There are so many avenues to explore within directors and co-writers Scott Beck and Bryan Wood’s feature Heretic. At the top, it’s a spellbinding exploration of faith and ideology. But using that as a launchpad, the movie opens up to look at misogyny through the backhanded ways men attempt to control women and, concurrently, the ways women are forced to act against their own self-interest out of a sense of propriety. It also gives us a performance from Hugh Grant, returning to the horror genre (shout-out to Lair of the White Worm), that is set to become a litmus test for any future romantic relationships you might encounter.

Sister Barnes and Sister Paxton (Sophie Thatcher and Chloe East, respectively) are Mormon missionaries who spend their day going door-to-door trying to get converts. When they meet Mr. Reed (Grant), they believe he’s a kind man whose wife is just hiding in the next room. Unfortunately for them Mr. Reed has ill intentions and is determined to make the two young girls prove their faith.

Beck and Woods’ script capably skirts the line between cringe and outright horror, many times finding the humor in-between. We meet Sisters Barnes and Paxton as they’re talking about condoms and porn, not exactly the discussion topics you’d immediately expect for Mormon missionaries. The fact that they’re having this discussion while sitting on a bench advertising condoms puts the onus on the fact they’re discussing the world around them. They may be naive — Sister Barnes comments on how “poignant” a discussion about pornography is — but they are still young women when you get down to it.

They spend their days doing the Sisyphean task of taking their bikes up and down stairs as they go to various houses, with Sister Paxton the most eager to make her first conversion. Horror has always been a genre for viewers to explore the lengths women, specifically, will go to in order to stay alive. We’re taught how to use our keys as weapons and to text others our whereabouts as often as possible. But one of the earliest things most women are taught in order to avoid a potentially harrowing situation is “Get out of the situation in the kindest way possible.”

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When the two girls knock on Mr. Reed’s door, it’s with the caveat that they won’t enter the house until he produces his wife. It’s the first in a series of moments where the girls attempt to protect themselves and adhere to the strictures of their faith. It’s here where Grant leverages his persona as the bumbling, nice guy Brit to fantastic effect. He’s charming, joking around dropping puns anyone’s dad would make. He lulls Sisters Barnes and Paxton, and the audience, into a false sense of security and it’s remarkable. Even when the movie starts to firmly place Grant in the villain role, the audience is taken aback. “Hugh Grant is so nice. He was in Four Weddings and a Funeral, dammit!”

And that’s the mastery of the performance, and the casting. As Mr. Reed tells them at a certain point, “The question is why do you all let me,” meaning why do the women he’s done this to try so hard to be compliant? For him, he’s the guy telling them not to get “worked up” when they feel unsafe. Considering Grant’s history in the romantic genre it’s impossible not to presume that much of why he acts out certain scenes the way he does is because of the audience sitting in the theater thinking there must be a reason for why he’s acting this way.

Even once the girls are trapped, the script always reiterates their attempts to placate Reed and get on his good side. Chloe East, as Sister Paxton, sells the audience on the sweet, seemingly compliant girl, desperate to escape. She always has a “that’s really cool” hanging in her back pocket in a vain attempt to hide her roving eyes. She has the harder job as the audience expects her to be the weaker of the pair. Thatcher, to her credit, is also solid, but playing the more hardened character is a natural thing for her at this point. What’s better to watch is how her and East bounce off each other, particularly once the pair become trapped in the basement and Sister Barnes has to be the one to try to get them out.

But while the performances are magnetic to watch, it’s Beck and Woods’ script that is so compelling. Sister Paxton asks at the beginning, “How has God shown you that the church is true?” and it’s at the heart of the cat and mouse game between them and Mr. Reed. Reed, as a character, is every dude you’ve met on social media that reiterates something is just a clear copy of something else, and you don’t really need him to go into his argument. Everything with Reed is meant to gaslight the girls into believing he knows more than him, that his opinion is more valid than theirs, and that, ultimately, he is more superior than they.

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This has been quite the year for explorations of faith (from Immaculate to Conclave), but Heretic takes a dense look into how faith gets manipulated to really act as a means of controlling women. The plot takes a sharp left turn down some wild paths, but even when it’s at its kookiest, it’s still just the age old story of a guy who wants to be able to do whatever he wants to a woman.

Heretic is another strong horror offering in a year that’s been full of them. Hugh Grant is utterly phenomenal as is Chloe East. This is one that you’ll want to marinate in, particularly its script. And, remember, if a person you’re dating thinks Mr. Reed made some good points, run.

Heretic is in theaters November 8.

Grade: B+