Heretic Movie Review: Forced gore aside, a brilliant psychological thriller

Hailed as the king of romantic comedies in the 90s, actor Hugh Grant is a revelation in Heretic, a psychological thriller that surprisingly focuses more on the killer's mind than his capacity for brutality. Scott Beck and Bryan Woods' Heretic begins with two preachers of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Sister Barnes (Sophie Thatcher) and Sister Paxton (Chloe East), inquisitively discussing condoms as they begin their door-to-door preaching service. They knock at the door of Mr Reed (Hugh Grant), who first comes across as a spiritual person wanting to know about the Bible and Jesus Christ. The two young preachers are excited to introduce Christ into the life of this aged man, not knowing he has sinister plans in store for them.

Directors: Scott Beck and Bryan Woods

Cast: Hugh Grant, Sophie Thatcher, and Chloe East

Like I mentioned at the beginning, the film is a standout in this genre for its portrayal of an unsuspicious psychopath who is not a history-sheeter and not someone dreaded. An atheist, with some unspecified new age belief, locking up the preachers to preach his faith to them is a simple yet innovative premise. The premise also works as a commentary on the practice of powerful established religions that are quick to condemn any other belief as heretical upon even a minor deviation from their teachings.

The makers of the film deserve an absolute 10 with regards to casting. A lot depended on it since the story revolves solely around the three major characters. Hugh Grant's previous credential of a fine British gentleman, who wholeheartedly takes efforts in wooing the leading lady with a smile on his face, has been channelled a great deal into the character of Mr Reed. During the first 30-40 minutes, despite knowing who he really is, we tend to ask why these girls are behaving in a cagey manner around this man with him possessing a comely demeanour and refined speech. Both Sophie and Chloe are markedly impressive as modest women of God. There are literally no lulls in their performances, and they keep heightening our anxiety for their well-being. You too would feel a lump in your throat when you are told something similar to what these girls hear, and your lips will quiver this way at a similar juncture. Even their skin acts! We get several close-ups of their faces when the narrative gets murkier. You get a step-by-step acting crash course on a changeover from emoting in a pleasant way to growing nervous in the subsequent minutes. The best part is that it doesn't look performative.

Just rookies in religion, the very moment Paxton and Barnes envy the reels-obsessed girls of their age, it is a given they can be easy victims of an eloquent manipulation. But I couldn't help feeling pity for them, as their faith is already so fragile that it could be broken just by a touch of a feather, and I couldn't stand a rock being placed on it. There are some really food-for-thought spaces the film operates in. The exceptional parts of the film include Reed drawing parallels between the Monopoly game and the Abrahamic faiths, the dialogue about the problematic polygamous practice among the early Mormons (the denomination to which Paxton and Barnes belong), and his monologue about the hero theme of a son born to a virgin mother common among several pre-Christian religions. These parts emphasise the message against bigotry and othering religions that are different from the one you follow.

The art direction department has done a painstaking job in making every detail count. Reed, taking the girls to a church-like room, full of 'blasphemous' images of other religions' deities along with the crucifix and Jesus Christ, to make them reconsider their beliefs, says a lot without mouthing much.

But the film falls flat when it resorts to running-amok-in-a-maze trope and gore scenes on a regular interval. What is appreciable is the freshness of writing a psychopath with a bent for making intelligible arguments; I wish the film had more of that—he doesn't have to slit throats. This overused trope messes with the tone set till then, threatening to pull down an otherwise brilliant film. Warts and all, Heretic is exceptional for bringing in the religious bigotry topic to operate in a psycho thriller space.