17/18
Tale
Sophie Thatcher and Chloe East in Heretic, plus a more modern women-killing horror game
The closing credits include the statement, “No generative AI was used in the making of this film.” I saw seven films at this year’s TIFF, and the one that got my vote for Best Picture was HERETIC with Hugh Grant (who would also have gotten my vote for Best Actor if that were a voting category). I was pretty impressed to see him get in touch with his dark side in the HBO miniseries THE UNDOING, but here he turns it up to 11, playing a lovable psychopath obsessed with religion.
Grant turns out to be much more knowledgeable – and questioning – about religion than they expected
Co-stars Sophie Thatcher and Chloe East are also excellent as two Mormon missionary girls who think they’re going to call someone interested in converting to Mormonism. When they realize he’s not really interested in converting, but rather debating religion, they try to leave, only to find themselves trapped inside.
The result is refreshingly unconventional
Thus begins a game of cat and mouse as Grant puts their faith to the test. As horror goes, it’s solid, but doesn’t reach the extremes of similarly claustrophobic horror films like FUNNY GAMES (the original) and SPEAK NO EVIL (the 2022 version).
My only gripe is that the choice of Mormonism for religion seems a bit calculated
In short, watch this movie if you’ve ever enjoyed a Hugh Grant movie and want to see him at the top of his game. As for the acting Oscar nomination for TIFF, I haven’t been so sure since I saw Allison Janney in I TONYA in 2017.
And after the movie, and a few people complimented me on the way out for the question I asked: “Was Richard Dawkins an influence?”; Co-director Bryan Woods confirmed that it is
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