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Heretic End explains: What is the only true religion?

This article contains spoilers for Heretic. If you're here to find out if there's a post-credits scene, there isn't one.

“Heretic” was always going to be a film that relied on its performance. Initially, we assume that this is a chamber drama about two Mormon missionaries trying to convert an old man to their religion, which requires strong acting from all three leads if the audience is to remain engaged . These performances abound, but by Act 3 we know things are not as they seem, and we're going to go far beyond a cozy living room conversation about religion.

Nurse Barnes (Sophie Thatcher) and Nurse Paxton (Chloe East) arrive at Mr. Reed's (Hugh Grant) house just as a snowstorm hits. The seemingly friendly man invites the freezing missionaries into his living room and insists that his wife is in the kitchen baking a blueberry pie. Since the two girls can smell the scent of the confection, they reluctantly enter the house with the caveat that Mr. Reed's wife must come to them as soon as she has finished baking.

Unfortunately, Mrs. Reed is completely made up, Mr. Reed invented the smell with a scented candle, and he has a whole host of tricks and traps in his unhinged house of doom, which, as he points out, are specifically designed to fool belief to challenge them to find the only true religion.

The ending of Heretic is explained

One important thing to know about Heretic is that there is actually no second act. You could kind of argue that one is there for the brief period when Reed locks the girls in the basement and Nurse Barnes is still alive, but for the most part it just doesn't exist. One moment the three are having a spirited debate about faith, who is right and whether or not Mr. Reed should convert, and the next moment both sisters are trapped in a murder cellar staring at a supposed prophet.

Reed manages to trap the sisters in the basement by giving the illusion of choice. Throughout the film's running time, Grant brings out all his charisma (which, as we know after years of his films, is a lot) as he cheerfully tells the girls that they can leave at any time. But this freedom never existed and the decisions were all illusions.

After the girls end up in the basement, Sister Barnes has had enough. She actively begins to challenge Mr. Reed while the more timid sister looks on. The final straw is Reed's prophet trick, in which a decrepit woman is dragged from yet another invisible corridor in the basement of hell, fed poison, dies, and then miraculously returns to tell the tale God told her.

Nurse Barnes can't say exactly why at first, but she knows it's nonsense. But before she can prove it, Mr. Reed slits her throat and insists to the horrified Sister Paxton that her partner will come back to life at any moment, bringing with her prophecies and untold wisdom. When that obviously doesn't happen, Reed gasps in horror as he “recognizes” the scar on Nurse Barnes' arm (he had seen it earlier when they were drinking tea in the living room and decides to use it to his advantage). The apparently ashamed man begins to insist that “they chipped her” and rambles about a conspiracy as the girl bleeds out and takes her last breath, even though he knew all along that the scar on her arm was from Nexplanon – one Contraceptive implant.

At this point the tone of the film changes significantly, as Mr. Reed goes from curious (but obviously nefarious) objector to deranged conspiracy theorist. But as Sister Paxton delves deeper into the basement labyrinth, she learns that Mr. Reed was neither searching for faith nor mentally ill. In his opinion, he had already found the only true religion.

Sister Paxton eventually realizes that the “prophet” was not one, but two women (the first being killed solely to challenge the sisters), and comes across a room full of starving and half-frozen women were locked in cages. The second woman who uttered the nonsensical “prophecy” had included a warning that helped Sister Paxton realize this. For her trouble, Mr. Reed cuts off part of her finger with garden shears and chats happily with Sister Paxton to see if she has come to the realization of what his fabled true religion might be.

Just a stupid guy with cages full of women in his basement, desperate to exert his power over the women he has captured

It's control. No gods, prophets or spirits, just a stupid guy with cages full of women in his basement who is desperate to exert his power over the women he has captured.

After this revelation, the rest of the film goes as you would expect, with one final shock. Nurse Paxton struggles to escape and makes it back to the main basement room where Nurse Barnes' body lies. This is where her final showdown with Mr. Reed takes place, where it is no longer a matter of minds but of her life. It looks like Mr. Reed will emerge victorious for a moment, condemning Sister Paxton to the same fate as her friend or a short life in one of the man's cages. But just when victory seems impossible, Nurse Barnes (who, remember, was presumed dead) jumps up with the last remnants of her strength and helps Nurse Paxton kill Mr. Reed. Then Sister Barnes dies.

We assume that Sister Paxton will live on – albeit slightly less bright-eyed than at the start of Heretic – as she wanders out into the blizzard, but the film's obvious purpose remains rooted in Reed's thirst for control to that point that it has become his religion.

Do you believe that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has psychiatrists on call?

Does Heretic have a post-credits scene?

As mentioned, there are no post-credits scenes in Heretic. However, there is a note in the credits that says “No generative AI was used in the making of this film.”

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