A Radiohead “Creep” fan, sadistic killer, and theology-obsessed narcissist (who loves the sound of his own voice) runs wild, using a blueberry-scented candle and endless rambling to torment victims
I'm so not a Horror person! The only one I've watched in the last 20 years in Bones and All and we all know why I made that exception 😂 I enjoyed the review anyhow!
I was getting scared just reading about Heretic. I don’t do horror. I don’t understand the appeal. People have a need for heart palpitations, screaming and maybe closing their eyes for half the movie? Haha.
I love this stage in HG’s career. He’s not reached Nic Cage levels of idiosyncrasy but there’s a level of quirkiness in his recent roles that’s comparable. I think Heretic is his best to date, although I love him in About a Boy.
The mention of Wendy's in the review now has me thinking about how much I preferred their old fries as compared to their new "hot and crispy" offering. I still need to check out Heretic, from your review it kind of sounds similar to The Black Phone which also was a movie with great moments but a flat third act, at least in my view, though I will always support Ethan Hawke.
Ha! Wendy’s as the film states is the top fast food although there was a lot of BK talk but one particularly rancid Taco Bell story found its way in into the action here. I wonder if an exec or someone at A24 had some bad dealings with the franchise. Similarly the Gen X antihero is the winner here much like Black Phone. Kitsch goes a long way
Beth, this will not surprise you in the least, but Heretic is not my kind of movie. While I'm too squeamish/wimpy to see it, I loved this letter and your thoughts on the film. Your take is always the right one!
Thanks Erin. Your words and trust mean a lot. 😊 This may come as little surprise but I’m not a horror fan myself. I find I had a period where I enjoyed it more and every now and then I dip my toes back in it. This one I was avoiding but also intrigued by. I’m glad I watched but I also tempered it with occasional reads on my kindle of my romance book when things got to be too difficult!
I think we watched the same movie. The first half was definitely solid - it reminds me of The Descent, which I thought started incredibly strongly but then kinda jumped the shark. This felt like that.
Ha! We most definitely did. I think the chief complaint of this film, based on my research here and on Letterboxd, is its ending, but Hugh Grant is phenomenal. He just gives this film his all. I never saw "The Descent," but I thought about "Blair Witch Project" (similar-ish time period) when I was watching this, in that it felt different and intriguing.
It was cool to tackle religion head-on instead of shying away from it, but I'm not THAT surprised given A24's unflinching view of cults and stuff like that. It was a bit refreshing, but also: it got very predictable and trope-y during the conversation near the end. That being said, they're not all going to be amazing hits, and I'm so glad this studio is out there :)
Hmmm. I think I agree with your take on The Heretic, at least in theory - I haven't watched it yet, but it's also true that A24 films all seem to have this third act fatal flaw more often than not. I always love what the setup, the build-up, the intrigue and intellectual challenges being explored in the first two thirds, and then god dammit do they usually spiral (as you say) away from their careful construction in the final third. At this point, I have to believe it's the executives liking and pushing for these kinds of third acts rather than just the writers, it's so across the board with their releases.
Thx Dave! I hadn’t even considered this A24 pattern before but you’re not wrong. It was a bummer here too because the faith discussion and exploration (and challenging) was excellent. I wanted more of this mental stuff! The pop culture references for our Gen X villain completely on point. Even the exterior shots of the gorgeous, mountains of SLC backdrop in contrast to the dungeon of Mr Reed’s locale something to visually stimulate but yeah that last third there was a lot of eyerolling
Second episode in on "The Undoing"...
I'm so not a Horror person! The only one I've watched in the last 20 years in Bones and All and we all know why I made that exception 😂 I enjoyed the review anyhow!
I’m finding many of my readers and beloved Substack friends are not horror people! 😂
I was getting scared just reading about Heretic. I don’t do horror. I don’t understand the appeal. People have a need for heart palpitations, screaming and maybe closing their eyes for half the movie? Haha.
Haha same! I think reading this is about as much horror as I can take. I can't do anything around torture and suffering.
This is why I don’t read Stephen King.
Yes I plead insanity
I love this stage in HG’s career. He’s not reached Nic Cage levels of idiosyncrasy but there’s a level of quirkiness in his recent roles that’s comparable. I think Heretic is his best to date, although I love him in About a Boy.
The mention of Wendy's in the review now has me thinking about how much I preferred their old fries as compared to their new "hot and crispy" offering. I still need to check out Heretic, from your review it kind of sounds similar to The Black Phone which also was a movie with great moments but a flat third act, at least in my view, though I will always support Ethan Hawke.
Ha! Wendy’s as the film states is the top fast food although there was a lot of BK talk but one particularly rancid Taco Bell story found its way in into the action here. I wonder if an exec or someone at A24 had some bad dealings with the franchise. Similarly the Gen X antihero is the winner here much like Black Phone. Kitsch goes a long way
Beth, this will not surprise you in the least, but Heretic is not my kind of movie. While I'm too squeamish/wimpy to see it, I loved this letter and your thoughts on the film. Your take is always the right one!
Thanks Erin. Your words and trust mean a lot. 😊 This may come as little surprise but I’m not a horror fan myself. I find I had a period where I enjoyed it more and every now and then I dip my toes back in it. This one I was avoiding but also intrigued by. I’m glad I watched but I also tempered it with occasional reads on my kindle of my romance book when things got to be too difficult!
Yeah, I'll probably pass. I'm looking for "uplifting" these days, I guess. :-/
Ha!
I think we watched the same movie. The first half was definitely solid - it reminds me of The Descent, which I thought started incredibly strongly but then kinda jumped the shark. This felt like that.
More Hugh Grant, please!
Ha! We most definitely did. I think the chief complaint of this film, based on my research here and on Letterboxd, is its ending, but Hugh Grant is phenomenal. He just gives this film his all. I never saw "The Descent," but I thought about "Blair Witch Project" (similar-ish time period) when I was watching this, in that it felt different and intriguing.
It was cool to tackle religion head-on instead of shying away from it, but I'm not THAT surprised given A24's unflinching view of cults and stuff like that. It was a bit refreshing, but also: it got very predictable and trope-y during the conversation near the end. That being said, they're not all going to be amazing hits, and I'm so glad this studio is out there :)
We have the same thoughts about the third act of this movie. I do think that the first couple of acts make it worth watching.
Hmmm. I think I agree with your take on The Heretic, at least in theory - I haven't watched it yet, but it's also true that A24 films all seem to have this third act fatal flaw more often than not. I always love what the setup, the build-up, the intrigue and intellectual challenges being explored in the first two thirds, and then god dammit do they usually spiral (as you say) away from their careful construction in the final third. At this point, I have to believe it's the executives liking and pushing for these kinds of third acts rather than just the writers, it's so across the board with their releases.
Thx Dave! I hadn’t even considered this A24 pattern before but you’re not wrong. It was a bummer here too because the faith discussion and exploration (and challenging) was excellent. I wanted more of this mental stuff! The pop culture references for our Gen X villain completely on point. Even the exterior shots of the gorgeous, mountains of SLC backdrop in contrast to the dungeon of Mr Reed’s locale something to visually stimulate but yeah that last third there was a lot of eyerolling