Film Review — Heretic
Hugh Grant’s splendidly sinister evangelism target eviscerates religious belief in a gripping cerebral horror flick
Hugh Grant has played unsympathetic characters, cads, and outright villains before, in films like An Awfully Big Adventure (1995), Bridget Jones’s Diary (2001), and Paddington 2 (2017), respectively. But he’s never played anyone quite as sinister as Mr Reed, the evangelism target of young Mormon missionaries Sister Barnes (Sophie Thatcher) and Sister Paxton (Chloe East). Grant is the chief reason to watch this unsettling horror film grappling with themes of faith to agreeably provocative effect.
Given how irritating door-knocking evangelists can be, writer-directors Scott Beck and Bryan Woods smartly set up sympathy for Sister Barnes and Sister Paxton. Firstly, in an amusing conversation about sex, where a naïve Sister Paxton explains how God spoke to her through a pornographic video to a bemused Sister Barnes. Secondly, in a scene showing vacuous Insta-twit girls pulling down Sister Paxton’s skirt for a video prank. Their bullying upsets Sister Paxton, who walks away tearfully, hurriedly trying to regain her dignity. Sister Barnes comforts her friend, genuinely wanting to help get a few converts on her scorecard (zero to her eight, apparently). Therefore, once they arrive at Mr Reed’s…
