Heretic- Could Hugh Grant Get An Oscar Nomination For This?
Quick Take: this is the year of horror. Normally, horror movies don’t get their day in the awards sun, but several films have popped up various places, from a surprising Best Actress nomination for Smile 2 at the Astro awards, to the strong showing for horror-adjacent films like Love Lies bleeding and I Saw The tV Glow, to even recognition for performances in movies like Cuckoo. The International Oscar race even had a few titles that were being submitted by IFC/Shudder, including The Devil’s Bath. The film with the most traction, is likely also the goriest of them all. Demi Moore’s captivating The Substance has become the kind of standoff Oscar voters don’t want to be in. Just dare to snub that film, and see what happens.
But, another contender has risen, slowly getting mentions. Hugh Grant in this devilishly clever Heretic. To be fair, I was provided a screener without audio description. However, the movie spends about 2/3rds of it in a theological debate between Grant and two unwitting Mormon girls who thought he really wanted more information. They smelled a pie cooking. And they made the mistake of going inside.
once inside, these ladies find themselves in what seems like an insane theological back and forth for their lives. The horror of this film doesn’t rear its head until the final act, so squeamish fans can basically enjoy grant’s performance as just being really creepy. I thought he was excellent, especially as he’s playing against type. He often gets trapped in these romantic comedies, or period films, and never gets a modern horror to sink his teeth into. There were more great male lead performances this year than most critics will have you believe, but Grant is definitely a standout. An Oscar nominee? That remains to be seen. I would have nominated him years ago for his terrific performance in About A Boy, but if Heretic gets him there, then he just helps to break down the barrier of Oscars and horror films. For more, check out my review.