“Heretic” partial poster.
A24
Heretic— A24’s horror movie hit starring Hugh Grant, Sophie Thatcher and Chloe East — is new on streaming video on demand.
Rated R, Heretic opened in theaters on Nov. 8, 2024, and became available on digital streaming via premium video on demand on Dec. 10. The official logline for Heretic reads, “Two young missionaries are forced to prove their faith when they knock on the wrong door and are greeted by a diabolical Mr. Reed, becoming ensnared in his deadly game of cat-and-mouse.”
Grant stars as Mr. Reed in Heretic, while Thatcher (Yellowjackets) and East (The Fabelmans) play the missionaries, Sister Barnes and Sister Paxton, respectively.
Per Max, Heretic begins streaming on the Warner Bros. Discovery platform on Friday. While Heretic is an A24 film, the indie studio has a deal with the platform to begin their SVOD runs on Max.
Max has three subscription packages. The basic streaming package with ads is $9.99 per month and the standard package without ads is $16.99 per month.
The deluxe package, where users can watch the programming ad-free and in 4K Ultra HD, is $20.99 per month.
Written and directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, Heretic also stars Topher Grace as Elder Kennedy, who goes searching for the young women when they don’t return from their recruiting assignment.
Hugh Grant Says Was Fascinated Researching ‘Psychos’ For ‘Heretic’
Hugh Grant said in an interview with Variety in January that directors Scott Beck and Bryan Woods did the majority of the research on the religion aspect for their Heretic script while his “research was more into psychos.”
“I couldn’t have enjoyed it more. I did serial killers and cult leaders and why they did what they did. I loved watching them on YouTube; it was riveting,” Grant told Variety. “A lot of it was about why they are the way they are. But also, I’m just interested in: how do you dress your serial killer? What kind of glasses do you wear? How do you brush your hair? These things were very interesting to me.”
Rotten Tomatoes critics were certainly fascinated with what Beck, Woods and Grant did with Heretic and collectively gave the film a 91% “fresh” rating based on 281 reviews. The RT Critics Consensus for the film reads, “Hugh Grant has infectious fun playing against type in Heretic, a religious horror that preaches the gospel of cerebral chills over cheap shocks.”
Meanwhile, audiences gave Heretic a 76% “fresh” score on RT’s Popcornmeter based on 1,000-plus reviews. The RT audience summary for the film reads, “As the titular Heretic, Hugh Grant and his theological musings are as irresistible as blueberry pie, even if the story’s payoff doesn’t quite reach its biblically good setup.”
Heretic is new on SVOD on Max on Friday.