Film Review: Heretic

Heretic
Director: Scott Beck, Bryan Woods
Beck/Woods, Shiny Penny
In Theaters: 11.08

As a native Utahn who group up in the LDS Church, and a cinephile, I’ve often lamented the fact that while the church gets a certain amount of representation in film, we haven’t had anything close to a horror film since Trapped by The Mormons in 1922. It’s not like the genre doesn’t have plenty of potential. Family Home Evil and Baptism for The Walking Dead—these concepts practically write themselves. Count your blessings, brothers and sisters, because with the release of Heretic, the second coming of the genre is here at last.

The story takes place in a rural Colorado town, where a pair of missionaries, Sister Paxton (Chloe East, The Fabelmans) and Sister Barnes (Sophie Thatcher, The Book of Boba Fett) are having a discouraging day, having no luck making new contacts and even getting harassed by a group of teens who pull down Sister Paxton’s skirt to see if she is really wearing “magic underwear.”  Despite a rainstorm, they decide to stop by the home of a potential golden contact, Mr. Reed (Hugh Grant, Four Weddings and a Funeral, Paddington 2), a charming man who has done his studying and expressed a great deal of interest in the church.  While they are wary of entering his home without another woman—rules require them not to be alone with a man—Reed assures them that his wife is in the kitchen baking a blueberry pie.  Once inside, the sisters relax as Mr. Reed starts discussing religion, pulling out a heavily notated copy of the Book of Mormon. Sister Paxton is quickly put at ease by his friendly demeanor, while Sister Barnes remains uneasy. As the conversation progresses, and Reed begins to pointedly question their beliefs, they realize that Reed hasn’t invited them to his house to convert him. Is he trying to convert them? Or does he have something even darker in mind? As he tricks them into going into the basement, he reveals two doors, one marked “belief” and one “disbelief,” and they must choose which will lead them to safety.

There’s already a rather vocal crowd labeling Heretic as an attack against the LDS faith, but while it raises many interesting questions about religion and touches briefly on church history, the film doesn’t push any one point of view, and it’s certainly not designed to malign the faith. , Writer-director team Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, who co-wrote A Quiet Place with John Krasinski, have created a horror film with a highly intriguing premise, and Mormonism is simply the religion that best fits it’s  terrifying premise. The Sister missionaries are great characters who easily come across as young and naïve, yet they also show great moments of strength, drawing on their faith to bolster themselves. If you believe that any mention of the polygamy or the simple fact that Temple garments seem rather strange to most nonmembers, then yes, you will be every bit as offended as you want to be. If you can keep an open mind, you’re unlikely to find anything to be directly offended by here.  The fact is that the Mormons are the protagonists, not the villains, and just as they did in a Quiet Place, Beck and Woods demonstrate that horror is at its scariest when it follows good people whom you can genuinely care about. That’s not to say that it’s a pro-Mormonism movie, either, it’s just a movie. The philosophical and theological deep dive that the clever script take wisely leaves the audience with plenty of room to get what they choose out of it. I even took my actively religious mission companion to the screening as my plus one, and we both thoroughly enjoyed the film.

Grant is a diabolically delicious and wonderfully complex villain, and it’s a performance and a character who deserves to join the ranks of Hannibal Lecter and Misery’s Annie Bates. It’s still Thatcher and East who drives the film,, and both are likable and engaging.  The fact that Thatcher grew up LDS and her family is still active was undoubtedly an asset in capturing the culture and the details with such impressive accuracy. Topher Grace (That ‘70s Show) is effective as Elder Kennedy, a local stake or ward mission leader (it’s never quite specified) who goes searching for the Sisters when they don’t show up at the Church for an appointment, and he gets one the film’s best comic relief moments.

I’m not telling anyone that they have to see Heretic if they don’t want to, but I’d be ungrateful if I didn’t take this opportunity to bear my testimony that whatever your religious affiliation or lack thereof may be, this movie isn’t out to get you. It’s simply an extremely smart and atmospheric thriller that explores themes of the nature of belief and how it shapes our lives and our actions in a way that will give you a lot to talk about, and it’s one of the best suspense films I’ve seen in decades. I say these things in the name of Alfred Hitchcock. Amen. –Patrick Gibbs

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