Review: Hugh Grant is wicked, whip-smart perfection going to extremes in ‘Heretic’

Hugh Grant, the British romcom heartthrob we all know from “Four Weddings and a Funeral” and “Notting Hill,” has been having a wild time lately mixing comedy (“Paddington 2″) and villain (” The Undoing”). Grant is a wicked, whip-smart perfectionist who goes to extremes in “Heretic,” now in theaters after scoring at the Toronto Film Festival.

Grant starts off as his usual debonair self as the mysterious Mr. Reed, who oozes charm when he opens the door to his Colorado mountain home to a pair of young Mormon missionaries, Sister Barnes (Sophie Thatcher) and Sister Paxton (Chloe East).

The young ladies are cautious at first, as the rules insist that they must not enter any premises without a woman present. “Will my wife do it?” he blinks and claims that the lady is inside baking a typical American blueberry pie as he closes the door with a menacing click.

That alone should raise your suspicions. It’s also hard not to notice a blueberry-scented candle lying around and no wife in sight. But Reed seems incredibly eager to talk to them about defending their religion or losing it. And he bristles at any refusal to answer his questions.

Writer-directors Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, who hit the jackpot with the screenplay “A Quiet Place,” know how to create suspense and scares. The surprise is that “Heretic” is also a fascinating mindbender that asks probing philosophical questions you won’t see coming.

Mr. Reed doesn’t just play tricks on the two missionaries, who aren’t as naive as they first appear, he pushes them to practice what they preach. And that requires more from the filmmakers than figuring out new ways to terrorize us with things that go bump in the night.

From the first moment Grant displays a look of icy steel beneath Mr. Reed’s relaxed demeanor, the young evangelists search for a way out. Their jailer says he’ll be happy to let them go with one caveat. They must first pass his test by choosing one of two doors to get out: Each door has a name written in chalk: “Believe” or “Unfaithful.”

Which door would you choose? “Heretic” is eager for the audience to accept the challenge. Reed has constructed walls made of metal to exclude cell service. Even when Elder Kennedy (Topher Grace) shows up from church, he is quickly dispatched. We are alone.

“Heretics” grips you like a vise as Reed works to convince the two missionaries – Thatcher and East are intriguing opposites, by the way – that they are not true believers, but shills for the Mormon payout machine. Horror films rarely cut so deep, and “Heretic” raises the bar of horror.

Reed has built a forbidden chamber of horrors in his basement, not just to disturb us, which it does, but to raise the larger cultural question of the meaning, if any, of religion in a godless modern world.

I’ll stay spoiler-free about the climactic carnage, leaving the symbols of knives and poisons and cleansing fire for you to unravel. It’s a trippy, twisted blast, especially when Reed finds his personal religion in “Creep” by Radiohead. But this provocation is in search of bigger game.

Grant will sneak you out in “Heretic”. The dreamy romantic of the past has been replaced by a diabolical presence eager to send us all to hell. Open the door to this enchanting game of cat and mouse at your own risk. Mr. Reed means business. So does the film.