HERETIC  (in theatres)

Peneflix through the years has periodically concentrated on the horror genre; to be taken seriously there are certain rules that must be adhered to,  to qualify as terrifying, number one is its feasibility; the probability that it could happen, surreal sacrificed for reality as in “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” or Australian “Wolf Creek”; but leaving “Heretic” this afternoon, I recognized a chilling phenomenon, a masterpiece in metaphor, faith-challenging, the depth of organized religion and its capacity  to control, determine the direction of one’s life. A dance between belief and disbelief in a higher power.

Directed and written by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods (“A Quiet Place”) this deeply disturbing and religiously complicated scenario revolves around a dialogue, treatise between “Mr. Reed” (alarmingly brilliant, transformative Hugh Grant) and two young Mormon missionaries, “Sister Barnes” (prescient Sophie Thatcher) and “Sister Paxton” (Chloe East, electrifying). Mr. Reed cautiously, charmingly weaves a claustrophobic, problematic web around the Sisters, masterfully, with inimitable liturgical scholarship, blasts and destroys the integrity of all religions and their sacred icons. The Sisters, aware of impending danger struggle to compete in philosophical, mind games, their acuity sharpened with the circuitous, twists of logic and reason.

Cinematographer Chung-hoon Chung (“The Handmaiden” & “Oldboy”) creates a stairway to hell, grasping the intensity, bleakness of their demise, Sisters Barnes and Paxton with a hint of an afterlife, fortuitously fight the “Heretic” and his hurdling, quaking, sickening iterations.

FOUR STARS!!!!

Peneflix