Heretic

Why wouldn't you take candy from this man?
dirs: Scott Beck and Bryan Woods
2024
It’s been a good year for horror. I often find that the worse life outside of cinemas gets, the better the horror films that we eventually see become.
It’s a thin gruel of consolation, I’ll admit. It’s almost callous in its disregard for all the misery ongoing for many at the moment, and for even more people any minute now.
But that’s why we watch movies, even horror movies. It’s not just for escape – it can be time spent in a world constructed to make a certain amount of sense, when sense is profoundly lacking all around us.
And, oh, Hugh Grant in his baddie phase… yes please. I think he only plays monsters now, and we’re all the better for it.
For the longest time Heretic chugs along at a certain pace, and we are not sure if Grant’s character of Mr Reed is just an arsehole or if he’s a monstrous arsehole.
That is exactly as it should be. I don’t think anyone looks at the poster for this flick, with Grant in all his square-glassed, weathered glory, with any doubt as to if he’s playing a monster or not, but that’s just a story we tell ourselves based on appearances.
I’m starting to think he’s a baddie in real life too: He really, really seems to be enjoying it. And when hobbies and work crossover, well, they’re paying you for doing what you love.
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