Heretic (2 ½ stars out of 4)
During the two years I spent as a missionary in Northern Illinois, I would occasionally wind up at an appointment where the investigator clearly wasn’t interested in learning about the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. In the best cases, they just wanted to have an intellectual discussion about theology, but often the culprit just wanted to “Bible Bash” and get into a religious debate.
“Heretic” felt like watching the worst-case version of that scenario, and so I found the film oddly relatable. Granted, I never had anyone barricade my companion and I in his basement as part of a sadistic experiment meant to test the reality of the afterlife, but I think you follow my point.
Written and directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, “Heretic” puts a pair of sister missionaries in harm’s way. Sister Barnes (Sophie Thatcher) is the veteran, streetwise and savvy, where Sister Paxton (Chloe East) evokes the naive, wide-eyed wonder of a young woman out in the world for the first time. Their investigator, Mr. Reed (Hugh Grant) seems nice enough, but the sisters only agree to enter his home with the assurance that his wife will be along shortly.
Once the sisters come inside, Mr. Reed starts asking them a series of increasingly invasive and awkward questions about their faith. It soon becomes clear that 1) he probably doesn’t have a wife, and 2) he is no stranger to the general beliefs and history of the Church of Jesus Christ of latter-Day Saints, or at least the routine objections to them.
As the sisters realize they’ve been locked in his home, Reid runs down a list of familiar accusations: church revelation is nothing more than a device of convenience, polygamy was made up to justify extra-marital affairs, etc. It all underscores Reed’s unoriginal perspective on religion in general: they’re all the same, and they all just want to tell you what to do. The real question is what Reed stands to gain from this whole production.
And that’s the real problem with “Heretic.” On the one hand, it’s an exploration of the nature of faith, questioning why we do the things we do. On the other, it’s a horror movie built on a mystery that has to be solved. For a while, Beck and Woods are able to make these parts work quite well; “Heretic” starts off with a solid premise, and for a while it’s able to create some genuine tension. But eventually the story moves on to the more traditional R-rated scary stuff, and once we find out what’s going on in the basement, things get a lot less interesting, and a lot more muddled.
“Heretic’s” best quality by far is the performance of its leads. Grant is masterful as a creepy villain who can manipulate at will, and Thatcher and East match his effort as sympathetic and believable victims. Unfortunately, the second half of the script leads “Heretic” into a no-win situation, and along with some missteps along the way (such as one character’s sudden turn from well-intentioned airhead to hyper-observant super-sleuth), an unsatisfying ending undermines the total experience.
With memories of the celebrated “Book of Mormon” musical ringing in my memory, I arrived at “Heretic” bracing for the worst. What I found got a lot of things right and a few things wrong, and I did appreciate a couple of moments that seemed to evoke real sympathy for the sisters. So I can give “Heretic” credit for trying to be a thought-provoking horror movie, even if its arguments are a little well-trod at this point.
Some may see “Heretic” as an attack on a specific faith, and some may see its subject as a way to connect to some broader discussions on religion in general. I’ll mostly remember it for some creepy performances, and for being guilty of cinema’s most common sin: a weak ending.
—
“Heretic” is rated R for some bloody violence, gore, and vulgar dialogue.