Film review: ‘THE HERETIC’ by Nick Gardener from ‘Built For Speed’
Often creepy and thought provoking, The Heretic is almost one of the year’s best thrillers but some loose story threads and a third act descent into cliché diminish this film’s overall impact.
The set up is a familiar one in the horror/ thriller genre: unsuspecting and apparently vulnerable people unwisely enter the ominous looking home and encounter an intimidating weirdo. Here, Sophie Thatcher and Chloe East are the vulnerable ones, two eager young Morman missionaries, sister Barnes and Sister Paxton who are cycling around town trying to convert locals to their church. Sister Paxton in particular is innocent, green and desperate to impress the church elders while sister Barnes is a little more worldly. Their latest potential convert is the seemingly affable, middle-aged Englishman, Mr Reed (Hugh Grant). Entering his strangely isolated home, they initially find him a charming and convivial host as he offers them drinks and even pie and assures them his wife will soon join them as per their request that another female be present. Time passes without the wife materialising and Reed’s polite and quirky chatter soon gives way to a very literate but increasingly belligerent rant about the origins of religion and an aggressive questioning of the two young women’s faith. When they attempt to leave they realise their host isn’t just a smug know-it-all but someone with more sinister intentions.
Through this film’s tense cat and mouse game, writer/ directors Scott Beck and Bryan Woods attempt to show how intellectual intimidation and challenging a person’s beliefs and identity can be as unsettling as physical violence although there’s still some blood and gore in this film. The problem is that, having established its monster/victim dynamic, the film doesn’t quite know where to go. It forces characters through the maze of Reed’s house with each new room seeming to offer a revelation or story development but it becomes less believable and about two thirds of the way in we’ve pretty much seen what this movie has to offer.
Scripting shortcomings aside, this film still impresses on most levels. Beck and Woods do a decent job in ratcheting up the tension as Reed becomes a more threatening presence and the women realise they may have been lured into an elaborate trap. The filmmakers also use the confined setting superbly and with Chung Chung-Hoon’s (It, Wonka) atmospheric cinematography, imbue this suburban home with a genuine menace redolent of Buffalo Bill’s abode in Silence of the Lambs.
Also, the three leads are all excellent. Hugh Grant cleverly balances joviality, mordant wit and the latent threat of violence to make Reed an unsettling figure. This could have been a kooky role and there are a few oddball comical moments but Grant makes him genuinely intimidating, at least for the first two acts. Thatcher and East are also terrific, immediately gaining our sympathy through their innocent charm and as the danger mounts, causing us to fret for their safety.
Like so many thrillers, though, The Heretic is much more build-up than pay-off which leaves a slightly deflated feeling but the first two thirds of this film will have audiences’ skin crawling more than just about anything in recent cinema.
Nick’s rating: ***1/2
Genre: Drama/ Thriller/ Horror.
Classification: MA15+.
Director(s): Scott Beck and Bryan Woods.
Release date: 28th Nov 2024.
Running time: 111 mins.
Reviewer: Nick Gardener can be heard on “Built For Speed” every Friday night from 8-10pm on 88.3 Southern FM.