Everybody knows the horror or thriller genre is a popular one with movie watchers. The promise of something frightening or intense can get lots of people out of their homes and into the theater. But why do so many of them have to center around women screaming, crying, and fighting for their lives?
The latest release from the popular A24 studio is Heretic, about a pair of female Mormon missionaries who knock on the door of an ordinary house and gradually get lured into a deadly game. Young actresses Sophie Thatcher (The Boogeyman, 2023) and Chloe East (The Wolf of Snow Hollow, 2020) play the plucky missionaries; one of them is sheltered and naive while the other is cautious and discerning. Some of their line deliveries are perfect moments of awkward comedy combining obsequious gratitude with increasing nervousness (especially from Chloe East). Has your devotion to good behavior gotten you into painful situations or conversations before?
Their innocence and faith in their religion get put through a moderately intense gauntlet when they become trapped in this ordinary house under the watchful eye of a creepy man. This creeper is played with a simmering excellence by Hugh Grant (Wonka, 2023), and he's totally the star of this theological thriller. His character is a strange mixture of politely chatty and softly threatening as he locks the missionaries in his home and lectures them on the fallacy of religion. But how will the missionaries escape this man with their lives and their belief intact?
Heretic is not a physical game of cat and mouse but rather a psychological one. The opposing camps of blind conviction and practical skepticism fight each other with wit and words. Because this film remains staunchly cerebral, it has a lot of talking but not much physical danger. Some of this dialogue is forceful, realistic, and arresting thanks to Hugh Grant avoiding anything campy or inflated. He gives off such a natural condescension, and it slowly creates unease when it's combined with a relaxed friendliness.
But the narrative energy drags in a few places because the dialogue continues for such a long time (especially Hugh Grant's monologues). So many times while watching this I thought, "Okay, something scary is about to happen. Oh wait. There's more talking about Jesus....But now I bet something will happen. Oh, I'm wrong. Now there's a history lecture on the Monopoly board game." Going through this thought process did not keep me on the edge of my seat...even when the missionaries start using matches and a letter opener to fight for their escape. When the physical violence and possibility of death does finally arrive, it feels only mildly fearsome.
I left the theater feeling mostly surprised with this one, because it doesn't feel as creative, or as unbridled, as many other A24 films are. Think of the A24 releases Talk to Me (2022), The Zone of Interest (2023), Civil War (2024), I Saw the TV Glow (2024), or A Different Man (2024). These titles all offer something memorable or strange (if glaringly imperfect). And with so many other films released this year showing women being victimized, I think my brain is getting tired of this idea. Some of these films include Maxxxine, Blink Twice, Apartment 7A, Cuckoo, and Woman of the Hour. All of these films were released earlier this year.
Some of the conversations are interesting on the importance of belief , but Heretic doesn't quite have enough energy (or inventiveness) to keep viewers in its clutches.
