It is generally considered an unspoken rule of polite society that one should steer away from discussing politics and religion, especially with those who you don’t know since it can run the risk of offending the beliefs of others. However, both are subjects that are not only topics of conversation in just about every situation, they also tend to be seen as the fibre of the entire social system as a whole, to the point where even efforts to actively avoid either subject are bound to fail, considering how much of them are ingrained into our day-to-day lives. This is the impetus for Herectic, a film written and directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, who have been slowly establishing themselves as representatives of a new kind of horror, namely that which is more high-concept than the typical cheaply-produced scares by a lot of mainstream films, but also not nearly as pretentious or self-important as the proverbial “elevated” horror we’ve come across in recent years. Their film exists at the perfect intersection between styles, and tells the story of two young Mormon missionaries who are sent out to recruit new members to their choice by approaching those who have previously expressed some interest in the church – and while this is routine as normal for them, they find themselves in a precarious position while visiting Mr Reed, a charismatic and warmhearted Englishman who is extremely interested in their religious belief, which proves to be a promising start for the young women, but quickly escalates into something much deeper when his relationship with faith is revealed, leading to a vicious game of cat-and-mouse between a pair of unsuspecting victims and the malicious psychopath into whose trap they have inadvertently ventured. A fascinating and unhinged work of horror driven by both a strong set of themes and a twisted sense of humour, Heretic is a tremendously unique addition to a growing canon of conceptual works that use more terrifying imagery to explore common ideas, the results being quite remarkable in both their simplicity and frankness.

Religion and horror have tended to walk hand-in-hand for centuries, with even the earliest works of terror having some connection to faith, whether directly or simply through various contextual cues that guide their creation. In many ways, horror is deeply ingrained in religious belief, and the same can be said about the inverse. Naturally, as cinema embraced the ability to unsettle audiences, we saw works produced that actively addressed the role faith plays in the lives of ordinary people, with some works using religion as a shield against supernatural forces, whereas others found the root of the horror within the religion itself. This is simply to say that the two themes are very much connected, and we’ve seen several works produced that look at them in tandem, usually drawing upon one another and playing off the w. On the surface, Heretic seems like yet another attempt to reconfigure faith as being far more sinister and unnerving than we would like to think since most would prefer to look at belief as something comforting and beautiful. However, Beck and Woods are extremely intelligent in the specific concepts they choose to explore and use the time to look at these ideas from a very different perspective, giving this film quite a remarkably unique approach, and one that is only aided by the steadfast simplicity of the film as a whole. The premise is simple – a pair of missionaries meet their match in a supposed critical thinker who entraps them in his home to expose the hypocrisy of their church and prove that a secular existence may not have the comfort of an afterlife but removes the fear of the unknown that even the most steadfast of practitioners struggle to comprehend. Religion is the target of the horror, but not the source and the focus is less on proving or disproving the existence of some deity, and more on a scathing indictment of the structures that facilitate belief in the first place, which is quite a unique approach to be taken with such material, and which immediately elevates Heretic to be more than just a series of poorly-connected themes designed to unsettle the audience by aiming for something many view as quite positive and integral to their existence.

Heretic directs its ire towards the leaders of religions both past and present, and comes to a very clear connection between them, which is revealed in the haunting final moments, which proves that one can easily still look at religion as something inherently beautiful while still acknowledging its destructive nature, not due to the beliefs itself, but rather the people actively involved in these institutions as they attempt to assert control over the population. It is certainly wonderfully refreshing to find a work of horror that has its roots in addressing religion but doesn’t spend too much time disparaging those who have chosen to follow a path defined by their belief. Beck and Woods show very little disrespect to those, which is not always the case with religious horror, which tends to be more focused on deconstructing belief as something that conceals a darker truth. The thematic elements of Heretic take some time to fully understand, but through gradually developing a number of its ideas, it reveals its underlying perspective that can be quite provocative in how it forces us to question reality and what we believe to be the truth. Horror centred around these themes is far from radical, yet the directors do find a way to present it in a unique way, which is done by casting a much wider net in terms of its story. Existence is nothing but a series of connections and coincidences, and navigating life is simply a matter of accepting that it is driven equally by both and that they’re hopelessly out of our control – the more one wants to rebel, the further they find themselves becoming a victim to the system. It’s a very philosophical concept, and Beck and Woods do spend quite some time developing these themes (as well as the impeccable level of research they do into the history of religion), crafting a work of horror that does not aim at a particular religion, but rather finds a way to connect both archaic and current belief, making links between them that are genuinely quite insightful, to the point where the entire film could have consisted of these ramblings around the subject of how religion builds upon itself over time, and still been genuinely compelling.

