In theaters now. Bring a friend. Leave your certainties at the door.
The middle act unfolds as a series of locked-room debates. Reed introduces them to a captive “prophet” in the basement (a brilliant, tragic cameo from an actor we won’t spoil), only to reveal that the prophet is a recording, a loop, a metaphor for how all revelation is pre-scripted. “The only true religion,” Reed whispers, “is the one you can’t leave.” film heretic
Starring Hugh Grant in a career-redefining turn as the unassumingly sinister Mr. Reed, Heretic arrives like a thesis statement dressed as a thriller. The premise is deceptively simple: two young Mormon missionaries, Sister Barnes (Sophie Thatcher) and Sister Paxton (Chloe East), knock on the wrong door on a rainy afternoon. Invited in from the cold by a charming, soft-spoken Englishman, they soon discover there is no way out—not because of chains or locks, but because Mr. Reed wants to talk. And he won’t let them leave until they’ve heard him out. Beck and Woods, the duo behind A Quiet Place , have always been fascinated by the mechanics of tension. Here, they strip away monsters and supernatural gimmicks. The horror of Heretic is purely intellectual—and that makes it devastating. In theaters now