Hugh Grant has been warming up to his villain era for years, as anyone who loved Paddington 2 or Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves can tell you. But now he’s going all in—maybe. In Heretic, Grant plays Mr. Reed, who welcomes into his blueberry-pie-scented home two young missionaries (Sophie Thatcher and Chloe East). They can’t come in without another woman present, but they are very quick to take Mr. Reed at his word when he says his wife is home and has a pie in the oven.
He’s got something in the oven, all right, but it’s less a pie and more a diabolical scheme to mess with the missionaries’ minds. This trailer is cleverly quite vague about what exactly Mr. Reed’s plan is, other than that it seems to have been very planned out and involve a house that is, well, bigger on the inside. (Maybe?) There’s a certain enjoyable untrustworthiness to the whole setup. I’m still hoping that Mr. Reed gives his visitors a nice theology lecture before he makes them pick between doors number one (belief) and two (disbelief).
Heretic, the latest horror film from A24 (Maxxxine), is written and directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, the writers of A Quiet Place and the writer-directors of the Adam Driver dinosaur movie 65. Sophie Thatcher is best known for Yellowjackets, but also led a cool space scooter gang in The Book of Boba Fett. Chloe East was in Meet the Fabelmans and starred in the Max series Generation.
Heretic is in theaters November 15th. I expect Mr. Reed’s blueberry pie candle will be for sale on A24’s website around the same time.
