AP – Heretic opens with an unusual table setter: Two devout young women are discussing about an item.
“What else do we believe because of marketing?” one asked the other.
That line will echo through the movie, a stimulating discussion that emerges from a horror movie wrapper.
Despite a second-half slide and feeling unbalanced, this is the rare movie that combines lots of squirting blood and elevated discussion of the ancient Egyptian deity Horus.
Our women – played fiercely by Sophie Thatcher and Chloe East – are wandering around trying to save souls when they knock on the door of a sweet-looking cottage.
Its owner, Mr Reed, offers a hearty “Good afternoon!” He welcomes them in, brings them drinks and promises a blueberry pie. So far, so good.
Mr Reed is, of course, if you’ve seen the poster, the baddie and he’s played by Hugh Grant, who doesn’t go the snarling, dead-eyed Hannibal Lecter route in Heretic.
Grant is the slightly bumbling, bashful and self-mocking character we fell in love with in Four Weddings and a Funeral, but with a smear of menace.
He promises his wife will join them soon. Homey touches in his home include a framed ‘Bless This Mess’ needlepoint on a wall, but there are also oddities, like his lights are on a timer and there’s metal in the walls and ceilings.
Writer-directors Scott Beck and Bryan Wood – who also combined on A Quiet Place – have remarkably set us up for an unexpected debate here.
Mr Reed is not unlike an earnest professor set against two naive women armed with talking points who are hiding their own doubts.
Mr Reed knows exactly where the weak points are and thrusts in the philosophical knife.
“How do you feel about awkward questions?” he asked. Soon the discussion turns creepy.
So beautifully constructed and acted in the first half is Heretic that you won’t really notice when it turns into a horror movie.
You might be a step ahead of the women, but not by much. Mr Reed alternates between creepy and funny, well versed in Spider-Man and Voltaire, Radiohead and the Hollies, Wendy’s and Taco Bell. Grant has gloriously weaponised his natural charm.
Mr Reed has his own grand theory about religion and you will learn it. And he may or may not have some creepy stuff in his basement.
“It’s all terrifying. It is scary. I’m scared,” he said adorably.
You’ll find him utterly terrifying, a fanatical heretic in sheep’s clothing who can cutely mimic Jar Jar Binks from the Star Wars universe.
Beck and Wood take this fascinating premise as far as it can go before it becomes an airless stage play.
By the halfway point, the audience who came for the horror are baying for blood, and blood they will get. The plot by the end is a murky, muddled and disturbing mess, a combination of too many ideas and no clear ending.
Grant, with his comfy cardigan and candles, is the movie’s draw, but there’s great work by Thatcher and East, who are trying to not act scared even when they’re terrified.
And they’re no mere ingenue targets – they bite back with worthy criticism of Mr Reed’s beliefs through shaking teeth.
Producers have added a little marketing manipulation with Heretic, adding to some screenings the scent of blueberry pie along with the gore.
Don’t be distracted. Keep your eyes on Hugh Grant and just, well, pray. – Mark Kennedy
