In the Hugh Grant plays a diabolical religious skeptic who traps two scared missionaries in his house and tries to violently shake their faith.
What starts more as a religious studies lecture slowly morphs into a gory escape room for the two door-knocking members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, underscoring just how well-suited religion can be for terrifying and entertaining .
鈥淚 think it is a fascinating religion-related horror as it raises questions about the institution of religion, the patriarchy of religion,鈥� said Stacey Abbott, a film professor at Northumbria University in Newcastle, England, whose research interests include horror, vampires and zombies.
鈥淏ut it also questions the nature of faith and confronts the audience with a debate about choice, faith and free will.鈥�
Horror has had a decades-long attraction to religion, Christianity especially in the U.S., with the 1970s 鈥淭he Exorcist鈥� and 鈥淭he Omen鈥� being prime examples. Beyond the jump scares, the supernatural elements of horror and its sublime nature pair easily with belief and spirituality 鈥� and religion鈥檚 exploration of big existential questions, Abbott said. Horror is subversive. Real-life taboo topics and cultural anxieties are fair game.
鈥淚t is a rich canvas for social critique and it can also be a space to reassert traditional values,鈥� Abbott said in an email.
Death, demons and other tough topics religion and horror address
Religions and horror tackle similar questions about what it means to be human 鈥� how people relate to one another and the world, said Brandon Grafius, a Biblical studies professor at Ecumenical Theological Seminary in Detroit and an expert on Christianity and horror.
鈥淪o much of religion is about how we grapple with the reality of death. 鈥� Helping us make meaning even in the face of that reality,鈥� said Grafius. 鈥淗orror really serves that same process, as a way to reflect on death.鈥�
Not only does Christianity translate well for U.S. audiences, it has a lot of raw material for moviemakers to work with, he said.
鈥淐hristianity emerged as a strongly dualistic religion, where forces are either good or evil,鈥� Grafius said. 鈥淓ven though the U.S. is moving away from being a nation dominated by Christianity, we still have that dualism deep in our bones.鈥�
Among the more recent religion-themed horror films, 鈥淭he Conjuring鈥� franchise, including 鈥淭he Nun鈥� movies, show paranormal investigators battling demons, Abbott said, while 鈥淭he First Omen鈥� and 鈥淚mmaculate鈥� offer critiques of patriarchal attempts to control women鈥檚 bodies.
鈥淭hese films seem to be a direct response to many of the debates that are happening in the U.S. these days," Abbott wrote in her email. 鈥淭hese different approaches to religion in horror illustrate the way in which the genre is engaging with a very live debate around religion or more specifically how religion is being used to assert control (which is what 鈥楬eretic鈥� is all about).鈥�
Grant, who plays Mr. Reed in the new movie, that he shared some of his 鈥淗eretic鈥� character鈥檚 skepticism, although not necessarily from a religious perspective:
鈥淭here is a part of me 鈥� probably a not very attractive part of me 鈥� that likes to smash people鈥檚 idols. Anyone I feel is being a bit too smug or too pretentious, I don鈥檛 like to see that. I like to just take them apart a little bit.鈥�
Horror can be challenging. It acts as a dark mirror that can reveal things people don鈥檛 want to admit and fears they don鈥檛 want to face, said the Rev. Ryan Duns, a Jesuit priest and theology chair at Marquette University in Milwaukee.
If done well, both religion and horror are unsettling, he said.
鈥淩eligion, when it unsettles, asks us am I living up to the person I have been called to be or am I complicit in systems of violence, oppression, injustice, going with the status quo,鈥� said Duns, who wrote the 鈥淭heology of Horror鈥� and teaches a course on it as well. 鈥淚n the horror movie, the monster threatens normality 鈥� threatens to destroy our status quo.鈥�
But they deviate from there. In horror, there is no way out, Duns said. He pointed out that defeating a movie's monster doesn鈥檛 prevent sequels, hence 鈥淛aws 2,鈥� 鈥淭errifier 3,鈥� 鈥淩eturn of the Killer Tomatoes鈥� and more.
In Christianity, it is Jesus and the Gospels threatening the status quo, but they offer hope and a way out, he said.
Ti West mixes religion into the narrative of , 鈥淢aXXXine,鈥� a horror film about an adult film star trying to break into mainstream movies. West, who also wrote and directed 鈥淭he Sacrament,鈥� a horror movie inspired by the Jonestown Massacre in 1978, said he doesn鈥檛 actively set out to tell stories with prominent religion narratives, but religion can be ripe for mining.
鈥淚t kind of depends on the story,鈥� West said, 鈥淎nything with morality wrapped up into it, they kind of go hand in hand at times. And it鈥檚 like religion is such a major part of every culture everywhere that 鈥� I feel like sometimes it鈥檚 such a major part of life that gets put aside in movies.鈥�
When religion works in horror 鈥� and when it doesn't
Beyond poor storytelling, the mixing of horror and religion can go wrong if the movie is meant to offend the believers of a particular faith, said Lisa Morton, an award-winning horror author whose written books on Halloween and paranormal history.
But it can really go right. Morton鈥檚 all-time favorite movie is 鈥淭he Exorcist,鈥� a holy horror icon and a peak example of the genre. 鈥淭he Omen鈥� followed it.
鈥淎ll of the contemporary bloodlines kind of trace back through those two,鈥� said Morton. 鈥淚t鈥檚 interesting how they keep getting rebooted over and over.鈥�
Abbott agrees religion should be portrayed respectfully, just as she expects accuracy and respect for science in movies, though not every detail needs to be perfect. 鈥淏ut some horror films, like exorcism movies, are built upon the fact that they are drawing upon real rituals and then taking them to a more extreme conclusion,鈥� she said.
Osgood Perkins, who wrote and directed 鈥淟onglegs,鈥� a horror movie about an occultist serial killer, invented the religious material in his film, piecing together whatever felt right from his imagination and real life.
鈥淚 just make it up,鈥� said Perkins. 鈥淏ut then you catch hold of something like the Bible verse and you鈥檙e like, 鈥榃ow, this is really rich.鈥� Beasts coming out of the sea with heads and horns and crowns and things like that. I didn鈥檛 make that up.鈥�
For Duns, an accurate portrayal of religious rituals and symbols 鈥� without over doing it 鈥� can add heft to a scene.
鈥淭he rituals of the churches have been stylized and lived out for centuries,鈥� Duns said. 鈥淲hen movies are silly or are sloppy with it, the power of the gesture and the power of the symbols are lost.鈥�
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AP reporter Krysta Fauria contributed to this report.
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Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP鈥檚 with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
Holly Meyer, The Associated Press
