Two Mormon missionaries knock on the door of a far away house, as this was the last stop of the day for their round of educating people on their religion and letting them know the word of their God. An older man, who looks around 60 or 70 opens the door, very curious and interested in this religion. He ends up as inviting the girls into his house while his wife finishing baking a pie and he can learn more about them and being a Mormon.
From there on, “Heretic” takes a turn quite harsh on the viewer. The owner of the house, Mr. Reed played by actor Hugh Grant, increasingly raises more weird and un-related questions to what the two missionaries were there for. The tension of the room scales quickly making both the missionaries, Sister Barnes and Sister Paxton, and the audience wonder the real intentions of Mr. Reed. Small doubtful aspects of both his personality, actions and aspects of his household create a quick sense of urgency for both sisters, but they realize that it’s too late to leave.
Mr. Reed is the highlight of the movie and feels as though he was created first and then the movie and other characters follow him. A curious and critical person, who studied all the religions in the world constructs this idea of what he believes to be the “true religion” in an incredibly disturbing climax of the film, but his character also adds a sense of campiness and humor to the film that you would not expect from the main antagonist. Hugh Grant gives it his all, and makes both sides mix perfectly, highlighting the many pop culture references the character randomly gives, such as analogies of Monopoly to explain the most popular religions.
The film has a very strong start, with the opinions and interactions between characters being both tense but also interesting. Many of the arguments that happened between Mr. Reed and the sisters left me thinking about many of the religions we find in this world, and how we can know which one is true or if we as humans even know what it means to have a “true” religion. This discussion sadly gets worse at around 2/3 of the film, with Mr. Reed deductions and knowledge from years getting lost and seeming like he was written into a corner by the film itself.
The final surprise of the movie seems quite uncreative and even predictable, while a cool scene nonetheless, it feels as if it was a letdown from what could have been. If the ending changed just a little bit, I believe this could be a cult classic on the way. But no matter what, this film is a fun watch for the general audience and makes something that many films nowadays are not able to, put the audience on the edge of their seat and be scared of what might happen next.
