Heretic Proves Religion Is Fake? - Explained

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A Nocturnal Critic review and explained video about the A24 file Heretic.


Two young missionaries become ensnared in a deadly game of cat and mouse when they knock on the door of the diabolical Mr. Reed. Trapped in his home, they must turn to their faith if they want to make it out alive.
Release date: November 8, 2024 (USA)
Directors: Scott Beck, Bryan Woods
Distributed by: A24
Music by: Chris Bacon
Production companies: A24; Beck/Woods; Shiny Penny


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[OTRBRANDON]

Giving your audience a blue berry pie, and further playing on the audience's skepticism, is genius marketing for driving their point even further

[nanskidds]

Hugh Grant does creepy guy to perfection.

[melancholymoshpit]

Most unrealistic part of the film is questioning Mormons and them sticking around to listen 😂😂😂

[jimboslice]

Come on guys, the ending isn’t that hard to comprehend. Actually done on purpose. To religious people, they see sister Barnes come back to life(Miracle) and kill Mr.Reed. Sister Paxton survives, seeing a butterfly land on her finger outside is the confirmation she needed to prove what she witnessed was a miracle. But to non-religious people, Mr.Reed likely killed Sister Barnes while she was praying and she’s having near-death hallucinations, seeing what she wants to see before dying. The ending was on purpose to prove how people’s beliefs can have them see what they want to see and this proves it. Whole movie led to this outcome and split audiences on the basis of ‘what is a miracle and is it actually a miracle’

[RebeccaTruluck]

The movie is in no way anti-religion, it simply makes you think about WHY you believe the things you say you " know to be true"...

[Mangolite]

For me, the ending of the movie has three possible interpretations. The first is that Sister Paxton indeed died, and the entire ending, including Sister Barnes regaining enough strength to kill Mr. Reed and allow Paxton to escape, was merely an illusion in her dying moments. The second possibility is that everything that transpired did happen, and Paxton managed to find her way out, even encountering the butterfly. The third possibility is that the butterfly’s presence on her finger and subsequent disappearance could symbolize Barnes’s spirit or soul comforting her or serving as a confirmation of her faith that religion isn’t solely about control. The movie’s open ending allows for multiple interpretations and discussions, which is fitting for something that gives us without questions. We shouldn’t simply accept things at face value; there’s always a deeper meaning behind them.

[jameshegarty]

As it is snowing when she gets out of the house and the butterfly is shown to actually not be there on her hand, gives me great regret that she did die and that she was never saved by her friend, but did find great solace in her belief.

[LockeDemosthenes]

I'm an Ex-Mormon living in Utah, so I absolutely loved this movie. The only unrealistic thing was the very first scene, because Mormon missionaries would NEVER openly discuss sex and pornography. Even openly talking about temple garments (the Mormon magic underwear) probably wouldn't happen.

PS something pretty funny, I saw this movie in Ogden, Utah in a theater that's right next to a Mormon temple. When Sister Paxton said she's from Ogden, people in the theater literally cheered.

[Sammytones]

“Someone who believes in religion but still has their doubts is a person who can’t be completely fooled or fully controlled, verses someone who is a blind follower.”

Great quote and I think this rings true!

[joelsnyder]

Remember, it wasn’t the fact that they needed another adult

They actually specifically needed another woman present

[s.q.s_____]

I think she died and imagined that happening before she died. Her phone had no signal once outside and butterflies can’t survive in a snowstorm or winter.

[audreyb]

The butterfly wasn’t really there though she was only seeing it in her mind. She initially sees it but then the next shot she’s still looking at her finger and nothing is there. I need to rewatch!

[NicoleRhav]

I hope that you do end up doing a part two to this one. Thank you for this review.

[bphifer]

"Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by rulers as useful."
- Seneca

[amalali]

Great review. I watched it today and thoroughly enjoyed it. My take on the ending was that her pray was answered by her friend finding the strength to end him. However, as she said she would like to come back as a butterfly to let the person know it was her, that she had in fact died.

[stevena]

The "miracle" ending was purposely ambigious. The logical interpretation is Barnes didn't die initially, she passed out and was the brink of dying, and had one last gasp effort to stop Reed. And the butterfly at the end was just a butterfly (they saw it flying around earlier looking for a way out, when she broke out it escaped with her). It's perfectly reasonable explanation without adding a supernatural/magical explanation. The religious/spritual interpretation is Barnes died & was resurrected and the butterfly was her spirit. This addresses a major issue with religious belief where people add meaning to things that don't need them and fool themselves. and it's the perfect compliment to the 1st half of the movie which is about how scammers can fool people into believing whatever they want, whether about religion or blueberry pies

[CinemaMack]

I like how the theme of iteration continues through the end credits. What I thought was "Fade Into You" by Mazzy Star was a cover of "Knockin' on Heaven's Door".

[maxmumridefan]

Stumbled across your video and 2mins in I can already tell your video’s gonna be great. Keep making content, I like your style :)

[october]

Ok, maybe I missed something, but at the end of the movie, the girl is in the field and sees the butterfly. The filmmaker shows two perspectives. In only one perspective is the butterfly shown, from the girl's perspective. I took that as the filmmaker saying belief is relative. The girl wanted to continue believing, and on the verge of death, hallucinates (for lack of a better word) the butterfly.

[edricmunoz]

i find there initial conversations interesting because as a returned missionary, my companion and i spent most of our time walking together talking about the hard questions in our faith. we talked about the history, the information availability, why we saw difficult questions the way we did. i do feel like it’s something that most missionaries do. we walk for hours hahah