Heretic is hailed by critics who praise Hugh Grant in new thriller

Hugh Grant's new horror film Heretic has been lauded by critics in early reviews.  

Dubbed his creepiest role to date, the British actor, 64, plays Mr Reed, a man who kidnaps a pair of young, female Mormon missionaries, before subjecting them to a terrifying series of tests and games. 

Titled Heretic, the film - set to be released on November 1 in the UK - is written and directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, the writers behind John Krasinski’s 2018 post-apocalyptic horror A Quiet Place.

The film was screened at the AFI Fest in California on Thursday night after its premiere at the Toronto Film Festival last month. 

It has already created a buzz from reviewers - and it already has a score of 93% on Rotten Tomatoes. 

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The Guardian's Benjamin Lee awarded the film three out of five stars and wrote Hugh 'gives us flashes of the same disarming charm we associate him with, but here it’s used as part of his weaponry in his sadistic game'. 

He wrote: 'What’s such a great surprise, and such a great pleasure, is just how talky Heretic is, the first half akin to watching a juicy stage play, reminiscent of Deathtrap or Sleuth, a sneaky game of psychological cat-and-mouse that’s far more tense because of how withheld the more in-your-face horror is. 

'Grant’s speechifying, crafted by A Quiet Place duo Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, is smug, sure, but also delicious in its provocations, striking at hypocrisies and inconsistencies within religion, like an anti-preacher delivering a hateful sermon. It’s then rather thrilling to see the missionaries gain the strength to strike back, a captivating game of high-stakes tennis that’s far more satisfying than any action sequence I’ve seen this year. 

'Grant tears into it with such ebullient vigour that it feels as if he’s been waiting for something like this for decades, a performance of total freedom and what seems like genuinely giddy pleasure. He gives us flashes of the same disarming charm we associate him with, but here it’s used as part of his weaponry as he tries to cajole his opponents into playing his sadistic game.' 

Film critic Bilge Ebiri for Vulture wrote: 'While Grant has done some terrific work in recent years as either villains or at least characters of questionable moral standing — think Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, The Undoing, and Paddington II — his riveting turn in Heretic is something else entirely. 

'In some ways, it’s a classic Hugh Grant role: We recognize all those familiar mannerisms and tics and gestures that once helped him charm his way to the A-list in hits like Four Weddings and a Funeral and Notting Hill.

'But now that the floppy hair is gone and the wrinkles have set in and the voice has become gravelly, the persona has been poisoned. By the time it’s all over, it’s hard to imagine anyone else pulling off this role, which feels like it’s in conversation with the actor’s earlier years. It’s enough to make one ask, Has Hugh Grant always been the villain?'

Vanity Fair's Richard Lawson awarded the film five star's and described Hugh's character as an 'unholy creep'.  

Heretic: What the critics have said 

The Guardian 

Rating:

'What’s such a great surprise, and such a great pleasure, is just how talky Heretic is, the first half akin to watching a juicy stage play, reminiscent of Deathtrap or Sleuth, a sneaky game of psychological cat-and-mouse that’s far more tense because of how withheld the more in-your-face horror is.' 

Vanity Fair 

Rating:

'If someone had told me back in the floppy-haired 1990s days, or the rakish early 2000s ones, that Grant would someday arrive at this kind of role, I’d have scarcely believed them. 

'But Grant continues to prove himself an adept character actor.'

Vulture 

'By the time it’s all over, it’s hard to imagine anyone else pulling off this role, which feels like it’s in conversation with the actor’s earlier years. It’s enough to make one ask, Has Hugh Grant always been the villain?'

Slash Film 

'A horror film this contained lives or dies by its performances, and "Heretic" is shouldered by three powerhouses. The slightly thorny Sister Barnes and the sweet-natured, trusting Sister Paxton make for an incredible and unlikely horror movie duo.

'The third great performance comes from Hugh Grant, continuing his astonishing transformation from former heartthrob to fascinating character actor.' 

Film Hounds  

Rating:

'If there was justice for horror films Grant would be in the Best Actor conversation with his deliciously wicked turn, but it stands as his best showcase yet.' 

Film Inquiry 

'Heretic as a whole feels like a movie walking on a tightrope. It juggles several tones together, and as our sisters navigate through the house and find their way out, the film keeps you constantly guessing as to how this will all end'. 

He wrote: 'Have we seen versions of this theme before? Sure. But Heretic presents them in some novel forms. And it is refreshing to see a horror movie—especially of the cool, meme-able A24 varietal—that has old, old social issues on its mind, rather than more zeitgeisty hot topics. Of course religion is still a mightily pertinent matter, but Heretic wants to kick at the foundation of all this, the core principle, rather than its contemporary mutations.

'It’s also quite nice to see a horror movie that is so largely focused on talk. And what a talker Grant is, during this ongoing realignment of his star profile. If someone had told me back in the floppy-haired 1990s days, or the rakish early 2000s ones, that Grant would someday arrive at this kind of role, I’d have scarcely believed them. 

'But Grant continues to prove himself an adept character actor—he may always be playing some version of Hugh Grant, but he’s been ever resourceful in bending the trope of himself into various shapes. It’s not quite transubstantiation, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t a small miracle, either.' 

Slash Film's reviewer Jacob Hall also commended the directors and cast for creating a spine-chilling thriller. 

He wrote: 'One gets the impression that Beck and Woods would happily sacrifice a few points in reviews from hoity-toity critics like me if it means sending the audience out into the lobby buzzing and on a strong cinematic high.

'Deliberately designed to function as a sort of anti-"Quiet Place" (which Beck and Woods wrote), "Heretic" is a horror movie driven entirely by dialogue, conversation, debate, and words as weapons.

'A horror film this contained lives or dies by its performances, and "Heretic" is shouldered by three powerhouses. The slightly thorny Sister Barnes and the sweet-natured, trusting Sister Paxton make for an incredible and unlikely horror movie duo.

'The third great performance comes from Hugh Grant, continuing his astonishing transformation from former heartthrob to fascinating character actor. His Mr. Reed is a perfect use of Grant's talents (using every part of the Hugh Grant, if you will)...  eventually, we're seeing sides of Grant we've never seen before as an actor, a previously untapped capacity for terror that lands all the harder because we watched several familiar masks dissolve in slow motion before our very eyes.' 

Film Hound's Paul Klein awarded four stars and wrote: 'If there was justice for horror films Grant would be in the Best Actor conversation with his deliciously wicked turn, but it stands as his best showcase yet.

'Really this is Grant's showcase. The film allows Grant to do his usual charming affable schtick and then, very slowly, turn it. What was once upon a time delightful quirks, with just a little bit of age and a lack of score becomes very sinister. 

'Those witty little asides that made the early rom-coms so fun, in the hands of horror filmmakers, become almost sadistic throwaways, undercutting whatever point he makes to show he doesn't care.' 

Film Inquiry's Kevin Lee describes said the thriller is 'surprisingly sophisticated and nuanced, as it embraces a mental cat-and-mouse that holds your attention throughout the runtime.'

'Heretic as a whole feels like a movie walking on a tightrope. It juggles several tones together, and as our sisters navigate through the house and find their way out, the film keeps you constantly guessing as to how this will all end,' he wrote.

'Though the third act may feel a tad weaker than its setup (simply because the setup is so exquisitely done), this is a horror film that knows its identity in and out, and manages to have a ton of fun along the way.'