When codirectors Scott Beck and Bryan Woods started thinking about who could play the antagonist in their new horror flick Heretic, they knew he had to have a few specific characteristics. The film is about a man who lures missionaries into his home,

"The debate and conversation on the way out of the theater is what we were driving towards," Bryan Woods tells The Hollywood Reporter in conversation with Scott Beck about their horror film starring Sophie Thatcher and Chloe East as Mormon missionaries and Grant as a potential convert.

Heretic' stars Hugh Grant as a villainous man who invites missionaries into his home. Could a sequel be around the corner?

Horror movie "Heretic" makes Hugh Grant's horror villain face his existential fears and lets audiences interpret an ambiguious ending. (Spoilers!)

The best sorts of horror films derive their thrills, not from jump scares and gore, but from character, imagery, and tension. And this is where Heretic massively excels. This is a very insightful film designed to question the nature of organized religion,

In Heretic, Hugh Grant plays the villain. He tells Morning Edition that actors are drawn to the bad guys “rather than the dreary, goody-two-shoes lead.”

Hugh Grant redefines terror as a charming yet chilling villain in Heretic, challenging faith and fear in equal measure.

A24's latest horror film puts religion front and center in this intellectual and visceral psychological thriller about faith, belief and control.

We have no illusions that when people watch ‘Heretic’ they’re going to go, ‘Wait, did they use generative AI?'” Woods said. “It doesn’t feel like that at all, but it was important for us to put that out there because we think it’s something people need to start talking about.