With my movie reviews, I tend to share the history of the franchise being reviewed or my personal experience or expectations I had of the movie. Having served on an LDS mission, I have more than a glossed-over history with the concept of the movie and the strange situations you get placed into as a missionary.
In Heretic, we see two missionaries of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints on their way to meet with someone who’s asked the missionaries to visit him and answer his questions. Sister Barnes and Sister Paxton enter Mr Reed’s (Hugh Grant) house hoping to have a quick discussion, make a good impression, and meet his wife.
However, he quickly makes things uncomfortable for the Sisters with his questions and they soon find that there’s no escape from his house of horrors.
Let’s get straight to the elephant in the room and truly what everyone in the know is interested in. Is this movie accurate and even challenging for those with certain beliefs? Yes, to an extent. This crew certainly has history with the faith and some very hard questions are asked and certain aspects of the religion are mocked. Yet, it’s all a bit surface level as the movie needs to move its pacing and can’t deliberate for too long on any particular point.
Hugh Grant is so fun to watch as the smarmy psychopath, Mr Reed, who could talk nearly anyone under the table. He’s able to deliver his lines, even those of condescension, with utter charm. And like any good cinematic psycho, he believes his purpose is in the right. His form of education is meant to jar his victims into submission, leaving the worst possible choices and outcomes in their hands. He’s straight evil, but he cannot see it that way.
Sophie Thatcher and Chloe East are so impressive at the two sister missionaries. Chloe East plays the standard naive religious person, with a real “Golly, Gee” attitude. Her character was written as if she could be pulled right out of any cliche production teasing super faithful people (I’m looking at you every goofy church comedy made 20 years ago). Yet, her character gets so much to do and even gets a great arc. Thatcher plays the “real” version of a sister missionary. She’s lived life and approaches every scenario with a bit of self-protection and cynicism. As with any missionary companionship, their differences balance each other out quite well.
Heretic hardly goes into the backstories (other than a quick mention) of these three central characters. The writing gives the audience enough information about how they deal with conflict that you can immediately sense who they are as people.
I’ve talked to several people who are worried this will be a full-on Saw-type experience, where gore and torture are highlighted. In truth, this is a dialogue-heavy movie with a focus on suspense over scares. There are grimy elements that will make you uncomfortable, but it leans away from gore.
The pacing is the biggest weakness. There are so many interesting monologues from Mr. Reed that build up to something potentially threatening or mentally complex, but as soon as he finishes speaking, the air leaves the room. There’s a big question of “Now, what?” The audience, as well as the two sisters, start the mental descent wondering, “Can I just hang out in this comfortable room and be fine?” Similar to the arguments of Mr. Reed, you have to wonder if the tangents and eventual conclusion of it all have been rushed.
I really appreciated the acting and dialogue of Heretic. It does just enough of a skimming of exmo and anti-religion Reddit posts to push buttons, but also has moments that are respectful of faith and miracles as well. I’m shocked this concept has never been done before because, for the most part, it works. I think, after seeing this, any new missionary would follow even simple mission rules to a T. I can say I’m grateful I never knocked on the door of a Mr. Reed. All in all, this is very suspenseful and an interesting, almost there, horror concept about faith vs disbelief. B
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