Movie Review : Heretic (2024)
Everyone knows at least one atheist who's hell bent on proving you that God doesn’t exist. Of course, the goal is never really to prove you that God doesn’t exist because it’s impossible to prove. Overenthusiastic atheists only want to prove one thing and it’s that they’re smarter than you. They are more rare since 2016 because markers for intelligence have shifted since, but they still feel important enough to warrant their own A24 horror movie. This movie is called Heretic and it’s kind of clever.
Heretic tells the story of two missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, Sister Barnes (Yellowjackets’ Sophie Thatcher) and Sister Paxton (Chloe East) who are tasked with the proverbial follow-up visits to a man who requested more information from their church, Mr. Reed (Hugh Grant). At first, Reed seems like the most annoying atheist to ever walk the face of the Earth, but as the girls can’t seem to get away from that creep, he reveals to be something even more sinister.
The Undying Grasp of Judeo-Christian Values
So yeah, Reed’s intent is to prove that all religious people are stupid and gullible by nature, right? How he tries to prove his point is what makes him a fun antagonist. You have to know your basics of religion in order to fully enjoy Heretic, but here’s the gist of it: If God made men to his image, Reed himself is an avatar for the Almighty, so whatever he says goes. At least, that’s what he believes goes on inside his own house, some type of desolate Eden hidden away from the bustle of the city.
The point Reed believes he is making is that wielding this type of power inevitably leads to abuse. That faith is a poison leading mankind to its own demise. But as any self-respecting atheist, Reed's life starts revolving around his own intellectual certitudes, which turns him into the very thing he pretends to decry in his intellectual arguments. In short: Reed is dedicated to proving Religion is an evil, so he turns himself into that otherwise theoretical evil within the controlled setting of his own house.
Even if the protagonists of Heretic are outwardly religious, what the movie attacks is the idea of Judeo-Christian values: the certitude that everyone is telling the truth, that strangers are benevolent and that no one is out to hurt you. This might appear to be common decency to you, but they are values intrinsically linked to what was essentially the bedrock of society for 2000 years, the Bible. As a horror enthusiast who enjoys movies and novels that question the nature of reality, I enjoyed the hell out of this idea.
The Allegory of the Creepo’s Cavern
Heretic has an amazing first act, but it toggles back into more conventional territory as Reed drops any pretense of civility. The movie turns then into Saw meets The Descent as the girls have to solved rigged riddles in order to get out of a hole that only seem to go further down. In a way, it’s a great allegory for the dynamics of violence against women. Women are continually endangered by a mediocre man’s (who in all likeliness chose to be mediocre) devouring need to feel powerful.
Am I saying here that religion is the cause of violence against women? Well, that’s a complicated argument I am so not going to wrap up in a movie review, but kind of? If men "are supposed to be at the center of everything", any shit dweller who can’t find himself at the center of anything he finds worthy is liable for lashing out. Heretic showcases that power imbalance in a pernicious, subdued way and I got a kick out of that. It’s intelligent in ways it doesn't even know it is.
*
I enjoyed Heretic more than I thought I would. It’s a smart, well-lit, technically competent film who’s happy to be a cerebral trip with a few slasher callbacks and scattered jump scares and it doesn’t try to be more than it is. It’s not a memorable movie by any means of the imagination, but it’s a good time if you’re on the lookout for a movie that’s going to make you think and feel a little without demanding an excessive effort. I wouldn’t take another one, but I’d take a new movie from these two directors.
7.5/10
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