Inside Heretic's Twisted Ending and Mind Games

Which door will you choose?

Hugh Grant has never been more terrifying. Welcome to his villain era. Long gone are his roles as the dashing heartthrob in Four Weddings and a Funeral that stole our hearts. (Yes, that’s when I developed my crush.) Then came his more recent performances in The Gentlemen and The Undoing, where he started embracing a darker side. But in this role, he is creepy, sinister, and alluring all at once as Mr. Reed.

Heretic centres on Sister Barnes (Sophie Thatcher) and Sister Paxton (Chloe East), two Mormon girls making their usual rounds to visit those interested in their faith, which brings them to Mr. Reed's door.

The movie builds up slowly, with the first thirty minutes consisting mainly of conversation after Sister Barnes and Sister Paxton step into Mr. Reed’s house. Actually, let’s step back to the very first scene. The two girls are sitting on a bench, looking at an ad for Magnum-sized condoms. One of them argues that they’re actually the same size as regular ones, meaning the ad is spreading misinformation, while the other believes the advertisement is true. Though this exchange might seem insignificant at first, it subtly sets up a key to interprete the movie later on.

The girls are not supposed to enter a home unless a woman is present, and Mr. Reed assures them that his wife is in the kitchen making a blueberry pie. From the moment they step inside, the atmosphere shifts to eerie. A butterfly is seen trapped against the window, trying to escape, before becoming ensnared in the light above their heads. Keep this detail in mind, again, you'll need it later.

The girls quickly realise that the Mormon faith they came to preach is something Mr. Reed knows all too well - perhaps even better than they do. He drops a massive Mormon tome, marked with numerous page markers, to back his points and starts questioning their understanding of their own faith.

The movie delves deep into the varying interpretations of religion, blind faith, and the ways in which people accept beliefs without concrete proof. Mr. Reed challenges the girls’ convictions, comparing the three major religions - Judaism, Christianity, and Islam - to different versions of Monopoly, arguing that they’re essentially different versions of the same game.

As tension builds, the girls grow increasingly uneasy about the supposed presence of Mr. Reed’s wife, who has yet to appear. When he excuses himself to check on her, Sister Barnes, sensing something sinister, flips a candle on the table to reveal its scent: blueberry pie. At this moment, it becomes glaringly obvious - there is no wife in the kitchen. Realising they need to leave, they discover the door is locked and their jackets, containing the keys to their bikes, are missing. Mr. Reed hands them their coats but insists they leave through the back door. However, they notice that the key to the bike lock is in the wrong jacket ( another ominous hint!)

This marks a major turning point in the movie. Every hint and discussion has led to this moment. There is only one way out. One path to freedom. Two doors. Belief and non-belief. Which one do they take?

I’ll leave the rest of the plot for those brave enough to watch, but for those who have already seen it, let’s discuss the film’s double-ending interpretation, which ties directly into the theme of choice. Not religion. Not faith. Simply choice and control. That’s what Heretic ultimately explores. It’s not about whether you believe or not; it’s about how certain you are of your choices. Every action Mr. Reed takes is designed to give the girls the illusion of control when, in reality, he has been orchestrating everything from the beginning. Every step of the way, he is ahead of them, deciding how things will timely unfold.

I love how this movie takes place in a single location, featuring only three actors, relying entirely on tension, timing, and subtle hints to build suspense. This is the hallmark of an effective horror film, and Heretic truly hits the mark. This comes as no surprise, given that the director-writer duo Sam Beck and Bryan Woods are well-versed in the genre, you may recognise their work from A Quiet Place and 65.

So if you haven’t seen the movie yet, go watch it, then come back for the rest of this discussion.

Double Ending

In the final scene, we see Sister Paxton dying. Sister Barnes is already presumed dead, and Mr. Reed, also near death, crawls toward Sister Paxton as she prays, as if, despite everything he has said and done, he is now seeking comfort in the very words he once dismissed.

Then, in a shocking twist, Sister Barnes, apparently still alive, smashes Mr. Reed’s head, allowing Sister Paxton to make her final escape through the window. She lands in a snow-covered field, where a butterfly lands on her hand. In one shot, it is there. In the next, it is gone. And, crucially, she still has no reception on her phone.

Here’s where the big divide happens - the open-ended interpretation.

The most straightforward explanation is that she truly escaped. Sister Barnes, still alive despite her injuries, managed to use her last bit of strength to kill Mr. Reed, giving Sister Paxton the chance to flee.

But remember the butterfly. Earlier in the movie, Sister Paxton says that if she were to die, she would want to come back as a butterfly and land on a loved one’s hand so they would know it was her. Could the butterfly in this final scene symbolise that Sister Barnes is now dead and appearing to comfort Sister Paxton in her final moments?

Another key interpretation is that Sister Paxton never escaped at all. Instead, what we see is her five-minute post-mortem hallucination - a concept mentioned earlier in the film when Sister Barnes recounts her own near-death experience.

As the credits roll, a haunting rendition of Knocking on Heaven’s Door plays.

The film purposefully allows the audience to determine which ending is genuine, as explicitly mentioned by the writers and directors. This intentional decision acts as both a storytelling tool and an invitation for the viewers to delve deeper into the themes explored in the film. By offering the audience the same choice that was given to the characters, we are faced with a deliberate challenge. Maybe we chose a door earlier in the movie when we were making the choice for Sister Paxton and Sister Barnes, but now we are choosing for ourselves which truth to believe.

So, which door are you choosing?

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