Heretic
Hugh Grant stars as an authority on theology in perhaps the year’s most surprising horror film.
Come into my parlour: Chloe East, Hugh Grant and Sophie Thatcher
Image courtesy of A24/Entertainment Film Dists.
A Hugh Grant horror film was bound to be a little different. Indeed, the actor’s effortless bonhomie and off-colour charm generates more a feeling of unease than outright fear, and for its first half, Scott Beck and Bryan Woods’ film maintains quite a grip. The subject, too, of a crusty old theology professor pitting his wits against a pair of wet-behind-the-ears Mormon missionaries brings something fresh to the altar.
Mr Reed (Hugh Grant) is quite the know-it-all, and the dialogue of the first half hour or so is not what you’d find in your run-of-the-mill slasher. Thankfully, there is no ominous prologue and we are allowed to get to know Sisters Barnes (Sophie Thatcher) and Paxton (Chloe East) a little before they set off to spread the word. Sister Paxton talks about a scene from a porn video that she found “poignant” and admits that “most people think we’re weird.” Far from boxing them into the cliché of the normally precocious teens we encounter in post-modern horror, these early scenes seem to make the girls even more relatable. As it happens, both Thatcher and East were brought up extremely close to the Mormon principles in real life.
By the time the Sisters reach the home of Mr Reed it’s become a dark and stormy night and the girls only agree to cross his threshold when he reassures them that his wife is inside baking pie. What follows is more the stuff of theatre than horror film, as the good professor waxes rhetoric about the anomalies of doctrine and its various texts, battering the girls over the head with theological paradox and cultural allusion. All the while, as we await the appearance of Mrs Reed and her pie, the girls’ awkwardness and discomfort becomes almost palpable. With his theatrical props and game playing, there’s an air of Sleuth about the proceedings until the film gets down to the more serious business of scare tactics. Apologetically, Mr Reed concedes, “it is all terrifying, isn’t it? I’m sorry.”
Hugh Grant is in his element and the dialogue is circuitous and edifying (we learn a lot about religion, Monopoly and Radiohead), while Thatcher and East hold their own quivering in the shadows. The production design is also ace, as is Chris Bacon’s score, while the penetrating close-ups take on a life of their own. It’s only when the film enters its final third that Beck and Woods turn to more familiar horror territory, cheating the viewer with scenes so poorly lit that it’s impossible to know what is actually going on. And the improbability of the final scenes really does let the side down.
JAMES CAMERON-WILSON
Cast: Hugh Grant, Sophie Thatcher, Chloe East, Topher Grace.
Dir Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, Pro Stacey Sher, Scott Beck, Bryan Woods, Julia Glausi and Jeanette Volturno, Screenplay Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, Ph Chung Chung-hoon, Pro Des Philip Messina, Ed Justin Li, Music Chris Bacon, Costumes Betsy Heimann, Sound Eugenio Battaglia.
A24/Beck/Woods/Shiny Penny-Entertainment Film Dists Ltd.
111 mins. USA. 2024. UK Rel: 1 November 2024. US Rel: 8 November 2024. Cert. 15.
