HERETIC

I normally steer well clear of the horror genre but since this well-reviewed film stars Hugh Grant I felt confident that I would enjoy it, or at the very least it wouldn't freak me out.

It's a simple enough setup: two young women (Sister Barnes and Sister Paxton) who are Mormon missionaries make the mistake of visiting the home of Mr Reed.  The entire film, bar the first few minutes, takes place in the house, and there is only one other credited character, who plays a very small role in the story.

Mr Reed starts off as seeming just mildly eccentric but it doesn't take long before the two Sisters realise they are in deep trouble.

For the last ten years or so Hugh Grant has been enjoying a late-career renaissance, often playing against type.  Here he is very effective as a suave and sinister obsessive who it turns out is simply quite evil.

There is a very effective scene midway through the film where a new (uncredited) character is introduced, and the film takes quite a surreal turn, leading eventually to us discovering the depths of Mr Reed's depravity.

Before we get to those scenes though I enjoyed the cerebral aspect to the film in that Mr Reed does have a sort of deranged logic to what he does, arising from his atheism, which he enjoys espousing.

It's inevitable that one of the two Sisters will not survive, but I was a little disappointed that it was the one who seemed the cleverer and braver of the two who gets killed off.  This meant that in the final stages of the film the other Sister has to display levels of resourcefulness which seemed at odds with her character.  This may have contributed to me feeling that the climactic scenes didn't quite deliver as I would have hoped.

Overall though this is a solid and well-made film, and I am not surprised that it got the thumbs up from critics.  Audiences it seems were a bit more lukewarm, perhaps there wasn't enough gore, or perhaps like me they felt the ending lacked something?    

RATING: ✓ Cheers