Elephant's Graveyard Films: Heretic (2024)

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Friendly Hello and Introduction!

Hello hello!! As I'm writing this, it's finals week for me. I am thankfully going to be done with school by the time t2hat this is released, BUT! We move on, hahaha; I hope everyone is doing well and taking care of themselves!

I will be posting one more blog for the semester after this one, but I love blogging so much that I think I’m going to start posting personal work on Substack… ope.. if I follow through with that, I’ll link my page.

Anyway, I wanted to write about a film that I saw twice this month and that I really enjoyed: Heretic (2024). I watched this film for the first time during a weekend trip home with my good friend Lily, and it absolutely blew me away. I really enjoyed a ton of different aspects of the movie, so much so that I watched it in theatres again with my boyfriend and friends. I'm glad to say everyone who has seen it with me enjoys it, bahaha :P This will be a spoiler-free review!! I will not reveal key points that could give away the ending/details that suggest certain things.

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Heretic (2024)

According to Letterboxd's summary: "Question everything. Two young missionaries are forced to prove their faith when they knock on the wrong door, and they are greeted by a diabolical Mr. Reed, becoming ensnared in his deadly game of cat-and-mouse."

Image from Heretic (2024)

This movie was absolutely wonderful in my opinion, although, it is 2 hours long, and if lengthy movies aren't your personal preference, or if you don't like having to be patient, it may not stick well with you!

There are definitely things to pay attention to in the background, and within Mr. Reed's (Hugh Grant) words, when I watched this for the second time, there were things that I had missed before or had not paid strong enough attention to that I caught the second time around.

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I really enjoyed the cinematography; it's definitely more modern, and I wouldn't say that the coloring/filter was my absolute favorite (I understand why someone may love or really dislike it; it's an A24 style.) But I do still think that the shots during the second and third acts were incredible; I liked it quite a lot.

I also really enjoyed the story's ability to raise questions regarding religious beliefs but it also does not paint an anti-religious narrative. Mr. Reed is the physical embodiment of r/atheism, though, and it drags on quite a lot; however, that is just his nature, and it's not necessarily the message of the film.

I really enjoyed the acting of Sophie Thatcher (Sister Barnes), Chloe East (Sister Paxton), and Hugh Grant (Mr. Reed). I think that they had all great ways of honing their character, and Grant made an incredibly charismatic and charming antagonist. This is more about dialogue writing, but I am typically not a huge fan when comedic breaks are added into what is supposed to be a thriller or scary movie. It almost always ruins it for me, but they did a very good job at making these characters feel like real people that I could meet on the street, and they did a good job at making me laugh, but not ruining the headspace that they've set for the audience.

Image from Heretic (2024)

That itself is what makes this movie scary; it is that the first and second acts are entirely possible, and Mr. Reed is a very realistic man. He isn't black-and-white where we are forced to dislike him, in fact, he eases us with jokes and almost tries to make his victims (and us) doubt why we would even be concerned about him in the first place. Absolutely incredible.

I truly believe that you don't need to be screaming and have your heart palpitating to be scared, and I wouldn't even consider this movie to be traditionally "scary." It's trying to be unsettling but not even in a traditionally unsettling way. I am probably explaining this very poorly at this point haha, but! I enjoyed it. I wouldn't say this is the best scary movie ever made, but it was very enjoyable.

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Things I disliked

I didn't enjoy the music, as in the ambiance/suspense music. I really dislike the commercial "intense music" and almost having us be forced to feel certain emotions. I think that if the music was toned down and maybe done in a different, less cliche style, I would've liked it way more. There are very good ways to add music to enhance a scene and to make an audience feel something, but there is an extent where it just feels like I'm watching a Marvel movie, and it gets super corny.

Image from Heretic (2024)

I didn't enjoy the speed of the development of Sister Paxton in the third act; I cannot reveal it for spoiler reasons. However, I think it was really unrealistic, and it could've been smoother because her character had a very fast and hard shift.

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My Letterboxd Review!

I do want to preface by saying that I am a high rater. I will never be ashamed of having love in my heart... So, I ended up rating this a 4.5; outside of the music and third act, I really enjoyed this film, and I would definitely watch it again.