[Movie] Heretic

[Jaymann]

Went to see this yesterday after seeing a positive review. Great buildup of tension. Hugh Grant is wonderfully chilling. Unfortunately IMO they wasted all the effort on a lackluster conclusion. They also threw out a tidbit that went nowhere:

Spoiler:

Mr. Reed talked about simulation theory but it was dropped almost immediately.

Overall it seemed like a missed opportunity. 5/8 Monopoly tokens.

[hepcat]

I was actually going to see this in a theater, but decided to wait for streaming. I've heard nothing but glowing praise for Grant's performance. I look forward to seeing if that praise is warranted.

[MCQueen2]

Yeah, Hugh Grant really nails the tension, but it's a shame the ending didn’t live up to it. Could’ve been so much more.

[GreenGoo]

The ads I saw were interesting, but every time the two girls were on the screen, interest dropped off a cliff. I'll watch it just to see Grant being creepy, but there are a number of other horror movies that I have on the "will see eventually" list, and those are probably ahead of this one.

[Jaymann]

The ads I saw were interesting, but every time the two girls were on the screen, interest dropped off a cliff. I'll watch it just to see Grant being creepy, but there are a number of other horror movies that I have on the "will see eventually" list, and those are probably ahead of this one.

What struck me about the two girls:

Spoiler:

How did Sister Paxton go from being a dumb blond to a Rhodes scholar by the end of the movie?

[Jeff V]

I thought this was another Dune movie. Heretics of Dune (one of Frankie's novels FWIW) was pretty dreadful.

[stessier]

I follow some ex-Mormon Youtubers and, for what it's worth, they have said that the way it starts would totally work and not raise any red flags at all.

[hepcat]

I thought this was another Dune movie. Heretics of Dune (one of Frankie's novels FWIW) was pretty dreadful.

I heard everything Dune related after Chapterhouse: Dune is practically unreadable.

[Jeff V]

I thought this was another Dune movie. Heretics of Dune (one of Frankie's novels FWIW) was pretty dreadful.

I heard everything Dune related after Chapterhouse: Dune is practically unreadable.

I would include Chapterhouse. Frankie clearly had a man crush on Duncan Idaho.

[hepcat]

Okay, I caught a showing of this at a 2nd run theater on the cheap this weekend. I loved it from beginning to end, even if it had a

Spoiler:

what I felt was an Occurrence at Owl Creed ending with the butterfly scene, which I felt indicated she had died at some point in the house with Reed...well, hopefully Reed died.

They also threw out a tidbit that went nowhere:

Spoiler:

Mr. Reed talked about simulation theory but it was dropped almost immediately.

Overall it seemed like a missed opportunity. 5/8 Monopoly tokens.

I don't believe that was a missed opportunity

Spoiler:

The only reason the simulation theory came up was because Reed had to improvise after his "prophet" went off script and added "none of this is real" to the end of her prepared speech. Sister Paxton points this out after she starts figuring out what's really going on. The simulation theory was never supposed to be a part of the story. It was a clumsy attempt by Reed to make his narrative match the current situation. Reed digging around in Sister Barnes corpse's arm after seeing that she had a scar there earlier and deducing that she had a birth control implant, then proclaiming it was an "implant" was pretty clumsy. Dropping it after it was revealed as such made perfect sense to me.

What struck me about the two girls:

Spoiler:

How did Sister Paxton go from being a dumb blond to a Rhodes scholar by the end of the movie?

Spoiler:

I think they made her progression from dumb blonde to Sherlock Holmes a little too hastily, but they did try to establish early on that there's far more going on under the surface with her than you get from a casual acquaintance with her. The whole bit early on about the porn film she watched and her rather insightful takeaway about the nature of shame was supposed to be the giveaway on the depths she had. But yes, she did put two and two together a little too rapidly towards the end.

This and Barbarian would make a great double feature. Both feel like grindhouse films from the 70s with arthouse sensibilities. Two big thumbs up on this one!