On the subject of compelling aspects of Heretic, the directors took a gamble on casting the central role of the villain, choosing to recruit Hugh Grant to play this snarling agent of chaos that lures the young women in his lair through his falsely charismatic veneer and ability to convince them of just about anything, leading them further into his trap. Grant has had a storied career that has taken many different twists and turns over the past forty years, yet he has always been impossible to ignore on screen. Some tend to think that he is incapable of stepping away from playing these delightfully dastardly charmers who believe they can weasel themselves out of any situation through their gift of the gab, but as we’ve seen in recent years, he has taken a hard turn to the left and found a flourishing secondary career as a character actor, with this film featuring some of his most unique work to date. He’s unquestionably superb in the role, and adds weight to the part by taking advantage of absolutely every opportunity to play to the rafters, this being one of the rare instances where going broad actually can be a benefit. While it may not be the best representation of Grant’s talents (or at least those that made him a household name), it’s a terrific example of him playing against type and still being extraordinary. However, a good villain can only be effective with strong adversaries, which come in the form of Chloe East and Sophie Thatcher, both of whom play the Mormon missionaries forced to reckon with their faith after being lured into Mr Reed’s trap, which proves to be a bad decision from which they are desperate to escape. Both East and Thatcher perfectly capture the terror and dread that these young women would be experiencing, but rather than being merely passive victims, they play the parts of feisty, resourceful people who realize survival is only possible through outsmarting their captor, which leads to some exceptional acting from the entire trio. It’s a marvellous set of performances, with each of them playing off one another, creating these complex characters that keep the film afloat throughout.

Beyond the performances, which are remarkably solid and integral to the overall experience, Heretic is smart not only in its ideas but also in the way they’re presented to us. Beck and Woods have placed themselves in quite an intriguing position as far as the genre goes, since they refuse to follow conventions in the way that we may expected, and instead sample from several different sources, reworking everything to appear unique and somewhat unorthodox. However, something that does tend to connect their works – whether those they have directed or solely just written – is a clear awareness of the fact that audiences tend to have a more interesting response when presented with a kind of terror that isn’t immediate, but rather gradual. We aren’t scared of the dark itself, but rather the idea that there may be something sinister lurking within, and our lives are spent in that fragile state of ambiguity, not knowing whether to retreat or proceed forward, leading to a perpetual state of limbo until we make one decision or the other. So much of this is delivered through the technical aspects of the film – the design of this house, which is initially shown to be a vertical labyrinth (the references to the Seven Circles of Hell are not arbitrary), as well as various other directorial cues that Beck and Woods demonstrate when constructing this film. While a cheap jumpscare may be welcome in some films, a more foreboding, lingering sense of dread has proven to be far more effective, especially when accompanied by something this rich and evocative in terms of thematic content. Both visually and tonally, Heretic is quite exceptional – the use of dark humour is particularly compelling since something is unsettling about having one’s entire worldview shaken through bleakly comical scenarios that fall somewhere between slapstick mockery and unhinged psychological torture. In all aspects, this film has quite a unique approach that comes down to its many layers, the directors piecing together this ferocious manifesto with an abundance of attention to detail, which makes it all the more effective.

Heretic is an oddity of a film – the subject matter is logically divisive, but yet the execution is magnificent, and through many fascinating directorial decisions it manages to be a far more engaging, enthralling affair than we may have anticipated. A pitch-black dark comedy that touches on the very nature of human existence with an abundance of well-written commentary that tackles the themes of religion in precise detail, while also never being too overly prosaic at the same time, the film proves to be quite an entertaining exploration of faith and how it manifests differently for people, depending on their roots as well as their philosophy. This film is the perfect example of how good horror is formed through finding a balance – it is never too heavy-handed when it comes to its conceptual framework, but it is also not too flippant, knowing exactly how to be entertaining without becoming too tacky, which is a problem with a lot of modern horror that looks at important or common subjects, but doesn’t always know exactly how to execute it without veering towards becoming overwrought. It’s by no means a perfect film and some of its conclusions are not entirely credible – but perhaps the great irony here is that those who venture into Heretic under the belief that it is going to be a completely accurate depiction of the history of religion are those who are most likely going to be criticized by the ideas present at the heart of the film. Wickedly entertaining and quite thought-provoking, Beck and Woods crafted something quite incredible, using many complex ideas to buoy this deranged but brilliant concept, leading to a tremendously compelling, actively daring work of unhinged but provocative horror.