Her-e-tic (noun): A person believing in or practicing religious heresy. Finally, I got a chance to watch this great A24 movie. It’s rare for A24 to come out with a bad movie, and fortunately for movie lovers, Heretic doesn’t buck that trend. Going in blind like what I’d usually do for any highly rated movie, I was pleasantly surprised at what I saw. The only thing I knew going in was that it had something to do with religion. However, I never could have imagined that it would have involved Mormons. I incorrectly assumed it would be the usual Christianity vs. the devil kind of thing. There is so much to unpack with this possible horror movie of the year candidate.

So, we follow two young Mormon missionaries, Sister Barnes and Sister Paxton, on their way to knocking on Mr. Reed’s door in hoping to spread the word of their faith. Unfortunately for both, they get stuck inside where their faith in God and beliefs gets tested like never before. Mr. Reed in the beginning presents some very interesting findings and research in forcing the girls to question everything that they have been taught to believe in. Of course, things get stranger and stranger as the movie goes on. The atmosphere is tense throughout the movie and more importantly, all three of the cast members performed very well, especially Paxton, played by Chloe East. What I also loved is how they injected some humor (at least that’s how I perceived them to be) at sporadic intervals in what would otherwise be a rather dark movie. Smile 2 did this as well towards the later half of the movie, and I loved them that much more for it.

Let’s cut to the chase, though, the ending. As with so many things that touch on the topic of religion, faith and beliefs, they can be openly interpreted however one sees and chooses to. The producers know this, I know this, and many other movie lovers, such as yourselves, likely know this as well. Therefore, while I had anticipated it, I was still a bit angered that once again, we have a great movie that has an open-ended ending scene to force the viewers to interpret the movie based on how they choose to. They can either do it strictly based on what was presented to them during the movie itself, based on reality, based on their own personal beliefs, or a combination of them. The ultimate question regarding Heretic’s ending is whether Sister Paxton actually survives the horror of Mr. Reed.

Based on what I saw, I’m in the camp that Sister Paxton unfortunately does not survive and that she died along with Sister Barnes and Mr. Reed in the basement of the house. What we witnessed in the very end was very likely what Sister Paxton had hoped to have happened. That or it’s some type of “simulation” as suggested by Mr. Reed. A couple of theories on what I, along with others, believe in this scenario. Firstly, when Sister Paxton jumps out of the window, we see that her cell phone is still showing No Signal. We know that Mr. Reed has turned his entire house into some type of Faraday cage where no electronic signals can pass through. Therefore, once Sister Paxton escapes the house and yet still has no signal, viewers believe that this is a clue that she hasn’t truly escaped. We’re getting into some Matrix type territory here. Secondly, the whole butterfly thing on her hand. Early in the movie, Sister Paxton claims she would want to be reborn into a butterfly and land on the people she loves to let them know she’s there. In that last scene, she quickly sees a butterfly land on her hand, but just as quickly it disappears. Mr. Reed also talked about the Daoist theory regarding the Butterfly Dream and whether it is the man dreaming that he is a butterfly or if it was a butterfly who dreamed of being a man. While I do not believe the butterfly to be Sister Barnes, as the whole butterfly thing was Sister Paxton’s thing, it signals to me that she’s in a dream. Thirdly, right at the end, when Sister Paxton, with a very dejected expression, looks up after noticing the butterfly disappears, it seems as if the snow has suddenly stopped? To me, this signals that she is at the doorstep of heaven. It would seem that Sister Paxton was the more devote believer in her faith than Sister Barnes and right until the end, regardless of what happened inside the house and how it can be interpreted, she held strong to what she believed in. My opinion is she died while saying the prayer in the basement, right up to the point she sees, or believes she sees, Sister Barnes whacking Mr. Reed in the head. Lastly, the ending theme is called Knocking on Heaven’s Door. No further explanation is needed there.

While many would obviously want her to have survived, I just couldn’t see it. The one theory that I like made by someone else is that the butterfly disappearing on her hand signifies that she was on the very brink of death, hence the butterfly (one wouldn’t get to be a butterfly if they aren’t dead). However, because it disappears, it could mean she likely got saved. Regardless, I liked how they chose Sister Paxton in the end over Sister Barnes. We see that while it would have looked in the beginning that Sister Barnes was the stronger character of the two, Sister Paxton was the one that was actually able to more successfully and intellectually challenge Mr. Reed in the end.

I’m such a sucker when it comes to in-movie marketing and ads. So, please go and watch Heretic and hope you enjoy it while I go in search for a blueberry pie. 🤣