Directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods (65) — Screenplay by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods (A Quiet Place; The Boogeyman).
Though not their directorial debut, writing-directing duo Scott Beck and Bryan Woods had their mainstream, big studio debut as directors with last year’s Adam Driver-led sci-fi flick titled 65, which, despite having a great trailer, was a relatively disappointing and unremarkable film. This was a disappointment because, in recent years, the duo had proven themselves to be effective genre film writers with their awards-nominated A Quiet Place screenplay. With their latest film, Heretic, they’ve crafted a psychological horror film that proves their talents and that what they had done a couple of years earlier was by no means an accident or a fluke. This one is terrific.
Scott Beck and Bryan Woods’ Heretic follows Sister Barnes (played by Sophie Thatcher) and Sister Paxton (played by Chloe East), two Mormon missionaries, who are out trying to sway potential converts. This brings them to the home of a reclusive Englishman named Mr. Reed (played by Hugh Grant), who has plenty of thoughts on religion that he is eager to share and discuss. They enter his home to partake in such a discussion and are under the assumption that he is telling the truth about his intentions. They assumed wrong.
First things first, to be clear this is an enormous step up from 65. Unlike that sci-fi flick, this film is really well-paced and completely holds your attention throughout. From a writing perspective, Beck and Woods have crafted a really smart and engaging horror picture with something to say and, at the same time, a film with a devilish sense of humor that is utilized expertly thanks to the performance that it all revolves around. With this film, which is essentially a movie about a mansplainer forcing his beliefs about the world on others, they’ve done a good job of writing dialogue that both feels intelligent, occasionally objectionable, and funny.
The dialogue, and the delivery of it, is so good that once the film moves away from the tense speechifying — with which he toys with the two female characters — the film does, admittedly, lose some of its luster because it stops being intellectually interesting and instead becomes more of a conventional horror film with elements that don’t feel quite as original. That said, the ending of the film does make up for some of the less impressive third-act elements.
The aforementioned effective central performance is, of course, the one delivered by Hugh Grant. As the film is quite talky for long stretches, the film needed an actor capable of pulling you in as an audience-member, but, at the same time, someone who can turn on a dime and make his charm suddenly read as something malicious or spiteful when needed. He’s outstanding as the equally interesting and menacing older man, who weaponises his charms and his intelligence against the two missionaries, played by Thatcher and East, both of whom, it must be said, are also quite good here.
Ultimately, Scott Beck and Bryan Woods’ Heretic is the kind of horror movie that is more thought-provoking than jump-scare-riddled and, frankly, it is all the better for it. Hugh Grant and his, somewhat against-type, devilish performance makes for the perfect anchor for the film, which shines brightly whenever he is in control. It can definitely be classified as a promising return to form for the filmmaking duo who came up with this.
8 out of 10
– Review Written by Jeffrey Rex Bertelsen.
I'm Jeffrey Rex 