‘Heretic’ is a silly horror film with fake religious profundity

Hugh Grant stars as the missionary target from hell

I’ll give Heretic this one: It’s got one excellent idea, and that idea is making a horror movie villain out of a smug, obnoxious atheist. 

Sure, it engages with questions of theology and religious faith in a shallow, half-assed manner, while it’s also overly talky, paced oddly, and looks like crud. The underlying movie can’t keep up with that one good idea. 

Combining religious iconography with horror is certainly nothing new, although fails more often than it works; not everything can be the original Exorcist. But Heretic can’t find anything very interesting to do with it. 

Heretic was directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, who co-wrote A Quiet Place and directed 65, that odd movie with Adam Driver and dinosaurs that flopped big a couple of years ago but then hit on Netflix.

The new film begins with young missionaries Sister Barnes (Sophie Thatcher) and Sister Paxton (Chloe East) on a mission in what appears to be somewhere in the U.K. Some early talk, in which they reveal some surprising knowledge of Magnum condoms and porn, hints at a much more interesting movie than what’s ultimately delivered. 

The two soon visit the home of Mr. Reed (Hugh Grant), who appears both interested in their pitch, and much more well-read on comparative religions than most people are, not to mention the similarities between pop songs by The Hollies and Radiohead. 

He offers them pie, and a chance to meet his wife. Soon, he’s pontificating at length, although most of what he says has the cadence and depth I most associate with stoned dorm-room philosophizing. We’re supposed to wonder whether this guy is evil, or a blowhard, or merely creepy, or if supernatural elements are going to come into play. 

The premise runs out of steam very quickly and just keeps going and going, for an overlong 110 minutes.

Things eventually get scary, and when they do, the movie gets uglier and uglier, repeatedly following characters into the shadows. And considering how important it ends up being to the movie, the architecture of Grant’s house should be way more aesthetically interesting than it is. 

It’s a different kind of role for Grant, who’s been on something of a roll lately with parts in everything from Paddington 2 to The Gentleman to Wonka to that streaming series where he cheated on Nicole Kidman. I admit I was intrigued by Grant playing a horror villain role, but ultimately the film’s problems are at the script and filmmaking level.