Heretic (film)

Heretic
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Scott Beck Bryan Woods
Written by	Scott Beck Bryan Woods
Produced by	Stacey Sher Scott Beck Bryan Woods Julia Glausi Jeanette Volturno
Starring	Hugh Grant Sophie Thatcher Chloe East
Cinematography	Chung Chung-hoon
Edited by	Justin Li
Music by	Chris Bacon
Production companies	Beck/Woods Shiny Penny
Distributed by	A24
Release dates	September 8, 2024 (2024-09-08) (TIFF) November 8, 2024 (2024-11-08)
Running time	111 minutes[1]
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	<$10 million
Box office	$13.6 million[2]

Heretic is a 2024 American psychological horror^[3][4][5] film written and directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods. It stars Hugh Grant, Sophie Thatcher, and Chloe East, and follows two Mormon missionaries who attempt to convert a reclusive Englishman, only to realise he is more dangerous than he seems.

The film had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 8, 2024, and was released in the United States by A24 on November 8, 2024.

Two missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Sister Barnes and Sister Paxton, arrive at the home of a reclusive Englishman, Mr. Reed, after Barnes locks their bikes to his fence. They enter after being told Reed's wife is preparing a blueberry pie, and they begin to discuss religion, with Reed gradually making several uncomfortable comments about the Mormon faith and the nature of belief. After Reed steps out of the room, Barnes notices that the smell of blueberry pie is from a candle, and the pair realize the front door is locked and they have no phone signal.

Following Reed, they enter his study, where he proceeds to give a threatening lecture on the nature of beliefs, stating that all religions are adaptations of one another, and claims to have found the one true religion. Offering their coats and promising he will not keep them if they wish to leave, he sadly states the front door is bolted so they will have to leave another way. Barnes checks her pocket for the bike lock key, but it has somehow ended up in Paxton's coat instead. While Reed is distracted, Barnes slips Paxton a letter opener and tells her to attack at the codeword "magic underwear." Reed gives the girls a choice of two doors to go through in order to exit the house, one if they still believe in God, and one if they do not. Barnes rebels, refuting several of his claims, before they both enter the "Belief" door.

In a basement dungeon, Reed declares he will show them a miracle before a decrepit woman called 'The Prophet' appears. She eats a poisoned pie and dies, with Reed claiming that the pair will witness her be resurrected. A Mormon elder arrives looking for the girls but leaves after discovering nothing, as the girls' bikes are now missing. This distracts the girls, and after returning focus to the dungeon room Paxton claims The Prophet has moved, while Barnes denies this. The Prophet suddenly springs back to life, and delivers a description of the afterlife. Reed appears in the basement and asks the girls to describe what happened. Barnes rejects The Prophet's description, noting its similarity to textbook hallucinations from near-death experiences. Attempting to distract Reed, Barnes draws his attention away, leaving his backside exposed to Paxton. Yet, when Barnes says the codeword, Reed suddenly slashes her throat, claiming she will also come back after death before describing the "butterfly dream" story that questions the distinction between reality and dreams.

When Barnes bleeds out, Reed removes a metal object from inside her arm, claiming it is a microchip and using it as proof that Barnes was an artificial person, and her failure to resurrect proves she was not real and the world is a simulation. Paxton, however, recognises the object as a contraceptive implant, and realizes that the entire situation had been orchestrated by Reed; while the girls had been distracted by the Elder's arrival, a second woman appeared and hid The Prophet's corpse, before taking her place and delivering the afterlife description as scripted by Reed, adding an unplanned comment: "It's not real". Reed's killing of Barnes and attempt to convince Paxton of a simulated reality was an improvisation to cover the plan going awry. Paxton discovers an underground chute through which the Prophet's corpse was hidden, and continues down with Reed promising it will show her the "one true religion."

Following the path, Paxton comes upon a door locked with her and Barnes' bike lock and uses the key to open it. When she enters the room it is filled with numerous caged women dressed similarly to the Prophet, where she deduces Reed's conclusion: that a desire to control others is the root of all religions. She stabs Reed in the neck with the letter opener she had been hiding and attempts to flee but is stabbed in the gut by Reed when he follows her back upstairs. As the pair bleed out, she begins to pray, claiming to a vexed Reed that it is done to show kindness to others, rather than to produce material results. As Reed prepares to finish her off, he is suddenly killed with a plank of wood by Barnes, who finally succumbs to her wounds. Paxton finds her way outside and runs to freedom. She momentarily sees a butterfly land on her hand; she had earlier expressed a desire to be reincarnated as a butterfly that appears on the hands of her loved ones. The butterfly suddenly vanishes, leaving the nature of Paxton's reality unknown.

• Hugh Grant as Mr. Reed^[6]
• Sophie Thatcher as Sister Barnes^[6]
• Chloe East as Sister Paxton^[6]
• Topher Grace as Elder Kennedy^[7]
• Elle Young as Prophet^[8]

In June 2023, it was reported that Scott Beck and Bryan Woods wrote and would direct the A24 film, Heretic. Hugh Grant and Chloe East were cast in lead roles.^[9]

The production was granted an interim agreement allowing filming during the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike.^[10] On a budget of under $10 million,^[11] Principal photography took place in Vancouver over 30 days from October 3 to November 16, 2023.^[12][13]

Heretic premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 8, 2024.^[14][15] The film was scheduled to be theatrically released in the United States on November 15, 2024,^[16] before it was moved up from its original release date of November 15 to November 8.^[17] It was released in the United Kingdom and Ireland a week earlier on November 1.^[1]

In the United States and Canada, Heretic was released alongside The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, Elevation, Weekend in Taipei, and the wide expansion of Anora, and is projected to gross around $8 million from 3,200 theaters in its opening weekend.^[18] The film made $4.3 million on its first day, including 1.2 million from Thursday night previews.^[19]

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 92% of 185 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.4/10. The website's consensus reads: "Hugh Grant has infectious fun playing against type in Heretic, a religious horror that preaches the gospel of cerebral chills over cheap shocks."^[20] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 72 out of 100, based on 47 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.^[21] Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "C+" on an A+ to F scale, while those polled by PostTrak gave it a 70% overall positive score.^[19]

• Official website
• Heretic at IMDb