. First mistake! They sit down in the living room and he is very knowledgeable about the Bible and the Book of Mormon and the conversation is wide-ranging on the subject of religion and the commonalities of all religious doctrines. At first it seems he is truly interested. He has his own copiously annotated Book of Mormon, which is very impressive to the young women. But then it begins to look like he’s really trying to shake their faith more than anything, but they, especially the older girl aren’t falling for it.
But at the same time, they begin to realize that all is not as it seems in the house. That wife doesn’t seem to be there. There is a candle on the table that on closer inspection is blueberry scented. And Mr. Reed tries to get them to go into the other room, and then while he’s out of the room, they notice that the front door won’t open and … I won’t spoil it for you, but Mr. Reed has plans for the girls that just might not be on the up and up and so they try to escape. But can they?
Heretic was written and directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods who co-wrote the first A Quiet Place, so they have a good ear for suspense, and the first two thirds of the film is creepy as hell. But the last third went somewhere else. Not that it ruined it, but it seems like they didn’t know where to go with the story and let Grant loose. Fortunately, he was up to the task. Even Evil Hugh Grant is worth watching when the story has left the building. Should you see it? Like creepy? Like Hugh Grant? Then yes. It’s not straight-up horror. Definitely smarter and more fun. (Until that weird ending.).
In theaters now.