{"id":29994,"date":"2024-11-07T00:16:18","date_gmt":"2024-11-07T08:16:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=29994"},"modified":"2024-11-07T00:16:18","modified_gmt":"2024-11-07T08:16:18","slug":"heretic-benefits-from-great-performances","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=29994","title":{"rendered":"HERETIC Benefits from Great Performances"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Running Time: 110 minutes<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This film from A24 opens exclusively in theaters on\nNovember 8th<\/sup>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ever get a knock at the door and answer it, only to find\nsomeone unexpectedly attempting to sell you a product, or convert you to their\nreligion? It seems like the makers of the new horror picture Heretic<\/em> are\nfamiliar with this experience. They have decided to try and turn the tables on\nthese unwanted interlopers to a mostly dark and amusingly horrific effect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Sister Barnes (Sophie Thatcher) and Sister Paxton (Chloe\nEast) are young members of the Church of Latter-day Saints and are attempting\nto do duty and convert locals to their faith. The Mormon teens take their list\nof possible new members and head door-to-door to convince them to join. They\narrive at the exceedingly polite Mr. Reed (Hugh Grant), who does profess to be\ninterested in learning more about the religion. He coaxes them to come inside\nhis home for a drink and some pie while listening to their pitch. The ladies\naccept, but soon find their views being challenged with more and more passion\nby the host. They attempt to leave, but quickly realize that the well-manned\nman may actually have ulterior motives and sinister plans.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is a small picture with only three major characters and\none central locale, so much of it is dependent on the cast. Thankfully, they\nall shine. Hugh Grant is clearly having a great time with his role, slowly\nmoving from utmost civility and manners, to verbally poking and prodding his\nguests. As his questions become complex and tougher to answer, he becomes\nbolder in his claims, before turning into a threatening presence. And despite\nbeing a baddie, he\u2019s full of wit, using funny analogies, including board games\nand the music of the 60s band The Hollies to try and assert his claims.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Younger cast members Thatcher and East are also solid and\nhold their own. Despite their intrusive task, the screenplay does show them\nbeing treated poorly by others, gaining the characters some sympathy. Early on,\nviewers see that one of them is a deeper believer than the other, which adds\nsome contrast between them and in the way they respond to Mr. Reed\u2019s queries.\nThe pair also manage to try and argue back with their host in different ways,\nadding entertaining back and forth between all the participants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first hour of the picture is a great deal of fun when\nfocused on the awkward and occasionally vaguely threatening conversations\nbetween the three. However, things do suffer slightly when more about Mr. Reed\nis revealed and the story takes a more conventional turn. It begins resorting\nto standard horror tropes and the antagonist loses his sharpness. While these\nlater sequences are effectively tense and well-put together, it all begins to\nfeel familiar by the final act. Mr. Reed\u2019s backstory also leads to questions\nregarding the set-up of his home, and how he has been able to partake in his\nactivities so successfully for so long.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

But these are fairly common issues in horror pictures. And\nwhile the philosophical discussions\/arguments are thrown aside for a more\ntypical showdown, the movie does manage to ask questions about the devotion of\nits protagonists and the negative aspects of religious power and worship. The\nmovie has ideas and attempts to address them in a darkly amusing manner, which\nis more than can be said of many similar pictures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Heretic<\/em> probably wouldn\u2019t have worked nearly as well\nwithout its stellar cast, but all of the performers are exceptional. They\u2019re a\nblast to watch, so while the movie doesn\u2019t quite transcend the genre, it does\ndeliver the creepy goods and horror enthusiasts may want to hear this story\nout. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Running Time: 110 minutes This film from A24 opens exclusively in theaters on November 8th. Ever get a knock at the door and answer it, only to find someone unexpectedly attempting to sell you a product, or convert you to their religion? It seems like the makers of the new horror picture Heretic are familiar […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":29998,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[215,605,4272,5213,9117,9118,9119,9120,9319,9462,16844,18725],"class_list":["post-29994","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie-reviews","tag-215","tag-a24","tag-chloe-east","tag-dark-comedy","tag-heretic","tag-heretic-film-review","tag-heretic-movie-review","tag-heretic-review","tag-horror","tag-hugh-grant","tag-religious","tag-sophie-thatcher"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29994","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=29994"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29994\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=29994"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=29994"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=29994"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}