By Seb Jenkins - October 24, 2024
Hugh Grant swaps charm for chills this Halloween in Heretic – and it begs the question, why has he not done more horror?!
2024 has already been a hit year for horror fans, with big-screen success stories like Longlegs, The Substance, and Late Night With the Devil. While Heretic doesn’t quite climb to the lofty heights of Osgood Perkins and Coralie Fargeat, Hugh Grant certainly puts himself amongst the Cages and Dastmalchians of the genre. Heretic focuses more on the funeral than four weddings, but it might just be yet another 2024 horror to Love, Actually.
When Sister Barnes (Sophie Thatcher) and Sister Paxton (Chloe East) rehearse their missionary message on the rainy doorstep of an unsuspecting cottage, you know they’re in for a rough time of it. Think Knock Knock but with a complete role reversal. The polite Mr. Reed (Grant) seems more than happy to hear about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints – eager even – inviting the two young women out of the brewing storm. Nothing to worry about there, right? After all, we’ve seen this charismatic fellow star in such romantic hits as Notting Hill - he couldn’t possibly be a threat. It turns out, Mr. Reed is already extremely familiar with the Book of Mormon and the intentions behind his hospitality unravel into something far more sinister.
Since being relinquished from the clutches of British rom-coms in the late 2000s – which is another story of horror in itself – Hugh Grant has finally been given room to flex his freaky muscles. He stole the show as one of the most delightful villains of the decade in Paddington 2. He addictively Guy Ritchie-fied himself as Fletcher in The Gentlemen. He even went full The Only Way is Essex on us by turning himself orange as an Oompa-Loompa in Wonka. Why did it take so long for Hollywood to realise that Grant is so much more than a bumbling buffoon of Britishness? Heretic is just the latest example of what he can do once the chains are off.
Let us not pretend that Grant is unrecognisable in his role as the enigmatic Mr. Reed though. In fact, he shuffles around his remote cottage abode, unsettling and unthreatening in such equal measure that he instantly becomes more frightening than any snarling beast or jump scare. His natural charisma serves as the perfect source of the Heretic sermon – all religions are inconsistent and false… unless they aren’t? Or are they? We’re still trying to get our heads around that one. Even the Book of Mormon stage show wasn’t cynical enough to liken Mormonism to the Bob Ross version of Monopoly! When Mr. Reed puts the Sisters’ faith to the ultimate test, it becomes not only a question of survival, but also an in-depth examination of their entire belief system. Belief vs disbelief. Heresy vs fact. The Heretic vs the devotees.
This might just be Hugh Grant’s best performance to date. He takes that well-tuned charm built up over decades of rom-com experience and uses it to lure us in before revealing the true extent of his Swiss-army knife of talent. Mr. Reed is devastatingly wicked yet painstakingly captivating. Grant keeps us on tenterhooks from his first appearance in the doorway to the very climax of the final act, which is no mean feat in such a dialogue-heavy film.
But let us not pretend that this is a one-man show. Grant may create the tension in Heretic, but Sophie Thatcher and Chloe East live it so viscerally that the audience can’t help but invest. From the very first scene discussing Magnum condoms under the looming Chief Rock in Squamish, Vancouver – Sisters Barnes and Paxton are so vividly sketched as headstrong and naïve respectively.
What is so impressive is how they managed to develop those characters on such a deep level under the most traumatic of circumstances. Many horror writers and actors have tried and failed to combine genuine unease with believable characters you can’t help but root for. Scott Beck and Bryan Woods (writers, directors, and producers) clearly spent just as much time carving a powerful journey to depict the Sisters’ faith as they did on Mr. Reed’s razor-sharp monologues, and Heretic shines all the more for it.
I can’t help but hope to see Grant, Thatcher, and East in plenty more horror roles in the future because those performances are deserving of an encore.
HERETIC RELEASES IN CINEMAS NOVEMBER 1
Comments