Heretic is an upcoming horror thriller film starring Hugh Grant, Sophie Thatcher and Chloe East. The A24 movie has been directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods.
Heretic held its premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 8, 2024 and was later released in the United Kingdom on the day of Halloween. However, it is set to be theatrically released across the United States on November 15, 2024.
The story revolves a mysterious English man named Mr. Reed (played by Hugh Grant) whose encounter with two Mormon missionaries (Sister Barnes and Sister Paxton) proves to be extremely dangerous for the latter. The two of them end up at Mr. Reed's house to convert him but, it only awakens a sinister force that hunts them down.
With the holiday season round the corner, the element of horror has reportedly raised a lot of excitement among fans. It has further left the viewers speculating on how the movie ends - whether the two Sisters are able to escape from the clutches of Mr. Reed. The official synopsis of the movie reads:
"Two young religious women are drawn into a game of cat-and-mouse in the house of a strange man."
Disclaimer: This article contains spoilers from the movie Heretic. Please be advised.
What happens at the end of Heretic?
Mr. Reed's gentleman-like appearance traps Sister Barnes and Paxton in a conspiracy. They end up entering his house upon an invitation and is asked to wait, as his wife bakes a pie in the next room.
The two women start a coversation with Mr. Reed and try to educate him about the ways of their religious institution. But, Mr. Reed is an inquisitive person and starts questioning their beliefs in a rather challenging manner.
What started as a friendly discussion soon turns into an intense theological debate. The two women soon find out that Mr. Reed has no wife and they have been locked by him in his house. According to Mr. Reed, the only true religion is control and to prove that point, he resorts to violence.
At the end of Heretic, we see that Sister Barnes dies at the hands of Mr. Reed, who further says, "I can show you God, if you’re willing to die". On the other hand, Sister Paxton somehow escapes to another room and finds out several women, held captive in cages - an indication of Mr. Reed exercising control.
Sister Paxton fights Mr. Reed and manages to stab him before escaping from the house of horrors. But, she gets lost in the maze-like mansion and Mr. Reed catches up to her. As an injured Mr. Reed crawls over Sister Paxton, he ironically asks her to pray for him to live. Sister Paxton counts her last few moments.
Right at that time, Sister Barnes miraculously appears at the scene and smashes Mr. Reed's head with a bat studded with nails. Sister Barnes, having resurrected for a short time, dies immediately after and Sister Paxton manages to escape through a window. She stops by the road to catch her breath, when a butterfuly suddenly lands on one of her fingers and then flies away. Sister Paxton luckily survives.
Does Sister Barnes actually resurrect?
As seen at the end of Heretic, Mr. Reed slits Sister Barnes' throat and leaves her bleeding. While it looks like she is dead, but she is actually not - she rather passes away from the lost of blood. The sequence has been orchestrated to make it look like a resurrection.
Given what is seen earlier in the film (a caged woman eating a poisoned pie, dying and then coming back to life) - the above mentioned scene makes sense as the plot unravels. Moreover, it is just Mr. Reed's illusive method (switiching bodies) to portray his doctrine of control over the caged women.
What does the butterfly in the closing sequence signify?
In the closing sequence of Heretic, we see that Sister Paxton escapes from Mr. Reed's house. As she takes a break to catch her breath, a butterfly lands on her hand. The butterfly has been aligned to one of the earlier scenes, where Mr. Reed explains what is the 'butterfly dream'.
It is based on a Chinese philosopher who once had a dream that he was a butterly as he flew from one flower to another, living in freedom. When Paxton has her first encounter with Mr. Reed, she tells him that she would like to be reincarnated as a butterfly, be free all the time and spend all her life flying around.
The incidents that Sister Paxton went through might have impacted her faith in the Almighty as well as the futility of one's existence.
So, the butterfly can be the reincarnated spirit of Sister Barnes or just simply a butterfly, with no inner connection to the story.
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