# Heretic (film)

Heretic is a 2024 American horror film, written and directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods. It stars Sophie Thatcher and Chloe East as two Mormon missionaries who attempt to convert a man (Hugh Grant) who is more dangerous than he seems.
Heretic premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 8, 2024, and was released in the United States by A24 on November 8. It received positive reviews from critics and grossed $57.4 million worldwide. For his performance, Grant received Best Actor nominations at the Golden Globes, the Critics' Choice Awards, and the BAFTA Awards, while Beck and Woods received an Independent Spirit Awards nomination for Best Screenplay.

## Plot

Two young Mormon missionaries, confident Sister Barnes and timid Sister Paxton, arrive at the home of a reclusive middle-aged man, Mr. Reed. He invites them in, assuring them that his wife is preparing a blueberry pie in the back of the house. They begin to discuss religion, with Reed making several uncomfortable comments about their Mormon faith and the nature of belief. When Reed steps out of the room, Barnes realizes that the smell of blueberry pie is from a candle, the front door is locked, and they have no phone signal.
They follow Reed to his study, where he gives them a threatening lecture arguing that all religions are adaptations of one another and claims to have found the one true religion. The girls are told that the front door is latched and will not open. He gives the girls a choice of two doors to go through to exit the house: one if they still believe in God, and one if they do not. Barnes rebels, repudiating several of his claims. They enter the "Belief" door, but discover both doors lead to the same dungeon.
A decrepit woman appears, eats a poisoned pie, and dies. Reed claims that she is a prophet of God and the pair will witness her resurrection. A church elder arrives looking for the girls but leaves without hearing their screams. Paxton notices that the position of the prophet has changed. The prophet apparently comes back from the dead and describes the afterlife. Barnes rejects the prophet's description, noting its similarity to common hallucinations from near-death experiences. When Barnes gives Paxton a signal to attack Reed, he slashes Barnes's throat. He then claims that she will also rise from the dead.
As Barnes bleeds out, Reed removes a metal object from inside her arm, claiming it is a microchip that proves that Barnes was not real and the world is a simulation. Paxton recognizes the object as a contraceptive implant. Paxton realizes that everything was orchestrated by Reed; while the girls were distracted by the elder's arrival, a second woman hid the prophet's corpse, took her place and delivered the afterlife description as scripted by Reed, adding an unplanned comment: "It's not real." Reed's killing of Barnes and attempt to convince Paxton of a simulated reality was an improvisation to cover the plan going awry. Paxton discovers an underground chute in which the Prophet's corpse was hidden and climbs down, with Reed promising it will show her the "one true religion".
Paxton passes through a series of chambers, the last of which is locked with the bike lock she used before entering Reed's house. The final chamber is full of emaciated women in cages. She realizes Reed's conclusion: that a desire to control others is the root of all religions. Paxton stabs Reed with a letter opener, but Reed stabs her as she tries to escape. As they bleed in the basement, Paxton prays, telling Reed that it is done to think about others rather than to produce material results. Reed prepares to finish her off. Barnes, who is still alive, kills him with a plank of wood before dying. Paxton climbs out of a window and a butterfly lands on her hand; she earlier expressed a desire to be reincarnated as a butterfly that appears on the hands of her loved ones. It vanishes, leaving Paxton alone in the snowy landscape.

## Cast

* Hugh Grant as Mr. Reed
* Sophie Thatcher as Sister Barnes
* Chloe East as Sister Paxton
* Topher Grace as Elder Kennedy
* Elle Young as Prophet

## Production

In June 2023, it was reported that Scott Beck and Bryan Woods wrote and would direct the film for A24. Hugh Grant and Chloe East were cast in lead roles, with Sophie Thatcher joining later. Beck and Woods said the film was inspired by the films Contact and Inherit the Wind, as films that discuss religion seriously but "in a kind of popcorn movie context". The writing of the film was prompted by the death of Woods's father from esophageal cancer, and the questions it prompted about what happens after death. Wanting to ensure the missionary characters were as genuine and authentic as possible and not clichés, the filmmakers consulted various Mormon friends during the writing and production, as well as Thatcher and East, who are ex-Mormons themselves.
The production was granted an interim agreement allowing filming during the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike. On a budget of under $10 million, principal photography took place in Vancouver from October 3 to November 16, 2023. The film was shot in chronological order.
Thatcher performs a cover version of "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" set to the tune of “Fade Into You”, which plays in the end credits.

## Release

Heretic premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 8, 2024. The film was scheduled to be theatrically released in the United States on November 15, 2024, before it was moved up to November 8. It was released in the United Kingdom and Ireland a week earlier on November 1.

