Before Sisters Barnes and Paxton begin a long day of missionary work for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, they kick off the morning with a conversation about condoms.
Well, really marketing. As “Heretic” – the new horror film from Scott Beck and Bryan Woods – begins, Sister Paxton (Chloe East) is telling Sister Barnes (Sophie Thatcher) that she heard that magnum condoms are “basically the same size as regular condoms.” The whole thing is just a marketing ploy to make average-sized men feel better about themselves for buying something with “magnum” in the name.
The camera watches both girls from behind, slowly pulling back, an eavesdropper on their conversation. Their talk evolves into one about sex, Sister Paxton reluctantly admitting to happening upon porn one day (“I’m not sure where I saw it,” she insists.), and not really understanding why she should care about this as much as society insists she should. Isn’t it wild, the things that people will believe just because they’re told to, she wonders as she gears up for a day of spreading the gospel of Jesus.
It’s a very funny way to open a movie where the plot relies heavily on missionary work. But “Heretic,” while billed as a religious horror film, is less about the religion of it all than you might think. Conversations about faith and belief are peppered throughout the film, but at the end of the day, Beck and Woods (who also co-wrote the film together) seem more interested in the hubris that leads to religion’s creation rather than religion itself.
Sisters Barnes and Paxton have been deployed to Colorado for their mission, and they spend their days trudging around in the snow, mostly being ignored as soon as the words “Jesus Christ” or “Latter-day Saints” come out of their mouths. Their last stop of the day is the home of Mr. Reed (Hugh Grant), a puttering Englishman who invites them in for tea and a slice of the blueberry pie his wife is making in the next room. But the more Mr. Reed needles the girls about their faith – and the longer he puts off introducing them to his alleged wife – the more the girls start to believe that something more sinister is afoot. You see, Mr. Reed thinks all modern religion is a lie. The one true religion is something far more ancient and powerful, and the good sisters are going to help him prove it.
The first 30 minutes to an hour of “Heretic” relies almost solely on Grant’s ability to work the camera. This section is where “Heretic” can feel a little purposefully ponderous, first a conversation between Mr. Reed and the sisters, and then monologue after monologue from Mr. Reed while the girls stand there, oscillating between frozen smiles and abject fear as they try to figure out what to do. If a lesser actor were the one doing the monologuing, “Heretic” might feel a little draggy (it suffers a bit from pacing issues throughout), but Grant’s meandering tone and the movie’s obfuscation of the truth of what’s going on is enough to keep you off balance. At one point, Mr. Reed even asks, “What the hell am I doing?” – the exact question that’s been running through your head up until that point.
Early in his career, Grant perfected the art of the bumbling English romantic lead – a bit floppy, a bit hapless, but exceedingly adorable. In his later years, however, he has become a bit more eccentric, taking on parts in Guy Ritchie movies, playing the villain to a stuffed bear in “Paddington 2,” and more recently, playing an Oompa Loompa with an attitude problem in “Wonka.”
“Heretic” allows Grant to combine his strengths from both of these eras of his career. When Sisters Barnes and Paxton first enter his home, Mr. Reed is sweet if a little flustered, charming if a little awkward – the exact type of character you expect from a classic Hugh Grant performance. But as the truth of why the girls are in his home becomes clear, his performance starts to become a little more unglued as he expounds in detail on his theory that all modern religion is a capitalistic endeavor – an iterative process intent on sucking the most money possible out of whoever is stupid enough to believe it.
The trick here is that Mr. Reed isn’t really wrong – in fact, he’s quite right about a lot of things – but rather that his intellectual journey has led him past an interest in religion toward an interest in power (although, maybe they’re one in the same). As this becomes clearer and clearer, “Heretic” becomes a much more somber and emotional meditation than the condom conversation at the beginning of the film would suggest you were in for.
Mr. Reed is not actually interested in finding the one true religion that all subsequent religions are based on. In that sense, there’s really no exciting final reveal in “Heretic,” the ending sputtering out to something not quite expected, but depressingly dark. Mr. Reed is interested in exercising control over people he deems lesser than him – exerting power in a way that he believes brings him closer to God. “Heretic,” then, is not about men looking for proof of God, but the dangers that occur when they start playing God themselves.
