Horror-thriller flick ‘Heretic’ set to scare the bejesus out of you

Heretic is a slow burn of a horror-thriller but one that nonetheless impresses and has you pondering some of its stranger scenes way after seeing it.

The premise of the film is simple enough to follow: two young Mormon women are doing their door-knocking rounds to try to recruit followers into their religion.

The one house they come upon in the middle of a rainy afternoon happens to be owned by an older guy who studies comparative religions. Inviting the girls in, the amiable-at-first, Mr Reed (played deliciously sinister by Hugh Grant) soon begins to frighten the pair as his theological debating intensifies and as they realise he’s been lying about certain things in conversation.

Front doors are deadlocked, back doors lead to dark basements, old boardgames are dusted off and used in a weird kind of show-and-tell, and the film generally spirals into a hellish freakscape, with some great pop cultural references to boot.

The roles of the young Mormon sisters are excellently played out by Sophie Thatcher (Yellow Jackets; The Boogeyman) and Chloe East (The Fabelmans) who bring to their roles a certain naivete that quickly enough evolves into wise thinking and on-your-feet action.

Heretic is the kind of scary movie that has you tipping your neck to one side as if try to see what’s moving around the corner on screen. Brought to you by the brilliant minds at A24 and just hitting cinemas now, it’s bound to become a cult favourite.

Antonino Tati

‘Heretic’ is in cinemas now including Luna Palace cinemas.