## Reception
### Box office

As of February 17, 2025, Heretic has grossed $28 million in the United States and Canada, and $29.7 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $57.4 million.
In the United States and Canada, Heretic was released alongside The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, Elevation, Weekend in Taipei, and the wide expansion of Anora, and was projected to gross around $8 million from 3,221 theaters in its opening weekend. The film made $4.3 million on its first day, including $1.2 million from Thursday night previews. It went on to debut to $11 million, finishing second behind holdover Venom: The Last Dance. The film made $5 million in its second weekend (a drop of 54.1%), and then $2.2 million in its third, finishing in fourth and seventh place, respectively.

### Critical response

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 91% of 274 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.3/10. The website's consensus reads: "Hugh Grant has infectious fun playing against type in Heretic, a religious horror that preaches the gospel of cerebral chills over cheap shocks." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 71 out of 100, based on 49 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews. Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "C+" on an A+ to F scale, while those polled by PostTrak gave it a 70% overall positive score.
Peter Bradshaw, in a review for The Guardian, described the film as "gruesome and bizarre and preposterous" and highlighted the performance of Hugh Grant, calling him "suave, dapper and evil".

#### Church response

A number of former Latter-day Saints praised the film for its realistic and nuanced portrayal of missionaries. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints itself released a statement condemning the film's portrayal of violence against women. They then posted an article on missionary safety, intended to "assist journalists and the public with questions and concerns regarding the safety and well-being of missionaries".

### Accolades

| Award | Date of ceremony | Category | Recipient(s) | Result |
| Astra Film Awards | December 8, 2024 | Best Horror or Thriller Feature | Heretic | Nominated |
| Astra Film Awards | December 8, 2024 | Best Performance in a Horror or Thriller | Hugh Grant | Nominated |
| Michigan Movie Critics Guild Awards | December 9, 2024 | Best Actor | Hugh Grant | Nominated |
| Las Vegas Film Critics Society Awards | December 9, 2024 | Best Actor | Hugh Grant | Nominated |
| Las Vegas Film Critics Society Awards | December 9, 2024 | Best Horror/Sci-Fi | Heretic | Nominated |
| Phoenix Critics Circle Awards | December 12, 2024 | Best Horror Film | Heretic | Nominated |
| St. Louis Film Critics Association Awards | December 15, 2024 | Best Horror Film | Heretic | Nominated |
| St. Louis Film Critics Association Awards | December 15, 2024 | Best Actor | Hugh Grant | Nominated |
| Dallas–Fort Worth Film Critics Association Awards | December 18, 2024 | Best Actor | Hugh Grant | 5th place |
| Philadelphia Film Critics Circle Awards | December 21, 2024 | Best Actor | Hugh Grant | Runner-up |
| Online Association of Female Film Critics Awards | December 23, 2024 | Best Male Lead | Hugh Grant | Nominated |
| Greater Western New York Film Critics Association Awards | January 4, 2025 | Best Actor | Hugh Grant | Nominated |
| Golden Globe Awards | January 5, 2025 | Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy | Hugh Grant | Nominated |
| Austin Film Critics Association Awards | January 6, 2025 | Best Actor | Hugh Grant | Nominated |
| Alliance of Women Film Journalists Awards | January 7, 2025 | Best Actor | Hugh Grant | Nominated |
| Music City Film Critics Association Awards | January 10, 2025 | Best Horror Film | Heretic | Nominated |
| Utah Film Critics Association Awards | January 11, 2025 | Best Performance in a Science-Fiction, Fantasy, or Horror Film | Hugh Grant | Nominated |
| Hawaii Film Critics Society Awards | January 13, 2025 | Best Actor | Hugh Grant | Nominated |
| Hawaii Film Critics Society Awards | January 13, 2025 | Best Horror Film | Heretic | Nominated |
| Chicago Indie Critics Awards | January 18, 2025 | Best Actor | Hugh Grant | Nominated |
| Houston Film Critics Society Awards | January 22, 2025 | Best Actor | Hugh Grant | Nominated |
| Satellite Awards | January 26, 2025 | Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama | Hugh Grant | Nominated |
| Critics' Choice Movie Awards | February 7, 2025 | Best Actor | Hugh Grant | Nominated |
| Artios Awards | February 12, 2025 | Outstanding Achievement in Casting – Feature Studio or Independent Film (Comedy) | Carmen Cuba, Charley Medigovich, Tiffany Mak | Nominated |
| Society of Composers & Lyricists Awards | February 12, 2025 | Outstanding Original Score for an Independent Film | Chris Bacon | Nominated |
| British Academy Film Awards | February 16, 2025 | Best Actor in a Leading Role | Hugh Grant | Nominated |
| Independent Spirit Awards | February 22, 2025 | Best Screenplay | Scott Beck and Bryan Woods | Nominated |