Heretic: Smart Moments Don’t Amount To Success
Hannah Hughes - Rotted Pumpkin Editor-In-Chief
Hugh Grant, Chloe East, and Sophie Thatcher in Heretic (2024). Credit: IMDB
Heretic previews have been playing for months, and I’ve been waiting to see the psychological thriller with Hugh Grant at the helm. Now recently having gotten into Yellowjackets with my roommates, Sophie Thatcher’s appearance offered even more promise, and I expected a smart, well-acted thriller, that fit tightly into the religious horror subgenre. What I got, well, let’s just say it didn’t quite meet my expectations.
That’s not to say that Heretic isn’t completely without its merits, it has glimmers of interest here and there, but most of these plot points are just opened to merely be shut down or buried by the next new shiny thread that comes along. Its non-commitment makes it confusing, while at the same time, it still manages to be repetitive and uncreative.
The film’s antagonist, Mr. Reed (Hugh Grant), plays into this notion. Although Grant’s casting offers plenty of intrigue, his performance and dialogue could benefit from significant editing. It’s a shame really, he just didn’t wow me as much as I’d hoped. But, I believe Grant should get a shot at another sinister role in the future, I think he has enough potential to make it work.
Hugh Grant in Heretic (2024). Credit: IMDB
In this film, however, the audience spends most of the runtime listening to Grant's convoluted rants about religion. From half-baked pop culture comparisons to unfounded religious observations that are meant to sound intelligent, Mr. Reed lacks true, compelling motivation for his villainous acts.
Our protagonists prove to be similarly shallow. We never really learn much about Mormon missionaries Sister Barnes (Sophie Thatcher), and Sister Paxton (Chloe East), besides their involvement with their respective faith and some single, disjointed lines from their backstories.
The girls’ dynamic is hard to pin down, making it difficult for the audience to connect with them, and root for their escape. For as dynamic as Thatcher is in Yellowjackets, I was disappointed by her lackluster performance in the film. By the end of the film, I much preferred East’s performance, as I felt she was doing her best to give Sister Paxton an arc, despite there being very little there for her to work with.
Chloe East and Sophie Thatcher in Heretic (2024). Credit: IMDB
All of that being said, Heretic is extremely aesthetically strong, the visuals are stunning, and poignant, and seem to be the element that makes the strongest attempt to convey the film’s message. With sharp lines, a muted, yet consistent, dusty color palette, and an overwhelming sense of bleakness, the movie itself was at least nice to look at, which added a bit of reprieve when I was trying to figure out where the plot was heading most of the time.
To underscore the visuals was a great soundtrack by Chris Bacon, with needle drops from The Hollies and Radiohead. There was a sense of antiquity here. I really enjoyed the diegetic sound of Reed’s record player, particularly during one of the first scenes between him and the missionaries as they find themselves in his chapel-like library. The haunting end credits theme, Sophie Thatcher’s cover of “Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door,” will stick with me far more than anything the rest of this film had to say about organized religion.
So what does Heretic rank on the Rotted Pumpkin Meter?
Despite my feelings about the film, Heretic is Certified Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, with a 92%. People are praising its commentary on religion, when I am left to wonder, have they even seen The Exorcist? Either way, I am interested to see the horror community’s discourse on this one, although I wasn’t a fan, I feel like it will be a divisive one.
