Hugh Grant continues his post-rom-com renaissance, after the likes of Paddington 2 and The Gentleman, with a turn at horror.
From the creators of A Quiet Place, Heretic is easily one of the best and most thought-provoking films of the year.
This low-budget psychological thriller stars Grant as Mr Reed, a religiously curious older gent who invites two young Mormon missionary girls into his home, claiming his wife is in the kitchen baking a blueberry pie.
What starts off as a thoroughly engaging theological discussion soon turns into Hugh’s house of horrors, as Sisters Barnes and Paxton’s deepest beliefs are challenged in a terrifying game of faith.
This extremely well-written new movie has much to say and question, but it has one glaring error that has been repeatedly debunked.
Near the beginning of Heretic, the missionaries soon realise they cannot escape the house without participating in Mr Reed’s faith experiments. Before asking them to choose a door to go through, he gives the Sisters a lecture on belief systems, claiming that all religions are simply adaptations of each other.
One of his main claims is that many different cultures and religions have believed in saviour figures who were miraculously born before dying and resurrecting. He points to the gods of other traditions, like Ancient Egypt’s Horus and Hinduism’s Krishna, asserting many of them were, like Jesus Christ, born of a virgin on December 25, became a carpenter, and then were crucified and resurrected.
Therefore, the argument goes, Christianity is just a repackaging of other belief systems that came before it. Intriguing claims, ones that Grant himself has brought up in interviews promoting Heretic. Yet the only thing is, they’re total nonsense.
As also addressed by Film Analysis YouTuber Thomas Thorogood in his new video, The Deeper Meaning of Heretic, the idea that early Christians borrowed aspects of Jesus’ life from pagan mythology is simply a falsehood. Invented by 19th century spiritualist crackpot Gerald Massey, these claims in his 1883 work The Natural Genesis were never backed up by evidence and aren’t taken seriously by Egyptologists. In short, they’re just made up.
Horus didn’t have 12 disciples, wasn’t crucified or resurrected three days later, his mother wasn’t a virgin and he wasn’t born on December 25 – a date in the Roman calendar. In fact, neither was Jesus. December 25 isn’t even mentioned in the Bible. The date later became Christmas Day in the Christian Church calendar around Winter Solstice, the shortest and darkest day of the year, to reflect Christ being born as the light who overcomes the darkness.
Heretic is out now in cinemas.