Heretic (2024) Ending Explained

I breakdown and explain the ending of Heretic. I discuss the 2024 A24 horror movie which starred Hugh Grant as Mr Reed who tests Sister Paxton and Sister Barnes on their belief system and religion and trap them in his home, and they must turn to their faith if they want to make it out alive. I react to Sister Barnes' reveal, the meaning of the ending and answer if Sister Paxton moment at the end was real.

00:00 Like a Like
1:16 The Facade of Normalcy: Mr. Reed's Manipulation
2:54 Faith and the Myth of the One True Religion
3:42 Choices and Consequences in the Basement of Belief
4:48 The Living Prophet and the Illusion of Miracles
7:12 The Simulated Truth: The Revelation of Control
9:07 Heretic Ending Explained
13:16 Outro

► Heretic (2024) Movie Review | Hugh Grant | Sophie Thatcher | Chloe East | A24

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Synopsis:
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.

Written & Directed by
Scott Beck
Bryan Wood

Starring
Hugh Grant
Sophie Thatcher
Chloe East

Cinematography
Chung Chung-hoon

Distributed by
A24

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Fair Use Disclaimer: I do not own any pictures/videos contained within this video.

"Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use."

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2024 MOVIE REVIEWS
During each video I will talk about what I liked and didn't like about the film and give a score based on this scale:
0/5= Film at its worst
1/5= Terrible
2/5=Bad
3/5=Good
4/5=Great
5/5=Masterpiece

#Heretic #a24 #endingexplained

[MovieFiles]

What did you think of the ending of HERETIC and what themes and deeper meanings did you take away from this film?

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[leftofyou]

Dante's Inferno describes the lowest circle of hell as freezing, explaining the final cellar.

[Sirlance]

One thing everyone is missing. The doors lead to the same thing. Indicating that whether you believe or don’t it leads to the same outcome

[alteredendeavor]

Finally someone who sees the ending how I did. I feel a lot of people missed the setup and what the movie was trying to say. If you "believe" Barnes somehow survived what she did, you are taking a leap of faith based on everything that was established.

[pipermarie]

I just left the theater, this made me feel more uneasy than Longlegs. Amazing monologues and overall conversation. I can’t wait to watch this again

[mega_ferret]

He was essentially manipulating them based on his obsessively extensive knowledge of multiple religions. His intelligence was intimidating and believable. I could tell immediately he went through a period of extreme religious studies, which made him scared. Which he points out. The writing was incredible, and I hope for more movies like this. The truly scary thing is what atrocities humanity is capable of.

[nlmbkeyze]

I think the movie did a great job expanding on the question of religion itself. Was the man a psychopath, ofc… but his show and tell for his thought process was valid. Monopoly is a game essentially of control, religion holds power and control as well. Different boards, same game. Different books/same control. It does get thrown off after the basement because he’s staging a miracle, but it’s also to point out that it’s not real. He wanted them to know miracles(religion) are not real only a way of control, he proves this by revealing the “magic trick” he’s a psycho.. no different than our world leaders that use monopoly, religion, political views to control us. It’s testing your beliefs of reality over faith.

[blixx]

She's dead in the end. She wanted to be a butterfly landing on the hand. There's are no butterflies in the winter. Nowhere, ever. She's dead

[Rose-rlkq]

Heretic is a movie that you will either click with you or won't. Personally, I really liked the movie, but I admit I don't think it's for everyone.

[savannahrains]

I took the end as her choosing to still believe in her religion and the butterfly delusion was her seeing a sign from her friend.

[amahana]

Hugh Grant was outstanding. This will go down as one of his greatest roles. Genuinely creepy, thought provoking movie. Loved it.

[jacobwaldrop]

The movie made it rather clear. She died, and she is having that near death moment. Its especially clear when the butterfly disappears and the shock on her face.

[localpaddler]

In the opening scene, Paxton describes the couple making the porno film who get interrupted by banging on the wall and someone yelling “we can hear you”.

Paxton said she felt it was a poignant moment when the porn actress made a defiant reply and that she could almost see their souls leaving their bodies from the shame.

Fast forward to when Paxton descends the chute to find the body of the “prophet” because she needs to know “the truth”. Reed gazes down on her as she defiantly says “I knew it”.

I felt there was a parallel drawn because I think at that moment Paxton knew with 100% certainty what her destiny was. Any hope evaporated for her similarly to how the porn actress resigned herself to her reality.

Iterations still.

[brbaic]

SPOILERS.
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The basement isn't just a reference to the seven circles of hell, it's the 5th of seven levels.

Paxton did die in the end. But one critical piece of information you didn't mention was Barnes' conversation about her near death experience. What Paxton is experiencing in the end isn't necessarily entering the afterlife, it's a visual representation of her thinking about her butterfly during the final moments before her brain shuts down. They all died in the basement.

[Sammynicole]

Keeping it simple.. I feel like this film just tells the story that a part of the population believe we are all being controlled whilst the other part of the population are just simply happy to believe even if they don’t know how deep it goes and that’s ok.

[ameslynne]

Paxton didn’t die. She was caged like the other women. She became barely alive, malnourished, tortured, brainwashed, mentally unstable like the other victims. She was cold down in Dante’s lowest level of hell (as cold as walking in the snow without winter gear) and wanting so badly to have had the courage to stab her captor and escape, her mind created a realistic scenario/dream/hallucination. Watch for the glitches in her minds matrix. Three obvious clues being no cell reception, the malnourished knobbed fingers, and the butterfly. Not to mention, had elder B survived, it’s more reasonable to conclude she wouldn’t have the strength to stand let alone deliver such an impactful death blow with her excessive blood loss.

Mr Reed designed the labrynth house and acquired several victims with whom he easily disposed at will because he was ever confident he could replenish his stock. He does not lose, he is in control no matter which door is chosen or whichever other illusion of choice is presented, every ‘choice’ leads to his predetermined outcome.

This movie is a psychological cat and mouse game without the possibility of escape. There’s only one way in and no way out because Mr. Reed literally controls the door.

[priscilabee]

The ending reminded me of ‘The Descent’. I think it all depends on whether or not the viewer believes that Sister survived the slash on her throat and managed to conjured the strength to hit and kill Reed. If you believe THAT, everything else afterwards is plausible.

[hussain]

The ending is very beautiful when you see that she died and this is a transition to the afterlife and she was not saved and the dialogues are very beautiful in the movie and the moment of the villain’s weakness in his last moments is a beautiful thing because it expresses the extent of his fear of the afterlife because he is ignorant What is happening

[personanongrata]

I watched this movie yesterday in Yuma, and it stuck with me afterward while I went shopping for household goods. Then, in the parking lot, it suddenly struck me that Mr. Reed is a polygamist, which ties in to things he'd said to the two Sisters about their church's history.

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[oBlvd]

If you are expecting jump scares you will be disappointed.