By Orla Ruane, First Year, English Literature
The career of Hugh Grant can be categorised into three eras, evolving each time into something completely new. From the rom-com king of the nineties to the evil yet wholesome villain in Paddington, it is ultimately through Heretic that we see Hugh Grant enter a new chapter in his career as he plays the unsettling, isolated Mr Reed.
Heretic, a psychological horror written and directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods follows two Mormon sisters (Sister Barnes and Sister Paxton) played by Sophie Thatcher and Chloe East, who are visiting people in the hope to potentially convert them to join The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In the opening of the film, we are introduced to the two sisters, societal nuisances who are ignored or quickly turned away by the people they attempt to engage with. Their patience begins to wear thin as they approach the final house they are required to visit. Approaching the cold, isolated residence of Mr Reed, Sister Barnes and Sister Paxton rehearse their pitch, blissfully unaware of the danger that awaits them.
Grant’s character is quick to sooth the anxiety of the sisters, assuring them of the presence of his wife, to ease the sisters' apprehension of entering his house alone, due to their religion requiring a woman to be present when speaking with a man. Mr Reed’s house appears welcoming at first, as he ushers them into his living room, taking their coats and offering them drinks and assuring that his wife is ‘busy’ making blueberry pie. However, this momentary ease is replaced with panic as Mr Reed’s demeanour becomes increasingly disturbing, his façade is unravelled one moment at a time as the sisters discover the lingering scent to be that of a ‘blueberry pie’ scented candle on the coffee table. Panicked, Sister Barnes and Sister Paxton fake a call, claiming they need to return to the missionary immediately, whilst the calls they desperately attempt to make seemingly do not connect. Planning their escape, the women attempt to exit through the door they entered only to find it locked with a key nowhere in sight. As accelerating panic engulfs the sisters, the sinister intentions of Mr Reed rise to the surface revealing dread in the danger that they are in.
Submitting to the fact that the pair are at the mercy of Mr Reed, the sisters proceed to join him in a room further within the house in the hopes of retrieving their coats and making a sharp exit. In this part of the film Grant’s character poignantly sets out to question religion, through comparing differing religious denominations and alternative figures that resurrected from the dead before the birth of Jesus Christ, he stubbornly professes that religion is therefore meaningless. Supporting his point by comparing religion to being like the copywrite of a song, Grant’s character uses the song ‘Creep’ released by Radiohead in 1992 which was involved in a lawsuit due to the 1972 ballad ‘The Air That I Breathe’ by The Hollies having similar chord progression and melody which ultimately resulted in being sued by the writers. Furthermore, in 2018 Lana Del Rey was sued by Radiohead due to similarities between ‘Creep’ and her song ‘Get Free,’ provoking Mr Reed to compare this cycle to being like religion as original source material is constantly being reworked until it is unrecognisable, constant evolution means that the original message gets completely lost although the foundations remain the same.
As the film comes to a head, Grant forces Sister Barnes and Sister Paxton to make a decision having imparted his beliefs onto them. Labelling one door as ‘belief’ and the other ‘disbelief’ he reveals that only one door will lead them to salvation although on the surface both direct them down to a cellar. Having imparted his cynical ideology onto the sisters, the audience witness the questioning of faith as only one door leads to safety. Having made their choice, the women descend into the cellar. My critique of the film is that at this point it flirts with being convoluted. As Grant attempts to stage a modern miracle through though the resurrection of a woman, it is later revealed that he achieves this feat through a host of women he somehow keeps caged in his cellar (naturally). As one woman is poisoned, she quickly gets replaced by a different woman and smoke and mirrors enables a conveyor belt of Grant’s victims to be resurrected from the dead.
Overall, ‘Heretic’ is a two-hour thrill that will make you question not only religion but everything you have come to believe. Heretic is a horror with the unwavering focus on religion that somehow segues into the evolution of popular music whilst seamlessly comparing both to the development of the boardgame monopoly. As you wonder if you’ll ever be able to enjoy taco bell again (inside joke, you’ll have to watch it), the anxiety inducing cat and mouse chase combined with the deadpan nature of Hugh Grant will somehow have you laughing whilst simultaneously on the edge of your seat.
What did you think of Heretic?
