HERETIC (2024) - Mark Reviews Movies

Heretic, A24

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Review by Mark Dujsik | November 8, 2024

Heretic is about the terror of uncertainty clashing with the horrors made possible by those with absolute certainty. What's neat, then, about directors Scott Beck and Bryan Woods' screenplay is that the setup flips our expectations of who's certain and uncertain in this thoughtful, claustrophobic thriller.

On one side of the approaching conflict, we have a pair of Mormon missionaries. Sisters Barnes (Sophie Thatcher) and Paxton (Chloe East) have come from their respective homes and churches in Utah to snowy Colorado, spreading the word of and looking for potential converts to their faith. Surely, these young women must believe it, even if their conversations in between approaching strangers and visiting homes aren't exactly what one might think to hear from pious people. They debate condom sizes, and Paxton describes having a religious revelation while watching a porno video.

Whatever prejudices we might have had about who these characters might be here are shattered almost as soon as they first appear. They don't take their faith for granted or accept it blindly at face value. They have questions, such as how much of people's perception of the world comes down to marketing, and some doubts, especially when it comes to Barnes.

She watched her father die a slow, terrible death before her mother decided it was time to find some solace in religion. After shopping around, the mother and, hence, Barnes landed on the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She hasn't looked back, but when church doctrine and history is questioned, there's a look that suggests Barnes might be having those same questions.

This is a thriller, despite the fact that the film definitely doesn't seem to be one from the start. Beck and Woods are patient with this material and these characters, allowing ideas of faith and philosophy to form and swirl around through dialogue. The film cares about those ideas, for sure, because the entirety of the first act amounts to a lengthy but intelligent theological debate. On another level, the talking keeps us off-guard and distracted from what's happening in the background.

The other party in the debate is Mr. Reed (Hugh Grant), who has contacted the local church looking for a face-to-face meeting with some of its representatives. He's on Sisters Barnes and Paxton's list of potential converts, and the latter is especially excited at the prospect of what could be her first conversion. At his front door, the two women talk to Reed, who seems courteous and welcoming and open to the possibility of becoming a member. He has done his homework, and after insisting that his wife is in the kitchen baking a pie, the missionaries agree to enter his home to keep the conversation going.

What follows in the ensuing scene is really something. On its face, it has the three dissecting themselves, each other, and religion—both specifically to the missionaries' faith and in general. Reed challenges the women on issues of divine revelation, polygamy, and the sins of their church's founder, and for their part, Barnes and Paxton stand their ground as much as they can while still being polite guests in a stranger's home.

They've heard all of this before. Of course they have, since the two know of their church's reputation in the wider world. Much of the enjoyment of this film is in watching three smart characters simply talk, trying to outwit each other or put up defenses against an argument—all while maintaining an air of civility that, soon enough, is suffocated by Reed's actual goal.

That's where the thriller element emerges, of course, because Reed has no intention of letting these two women leave the house anytime soon—if at all. He's a strange fellow, who begins lecturing the missionaries about the sameness of the major world religions, their similarities to ancient mythologies, and his belief that all of that points to only one, logical conclusion. It's all bunk, and only he knows the truth. He intends to teach the women of that by way of an elaborate game of sorts.

For as much tension as Beck and Woods develop as the debate unfolds and Reed's sinister nature gradually emerges (Grant is especially unsettling in this role, because he never plays it that way and always maintains an aura of smiling charm), that game isn't nearly as compelling as the conversations before and within it. The mechanics of the plotting here are somehow both too simple (It basically has the missionaries trapped in assorted rooms, trying to find a way out) and too convoluted (The script sets up assorted obstacles and schemes and things that will inevitably pay off later).

What Reed is trying to do with this plan is a tantalizing question, as he promises evidence of a miracle and secret knowledge of what makes him so certain of his own beliefs. As the answers come amidst sequences of horror and suspense, though, the film's own certainty in its ability to shock and continue to subvert its premise starts to work against it. Once the game begins, we're just waiting for the answers and the various payoffs.

Still, the film is suspenseful and smart, because Beck and Woods take the time and make the effort to pose the bigger questions about faith, to understand who these characters are outside of the plotting, and to ratchet the tension of the central debate and within its assorted setpieces. That most of the thrills of Heretic come by way of extended conversations between clever and self-aware people, instead of violence and other base shocks, is worth commending. The film has a mind that it puts, mostly, to very good use.

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