DirWri: Bryan Woods, Scott Beck | Cast: Sophie Thatcher, Hugh Grant, Chloe East | US Thriller
Hugh Grant turns to talents to psychological horror as the bad guy in this warped and unnerving three hander.
Sophie Thatcher and Chloe East play two young Mormon missionaries who arrive at his spooky house in a remote rural backwater. Mr Reed (Grant) is charm personified. Inviting the girls in for blueberry pie he oozes brisk appeal as an erudite married man Reed claiming his wife is baking in the kitchen: Mrs Reed never appears.
We all know how psychopaths gain the confidence of their victims from films about Ted Bundy, John Christie and Dennis Nilsen. But Reed has a different agenda that grows more sinister and disarming as the creepy feature directed by A Quiet Place’s Scott Beck and his regular co-writer Bryan Woods unfolds with increasingly chilling consequences accompanied by a pithy script and an iconic score that screams cognitive dissonance .
With a patronising rictus on his face Reed calls the Mormons’ bluff with reverse psychology and academic bluster, mansplaining the various religious persuasions and encouraging an intelligent debate which he manipulates with patronising ease. Turns out his views are quite radical. Reed is laid back, glib and plausible, but the girls are out of their depth, paralysed with fear as Heretic gradually descends into the realms of horror with plenty of gore, girly jump cuts and possibly even AI or this could be just an Act of God. @MeredithTaylor
NOW IN UK cinemas |NOMINATED FOR A GOLDEN GLOBE 2024