After a career largely built as the male lead in romantic comedies, Hugh Grant finds himself in his mid-60s and less able to rely on his patented brand of fumbling charisma. This takes him to unusual territory in 2024’s psychological thriller Heretic.

As part of their mission, Mormons Sister Barnes (Sophie Thatcher) and Sister Paxton (Chloe East) go from door to door to spread the word of their faith. At the end of one long day, they end up at the house of Mr. Reed (Grant).

When Mr. Reed brings the young women into his home, he seems open to their message and willing to engage. However, Mr. Reed boasts an ulterior motive that creates tension and potential terror among his “guests”.

Although I mentioned at the start that Hugh Grant at 64 can no longer trade on the boyish charm of his younger years, that doesn’t prove completely true. Indeed, much of the success of Heretic relies on his bumbling, likable manner and lack of threatening demeanor.

A lot of this comes via audience familiarity, of course. Though Grant’s career started in the early 1980s, he didn’t become a true star until Four Weddings and a Funeral.

That hit set up the “Hugh Grant Persona” that he continued to utilize for years. I can see why some would find Grant’s stammering and awkwardness annoying, but he pulled off that tone too well for me to mind.

To some degree, Grant continues with that vibe here, but he subverts our expectations because Mr. Reed offers a darker character than we expect from the actor. Because we view Grant’s roles as so likable – and because Heretic sets up Mr. Reed as warm and friendly – the story’s shifts dig deeper than would’ve happened with an actor we know less well.

To his credit, Grant “goes there” with Mr. Reed. He doesn’t make the character an evil cartoon, but he makes sure that we see the role’s sadistic and malevolent side without attempts to soften him.

This becomes a large reason Heretic succeeds, as Grant’s performance draws us in so well. East and Thatcher also offer potent foils, albeit ones who develop in ways we might not suspect.

Part of the tension in Heretic comes from the manner in which it uses social conventions. We’ve all been stuck in situations that we found uncomfortable – and downright scary – but we suffered through them due to a fear that we might seem “rude”.

Sisters Barnes and Paxton find themselves stuck in that way. They can tell pretty quickly that Mr. Reed might not be the innocent and avuncular older gentleman he initially seems to be, but social training makes it tough for them to do what they think they should and scurry away from his home.

Because we can relate, the movie enjoys greater suspense. Of course, we know shoes will drop because we saw ads and recognize the genre involved, but I still feel Heretic develops its drama in a nicely subtle and gradual manner.

Well, for the movie’s first half, at least. During its second hour, it becomes more of a conventional scarefest and loses some of the intellectual steam of its opening.

As the opening half develops, Heretic digs into intellectual discussions of religion and related domains, and it offers a battle of wits. After that, it pursues more standard “scary movie” moments. These work fine but they disappoint because that first half functions so well.

Despite my modest disappointment that Heretic goes down more standard “scary movie” paths as it progresses, I still find a lot to like about it. The film gives us an abnormally taut and idea-based thriller that largely works.

Heretic appears in an aspect ratio of 2.39:1 on this 4K UHD Disc. Taken from a native 4K source, this Dolby Vision image performed well.

Sharpness worked well. Softness never became an issue in this tight presentation.

I saw no shimmering or jagged edges, and edge haloes failed to appear. As for source flaws, the image lacked specks, marks or other issues.

Colors appeared fine, as the film opted for a standard emphasis on teal and orange. Within these choices, the tones seemed appropriate, and HDR added punch to the tones.

Blacks looked dark and deep, and shadows were smooth. HDR added impact to whites and contrast. The image was good enough for a “A-“.

Downconverted to Dolby TrueHD 7.1, I also felt positive about the pretty good Dolby Atmos soundtrack of Heretic. The story’s scarier elements offered nice use of the side and rear speakers.

Various components filled out the speakers in a fairly involving manner, with the most aggressive material related to inclement weather. Some directional dialogue came along for the ride as well.

Audio quality was fine. Speech usually seemed natural and concise. Effects depicted the elements with acceptable accuracy and boasted pleasing low-end when necessary.

Music showed nice clarity and range, and the track also packed solid bass response at times. This was a perfectly solid mix for the material.

The set’s extras start with an audio commentary from writers/directors Scott Beck and Bryan Woods. Both sit together for a running, screen-specific discussion of the project’s roots and development, inspirations and influences, research, story and characters, cast and performances, cinematography and set design, costumes, various effects, music and audio.

At the start, Beck and Woods reflect on their fondness for the audio commentary concept. That love shows because they know how to do the job.

That means a thorough discussion that hits on all the appropriate topics and does so in a brisk and educational manner. Beck and Woods keep happy talk to the minimum and make this a simply terrific track.

Seeing Is Believing goes for 15 minutes, 19 seconds. It involves Woods, Beck, producer Stacey Sher, production designer Philip Messina, costume designer Betsy Heimann and actors Hugh Grant, Sophie Thatcher and Chloe East.

The featurette covers story/characters, cast and performances, photography, production design, and costumes. Some of this repeats from the commentary and the content leans toward happy work at times, but “Seeing” still manages enough useful content to merit a look.

Inside the disc’s sleeve, we get six Photo Cards that depict creepy – and spoiler-filled – movie shots on one side and can be assembled together to form a game board on the other side. That connection makes sense when you’ve seen the film, and it helps make these a clever addition to the package.

As a thriller with a theological bent, Heretic creates an unusual genre effort. Though it loses steam as it becomes more conventional in its second half, it still does more than enough to become a winning tale. The 4K UHD offers strong picture and audio as well as supplements highlighted by a very good commentary. Heretic turns into a largely effective film.