Heretic (#616)

When my visiting son and I went to the theater at 1:00 PM yesterday we were told there was a power outage, so we left, but called a few hours later and the theater was back in business.  We went to see Hugh Grant in the unlikely role of an evil man.  Two young missionary women are going door-to-door espousing the virtues of Mormonism and are invited in a home by Mr. Reed for blueberry pie, which he explained was being baked by his wife.  He engages them in a serious and very literate conversation about religion, morality and other subjects.  Despite the repeated requests from the missionaries, the wife never appears, and Mr. Reed gets more sinister by the minute, delaying the departure of the women with the excuse that they cannot go out of the front door, which is closed by a time lock for 24 hours.  When he offers the rear door it is with a caveat they must choose the right door.  More than you might want to see transpires.  The script is deep, thought-provoking and studious, and Grant was ominous and excellent in his portrayal.  It is a dark film, and perhaps at times too wordy and certainly too long, but it held our attention throughout.  My son learned that both missionary actresses were raised as Mormons but left the church.  Perfect casting?  93% of critics and 79% of audiences gave it a thumbs up.  FYI, for a horror film, it wasn't that scary.  Please note the new signature line which gives you direct access to my blog, thanks to my son.