Heretic comes to us from the writing/directing team of Scott Beck and Bryan Woods. Probably for the best that this movie isn’t getting promoted on their names, because nobody wants to be reminded that 65 ever happened. Better for everyone that we all forget that disgrace and move on. I’m sure we all want to give Beck and Woods a second chance so they can prove their script for A Quiet Place wasn’t a fluke and the both of them aren’t hopeless fuckwits punching above their weight class.

Instead, this movie is getting primarily hyped as the horror debut of Hugh Grant. Honestly, I’m not surprised. If you’ve been paying attention to his most recent career moves — most notably with Paddington 2 and Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves — you’d know that Grant has been having fun as a deceitful heel for some time now. It was really only a matter of time before he parlayed that skill set into something like this.

I’m more interested in the involvement of Sophie Thatcher, the “Yellowjacket” alum who’s steadily and quietly been building an impressive resume in horror cinema, as with The Boogeyman and the upcoming Companion. I might add that she’s co-starring with Chloe East, another promising up-and-comer. Best of all (given the premise of the film), both ladies grew up as Mormons and have since left the church.

I’m honestly intrigued. Let’s see if Beck and Woods keep from shitting the bed this time.

The premise starts out simple enough. Sister Barnes and Sister Paxton (Thatcher and East, respectively) are a couple of young teenage Mormons out proselytizing, and they get a lead on someone who recently inquired about joining the church. Thus they go out to visit Mr. Reed (Grant), who lives in a quaint little house on the remote outskirts of town. They get stuck inside during a storm, their cell phones stop working, the front door won’t open, and Mr. Reed turns the tables in a big way. Thus we’re off to the races.

In other words, what we’ve got here is a horror movie setup in which a hapless victim pool is subject to the cruel whims of an unknowable psychopath running the show. The Saw franchise is probably the most famous example, but I’d say this movie has a lot more in common with The Menu. Both movies are a lot more “prestige horror” in their presentation, for one thing. But more importantly, the goal isn’t merely survival, but in figuring out the method to the madness. As with Chef Slowik, Mr. Reed isn’t merely a homicidal psychopath or a sexual deviant, nor is he after money or cheap thrills. The pain and suffering is only ever treated as a means to an end, rather than an end in itself.

Mr. Reed isn’t a physical threat. He’s an intellectual threat. Potentially even worse, he’s a spiritual threat. After so many years of theological study, Reed’s convinced himself that he’s found the One True Religion and he’s on a mission to convert the missionaries who would’ve tried to convert him. Or maybe he’s just fucking around to prove a point about religion in general.

Either way, it speaks volumes that Reed is trying to prove his point by matching wits with a couple of teenage girls too young to know who they really are or what they really believe. If Reed honestly believed his own bullshit and wanted to firmly prove it, you’d think Reed would try picking on someone his own size. Challenging a couple of teenage girls to an intellectual duel after trapping them in his house and scaring them to the point where they can’t think straight, Reed comes off as more of a bully. Then again, if Reed was trying to make a point about how religions brainwash kids who simply do and believe whatever they’re told before they’re old enough to know better… well, I don’t want to give Reed any more credit than he deserves, but it would fit the theme.

Reed has a lot to say about religion. Half the movie (not an exaggeration, we don’t even get to the real cinematic filth and gore until the halfway point) is Reed lecturing about religion and spirituality in his own charismatic whackadoo style. It really is Hugh Grant’s performance that elevates this movie into horror, because it’s impossible to tell how full of shit he really is or how dangerous he could potentially be. Of course, it certainly helps that he’s acting opposite Thatcher and East, both of whom are distressingly good at playing “scared out of their precious little heads”.

Perhaps most importantly, the spiritual debate is genuinely fascinating once it gets going. Would you rather believe that we’re all a bunch of horny dust motes who briefly live and die without any greater point or purpose; or would you rather believe that there’s some unimpeachable deity who sees all and knows all, who could easily end all war and suffering, and simply chooses not to for whatever unknowable reason?

Reed also makes a big deal out of iterations, how each subsequent religion — particularly in the Abrahamic Judeo-Christian-Islamic lineage — is simply a copy of a copy. Reed argues that each subsequent iteration takes us further away from the truth. He never stops to consider that maybe each iteration and denomination is building on top of what came before it, drifting in some direction closer to the truth. More importantly, Reed points out that Jews are a relatively miniscule global demographic, attributing to poor marketing what might be attributed to… y’know, centuries of antisemitism and the occasional genocide.

Another highlight comes when Reed brings up the inevitable question of polygamy in the Mormon faith. To be clear, while polygamy was widely and publicly practiced in the early days of Mormonism, the church has gone to great lengths in distancing itself from the practice for over a century. But Reed uses this topic as a case in point for a greater paradox with regards to religion: Does a true and holy sincerely held belief still count as such if it’s discarded for the sake of political convenience or necessity? How exactly does the infallible Word of God become obsolete because of mortal affairs?

All throughout the movie, Reed claims to give Barnes and Paxton a free and fair choice, only to show that it’s no choice at all. Every reveal shows Reed to be a deeply cynical and self-centered bastard, particularly with his views on religion and religious leaders. The downside is that precisely because the guy is stuck so far up his own ass and convinced of his own genius, he loses sight of the intangibles. I don’t even think he’s mentally capable of understanding how religion brings people together and offers hope through difficult times.

It’s genuinely fascinating to see the characters talk about such huge existential topics with such intelligence and candor. I’ll grant the film offers more questions than answers, but that’s perfectly understandable when the questions are this huge. The unfortunate downside is that the characters spend so much time talking that there isn’t much in the way of scares or kills. Hell, the miniscule cast size should be sign enough that there’s not much blood or violence here.

This unfortunately cuts into the suspense, because we know perfectly well that the film has to keep all three characters in the picture and nothing too awful can happen to them until the third act at least. As a direct result, the film is primarily kept engaging through the intrigue of figuring out what Reed is thinking and planning. Yet even that comes with a significant downside, as Reed is clearly so much smarter and better-prepared than the two young unarmed and uneducated girls too scared to think straight. This conflict is so one-sided that there’s no way our protagonists could possibly win without one or two bullshit reversals in the climax.

Heretic is a film that gets by on intelligence. The cast is strong enough and the arguments are compelling enough that it’s almost enough to distract from how the horror aspect is underwhelming bullshit. That said — unlike so many “fool’s prestige” movies we’ve seen this year — at least I can respect a prestige horror film with the guts to come out with a legit artistic statement. This movie is actually about something, far more than most other movies we’ve seen recently and certainly more than anything else Beck/Woods has ever done.

It’s definitely a movie worth seeing, but not worth paying full price. I can happily recommend it for a second-run screening or a home video viewing.