Heretic

Directors: Scott Beck, Bryan Woods (USA, Canada). Year of Release: 2024

Two Mormon girls / young women are discussing whether jumbo sized condoms are really any bigger than the others (their discussion on truth vs. marketing will repeatedly turn up throughout the film). Sister Paxton then mentions a home-made porno film which she once saw by accident, and how her faith in God was confirmed by the appearance of someone on the other side of the wall asking them to turn down the noise. Sister Paxton’s ability to tell her story is hindered by her inability to say the word “fuck” out loud.

Sister Paxton is disappointed that she has so far been unable to convert anyone, and is wildly impressed that her compatriot, Sister Barnes, has organised the baptism of 8 or 9 people. As they walk on, continuing their holy mission, they see a bunch of kids playing around. One of the kids joyfully calls out to them and asks if she can take a selfie with them. She runs over and pulls down Sister Paxton’s skirt, demanding that they show their magical underwear before running off. 

Moving on quickly, Sisters Paxton and Barnes go to a large house on the hill, home to the latest person who has expressed interest in the Church of the Latter Day Saints. After they knock on the door, it takes an age for anyone to answer, but eventually there’s someone with an English accent and a dubious pullover. A storm is raging, so he invites them in, but they tell him that they’re not allowed to enter the house of a man on his own. That’s ok, he says. His wife is in the kitchen baking blueberry pies.

At first, Mr. Reed shows great interest in what they have to say. He’s spent a lot of time examining religions, and is still searching for the One True Religion. Before long, he pulls out an annotated copy of the Book of Mormon. But gradually, his analysis of religion becomes more aggressive. Using an analogy based on The Hollies, Radiohead and Lana del Ray, he argues that each religion is a pale iteration of what came before it. They fail to make the obvious point that Creep is way better than The Air that I Breathe.

Mr Reed engages in a self-indulgent game in which he consistently lies to the Sisters as a way of proving that you can’t believe everything that you’re told – not even about the existence of God. It is never entirely clear why he is doing this. He shows no sign of wanting to convince them of the erroneousness of their faith, but seems to be doing it more for his own satisfaction. Or maybe the filmmakers want to show the audience that this is a Serious Film, rather than anything which would ever happen in real life.  

Sister Barnes in particular is able to challenge what Mr. Reed is saying by pointing out that it is based on the same vacuousness which informs much of the script. But the power balance starts to tip, especially as the Sisters  realise that they are trapped in a house from which they cannot escape. Reed’s wife does not appear, and they discover a scented candle which is emitting the smell of blueberry pie. The front door is locked. They try to ring the Church for help, but calls from mobile phones are impossible from the house.

Reed chalks “Belief” and “Disbelief” on two doors and invites the women to walk through one of them. If they choose the right door, they can escape into sanctuary, And yet it is not at all clear whether Reed is testing them on whether their belief is true, or if he is setting his own rules by which the only winners are those who accept the arbitrary parameters which he has set. Paxton and Barnes argue with each other about whether their response should be pragmatic or an affirmation of what they believe.

This is definitely a film of two halves. The first half, a dialogue-heavy conversation between 3 people in one room has the air of an intelligent play (Sleuth comes to mind). At around the half-way mark, we move down to the basement, and it becomes much more like a traditional horror film. And here’s the thing. The beginning of the film, where the threat is implied, and we struggle to understand the motivations of the pleasant but sinister Mr. Reed, is much more scary than the tired and clichéd tropes which follow.  

To say that Hugh Grant has never been better is slightly damning with faint praise if you’re not moved by the posh love interest role he rolled out for Merchant Ivory and Richard Curtis films. Let’s just say that this performance shows that Paddington 2 was not an exception. Given a halfway decent script, he can deliver an impressive performance. Here he is sometimes charming, sometimes creepy, and often both simultaneously. Whatever Grant’s past misdemeanours, in Heretic he hits the ball out of the park.

Ultimately, though, Heretic does not live up to its early promises. Having spent the first half of the film setting up an interesting scenario, the writers don’t really know where to go with what they have created. The switch of genres into more traditional horror coincides with diminished interest in the ideas which the film has been gently cultivating. We quickly move from an inquisitive interrogation of belief to a series of events which just make no sense at all.

How much are we expected to identify with Mr Reed? On one level, not at all. For all his befuddled charm, he is clearly an arrogant sadist who gets his kicks from bullying young women. There are two occasions when we can identify with his opponents. Once near the beginning, when Sister Barnes points out the specious arguments on which some of his rants are based, and later, when Sister Paxton makes it clear that she’s been aware of what he’s been doing all the time (so why didn’t she act on this knowledge?)

But for most of the time, the decks are stacked. Mr. Reed is given all the best arguments, and we are cajoled into believing that the innocent girls may be morally on the right side, but intellectually wrong. Watching Heretic is often like being stuck in a lift with Richard Dawkins, not least because Mr Reed shows little motivation for his behaviour other than to prove to the world that he is right and everyone else is wrong. You feel like you have wandered into Mansplaining – The Film.

Throughout the film, Mr. Reed teases the girls that he’s finally discovered the One True Religion, which he will ultimately reveal to them. His final revelation is an utter anticlimax. I’m honestly not sure whether we’re supposed to be overawed by his discovery, or see him as pathetic and deluded. Either way, his theology is just as mean and autocratic as the one which he’s supposedly challenging, which makes you ask just what the point of the previous 2 hours were. 

For a film which seems to pride itself in its intellectual rigour, there is just so much that happens in the second half which defies any serious logic. I won’t go further here to avoid Plot Spoilers, but could easily draw up quite a long list of events which just couldn’t have happened, and even if they had, there is no reason why the participants would have behaved as they do, nor would they have been capable of doing most of the things of which we are expected to believe that they are capable.

I’d say watch it for yourself, but to be honest, you don’t really have to bother. Everything is just so contrived that it’s not really worth spending time thinking about it. Having said this, you definitely should go and see Heretic, whose first half is so tightly written that it had me thinking that this could be one of the films of the year. But about halfway through, when they make their way downstairs, it’s just about the right time for you to make your own excuses and head for the exit.