Heretic review – religious horror with a suave, elegant and evil Hugh Grant | film

TThe remarkable second act of Hugh Grant's career continues…or perhaps the third act if we include the earlier period in which he appeared to retire from film romcom starring to move towards brilliant investments in real estate and contemporary art before returning as an actor, fatally outrageous character actor and scene-stealer. Now Grant makes his horror debut (if we don't include his appearance in Ken Russell's 1988 The Lair of the White Worm) and does so with typical insouciance and cheekiness, in a detailed and disturbing chamber piece about religion from author- directors Scott Beck and Bryan Woods; It feels like George Bernard Shaw wanted to make a scary movie without songs inspired by the Book of Mormon.

Maturity and the chiller genre have given Grant's usual mannerisms a certain something, which is on display here as always: the sudden mischievous grin and the conspiratorial wide-eyed “Eek!” Grimace of mock dismay. He plays a shy and bespectacled Brit named Mr Reed, who lives in a remote, eccentrically proportioned house in the USA. Like Grant's aging actor Phoenix Buchanan in Paddington 2, this man is vain enough to keep a photo of his younger self around. Mr. Reed has expressed a cautious interest in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, so the Mormons sent two missionaries to discuss it with him. Not strapping young men, as would normally be the case in real life outside of horror films, but two women in their twenties. These are the innocent Sister Paxton (Chloe East) and the more worldly Sister Barnes (Sophie Thatcher), who reacts with unprejudiced sisterly amusement in the first scene when Paxton describes her shock at accidentally watching a porn film , expressing her earnest belief that the female lead's unsimulated expression of despair proves the need to live a godly life.

Mr. Reed is a model of kindness and quizzical hospitality when these two show up on his doorstep. He invites them in, the door clicks firmly behind them, and offers blueberry pie. When Paxton and Thatcher politely inform Mr. Reed that they cannot be alone with him without the presence of another woman, he politely offers to bring his wife from the kitchen. Paxton and Barnes eagerly agree, but there seems to be a strange and disturbing delay before this woman actually appears.

As for Mr. Reed, he seems strangely insistent on talking to them about the various forms of religion, and his friendliness begins to worryingly wane as the steely glint behind his glasses increases. Using various amusing accompaniments from popular culture, Mr. Reed discusses belief systems as iterations or thematic variations of earlier pagan or mythical forms, becoming testy and thin-lipped when Barnes contradicts him. With his eyes closed, he asks these impeccably behaved young women if they still believe that his wife actually exists in another space, as he has assured them, and what exactly makes them believe that? A need to perhaps survive both in this world and the next? Heretic is cruel, bizarre and absurd, the third aspect made palatable by Grant's neat portrayal of evil.