Heretic Review – A Riveting, Race Against Time Thriller

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Category: Film

Published on Thursday, 13 February 2025 13:30

Written by Janet Walker

Heretic, from A24, presents a religious thriller as two young women from the Church of Latter-Day Saints become snared in a trap by a religious sociopath in which they are forced to prove or denounce their faith.

The film begins with two young women, Sister Barnes, played by Sophie Thatcher, and Sister Paxton, played by Chloe East sitting on a park bench talking about sex and religion. Sister Barnes appears to be wiser than Sister Paxton. The two are on a day of evangelizing and armed with their list of individuals who have expressed interest in learning more, they bike from house to house looking for converts.

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They arrive at the last house on the list. After locking their bikes up at the gate, the pair knock on the door and are greeted by Mr. Reed, played by Hugh Grant. The young women each explain the church forbids them to enter the home alone. He explains that his wife is just in the kitchen baking and just stepping in for a minute and she'll join us.

The women finally give in, Mr. Reed, ever so polite, takes their coats, and brings them something to drink on a tray with a candle. Sister Paxton, who is somewhat more trusting, goes along with Mr. Reed's charade. As the aroma of Blueberry Pie fill the room, she reaches forward and reads the label on the candle with says "Blueberry Pie."

As Mrs. Reed has yet to appear, the sisters decide they cannot stay. So, they try to open the front door, and there is some type of hidden lock, and are unable to open the front door. They are slowly realizing their worst fears.

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However, Mr. Reed is not only planning to torture them he is planning on terrorizing them first. Once they realize they cannot escape, their only goal is to remain alive. So, as Mr. Reed doesn't appear to want anything more than to disprove their faith, they placate him, tolerate his mind games, and go along with his continual discourse on the four main religions, who stole what from whom, which is genuine, and then he continues his rant on how greatness is sometimes due to theft of the original, even in board games, which he uses Monopoly as the example. After this the girls once again explain, they would like to leave now.

And he points to the doors, which are labeled "belief" and "disbelief," and tells them to choose. The girls, still now, even after knowing he wants them to choose disbelief, and believing that disbelief could possibly lead them to freedom, they choose belief, which leads to a darkened cellar.

Now, further from any possible escape, Mr. Reed continues his mind games. By this time, Sister Barnes believes he is trying to talk them into killing themselves. As they continue to try and figure out a way to escape, an older woman finally arrives with the promised Blueberry pie. She begins to eat it, and she dies. This sets up the final act.

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Heretic is a simple premise and yet Hugh Grant, Sophie Thatcher, and Chloe East, turns this ordinary idea into a thrilling race-against time escape room. Even as the audience is sure of the outcome, we do not see the twist of events that bring about the riveting conclusion.

Hugh Grant plays off type, as the sociopath pseudo religious scholar who has made a life of disproving religion for his own evil pleasure. His cold, calculated, and finally deadly actions are convincing. As it is essentially a three-hander, each of the actors are showcased and possibly more for women the fear of stumbling onto a serial killer with such a cunning disguise is everyone's worst nightmare, and the women play this, along with their belief that God will deliver them from this evil, with authenticity.

Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, who wrote Heretic, are nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for Best Screenplay.

Riveting, Heretic is available on SVOD across multiple streamers including Amazon Prime, Apple TV, Fandango at Home, Google Play. See it.

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Country: U.S.

Language: English.

Runtime: 111 minutes.

Director: Scott Beck, Bryan Woods.

Producer: Scott Beck, Julia Glausi, Stacey Sher, Jeanette Volturno, Bryan Woods.

Writer: Scott Beck, Bryan Woods.

Cast: Hugh Grant, Sophie Thatcher, Chloe East, Topher Grace, Elle Young, Julie Lynn Mortensen, Haylie Hansen, Elle McKinnon, Hanna Huffman, Anesha Bailey, Miguel Castillo, Stephanie Lavigne, Wendy Gorling.

Janet Walker is the publisher, founder, and sole owner of Haute-Lifestyle.com. A graduate of New York University, she has been covering international news through the Beltway Insider, a weekly review of the nation's top stories, for more than a decade.  A general beat writer/reporter and entertainment/film critic, she is also an accomplished news/investigative news/crime reporter and submitted for Pulitzer Prize consideration "Cops Conspire to Deep Six Sex Assaults" in the Breaking News Category and was persuaded to withdraw the submission. Ms. Walker has completed five screenplays, "The Six Sides of Truth," "The Assassins of Fifth Avenue," "The Wednesday Killer," "The Manhattan Project," and the sci-fi thriller "Project 13: The Last Day." She is completing the non-fiction narrative, "Unholy Alliances: A True Crime Story," which is expected to be released in early 2025. She is a member of the Los Angeles Press Club, the National Writers Union, and a former member of the International Federation of Journalists.