Heretic is one of those rare films that crawls under your skin and refuses to leave. Directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, it’s part horror, part psychological mind-bender, and all brilliance. The setup is deceptively simple: two young missionaries knock on a stranger’s door during a storm, but what follows is a twisted game of manipulation led by Hugh Grant’s Mr. Reid. As a calculating antagonist, Reid conducts a psychological experiment on Sisters Paxton and Barnes, attempting to deconstruct their religious worldview. His sinister agenda questions whether belief is inherently freeing—or merely a tool for control (SlashFilm, 2024).
Grant’s Mr. Reid isn’t your typical villain. He’s philosophical, calculated, and chillingly charismatic. His twisted “experiment” forces the missionaries—and the audience—to confront the fragility of faith and how easily beliefs can be turned into weapons of control. Every question he asks is a trap, unraveling the missionaries’ confidence in what they’ve always known. This is a movie that doesn’t just ask you to watch—it demands that you rethink your beliefs. What happens when the choices we make aren’t really choices at all? When faith becomes a trap?
The directors describe Heretic as a film rooted in their fascination with religion and control, blending horror with profound existential dread. The narrative is filled with visual metaphors, such as the house symbolizing a descent into personal hell, and cleverly placed religious iconography. For example, Dante’s seven circles of hell are mirrored in the layout of Reid’s house, enhancing its layered storytelling. These blink-and-you’ll-miss-it details make the film feel richer, pulling you deeper into its unsettling world (Fangoria, 2024).
What I loved most about Heretic, is how it doesn’t try to spoon-feed you some neat little moral or answer. It doesn’t preach, it doesn’t condemn—it just holds up a mirror and lets you deal with whatever stares back. I left the theater feeling uneasy, like I’d just wrestled with questions about my beliefs I didn’t even know I had. It’s rare for a movie to do that—to mess with your head and stick with you long after the credits roll. If you’re into horror that challenges your brain as much as your nerves, heretically run, don’t walk, to see this film.
