Heretic

A couple of Mormon door-knockers (Chloe East, Sophie Thatcher) get stuck in a weird guy’s house (Hugh Grant) and end up in a cat and mouse intellectual game to fight for their survival.

Spoilers ahead but in short this by and large gets the thumbs up from me and I’d recommend going in cold to this one.

Hugh Grant clearly has established himself as a lovable villain in Paddington 2 and Dungeons and Dragons so it was of some interest to see what he gets up to here, in a more traditional chamber piece horror film.

It works pretty well. The tone is sinister and the tension quickly builds, and his way of delivering lines with that slight hint of comedy and charm becomes all the more chilling in this scenario. Choosing to stick to what Grant does best, then transplanting it into this nightmare setting was an inspired move that pays off.

The core premise, that an obsessive atheist traps religious people into listening to his rambling diatribes, is pretty funny albeit a little flimsy by the end.

What you do get at the end though is a fantastically creative shot, where the camera zooms out and the characters are running through a miniature of the house, in the house itself.

Pair Grant’s performance with a couple of pitch-perfect ones from the Mormon girls and you’ve got a fun night out at the cinema.