“Heretic”: Exploring the Intricacies of Religion and Faith

Starring Hugh Grant as the villain, this A24 production raises questions on the importance and meaning of religions for people.

Summary

Two young missionaries arrive at the home of a kind man, Mr. Reed, hoping to convert him to their faith. The visit becomes a nightmare when the girls realize they are trapped in the house with no means to communicate with the outside world and that Mr. Reed has a diabolical and elaborate plan for them.

Quiet and Frightening

This is one of the movies I should have watched back in November. As you see, I’m still catching up.

Heretic introduces us to two Mormon missionaries, Sister Paxton and Sister Barnes, who are sent to visit a middle-aged man who had previously solicited information about their church.

Mr. Reed happens to be a nice and chatty man, and after being reassured that his wife is in the kitchen, the unsuspecting Sisters agree to come into the house. However, the polite conversation gives way to a series of faith-questioning remarks on Mr. Reed’s end, in a clear attempt to make the girls uncomfortable.

The man’s strange attitude begins to alarm his interlocutors, but by the time they make the decision to leave, it’s already too late: the door is closed, they have no phone signal, and Mr. Reed does not seem to be in any hurry to see them go.

Without resourcing to jump scares, the film creates a tension that is almost palpable. The strongest part is, no doubt, Hugh Grant’s performance.

An Interesting Villain

Mr. Reed is as charming and charismatic as he is scary. You spend the first part of the movie wondering if he is seriously dangerous, or if he just gets a kick out of scaring the young girls and has no real intention to harm them. That alone is more than enough to keep things interesting. Is he a psychopath, or a pranker with a very dark sense of humor?

Sophie Thatcher and Chloe East also do a good job portraying the two young women. They are obviously overshadowed by Hugh Grant, but in general their characters are likable, and the actresses managed to transmit the fear and vulnerability required to build a connection with the audience.

The One True Religion

Mr. Reed challenges the beliefs of Barnes and Paxton by exposing his theory that all religions are copies of one another and that he has discovered the one true religion.

I liked that the criticism of religions is more general, not so much about the beliefs of each one but the power of the religious institutions to control people. Because according to Mr. Reed, that’s the only religion: control.

They don’t make a point of trashing Christianity, as movies usually do these days, but I could not help noticing that there is one particular religion that was “included” in the criticism but barely mentioned on its own. Can you guess which one?

What Are Religions About?

As part of his intellectual experiment, Mr. Reed gives his captives the option to choose between two doors: one if they still believe in God, and one if they don’t. Not long after that, the girls realize that both doors end in the same basement. Whatever you believe, the outcome is the same.

I find that many projects that present a more critical view of religion use a similar example to make their point. In the book trilogy His Dark Materials, the protagonists have to go through the world of the dead, and discover that the afterlife is exactly the same for everyone, regardless of the existence they led when they were alive. Or in the TV show The Good Place, the requirements to enter Heaven have become so impossible to reach in the complicated modern world that everybody ends up in the Bad Place, that is, Hell.

It’s a fair point, one that even a non-religious person can have: Is being a good person worth it? Why am I doing my best to be good and honest when bad people have a field day of it and never face consequences?

A Better Ending Was Possible

The ending left me feeling a little unsatisfied, because I expected to find out more about Mr. Reed and his reasons for that elaborated master plan. Is he a lunatic? Has he done that before? Is he a serial killer? In that case, why prepare something so elaborated when he could have killed both girls easily? And if he had other plans for them, why? Who are all the people trapped in his basement? Why does he keep them there? Why is he obsessed with religion?

I got so invested in the movie because I thought there was going to be a backstory, but the villain died at the end and left me with all of those questions.

Reception and Box Office Performance

In the domestic market, Heretic reached $27.716.205 during a six-week theater run, and internationally, Box Office Mojo reports $24.298.008 in earnings. We are speaking of a total of $51.937.466. With a production budget that, according to Collider, did not surpass $10.000.000, the film could be considered a success.

The project was generally well received by critics and audiences alike, with Hugh Grant’s performance being highly praised. He even became a serious contender for the Best Actor category in this year’s Oscars.

Overall, Heretic is an interesting film that makes you reflect on your faith and the place we give to religion in our modern world. It’s not perfect, but it’s worth a watch.