However, after Sister Barnes (Sophie Thatcher) and Sister Paxton (Chloe East) arrive at his home, it quickly becomes clear that he has some sort of ulterior motive. He almost instantly behaves suspiciously, seeming reluctant to introduce them to his wife whom he promises is in the next room, and soon after he is giving them theatrical lectures on the nature of religion with the help of some slightly unorthodox examples.

As the Barnes sisters and Paxton grow increasingly concerned about what he has planned and their ability to escape, the tension builds to some major left field twists late in the runtime.

Have you seen the movie and need a recap of those final moments? Read on to explain the heretical ending.

Heretical Ending Explained: Full Spoilers for Hugh Grant’s Horror Film

As Mr. Reed chats with Sister Barnes and Sister Paxton, it soon becomes clear that he was never interested in converting to Mormonism – but that he has in fact set an elaborate trap for them.

Although he repeatedly assures them that nothing sinister is going on, his actions suggest otherwise. For example, it turns out that his wife isn’t actually real, he had simply placed a blueberry pie scented candle on the table to add credence to his lie that she was cooking in the next room.

Regardless, as the missionaries come to terms with the increasingly alarming situation they find themselves in, he continues to prattle on about faith and how he considers all religions to be absurd – to the exception of that which he mysteriously calls “the only true religion”. He talks about “iterations” – drawing analogies with everything from Monopoly to Star Wars to Radiohead’s Creep – to show that most religions have simply been adapted from one another.

Finally, after revealing that there is no other way out of the house, he gives them the choice of two doors to go through – one for if they still believe in their Mormon faith, and another for if they admit that he speaks the same. truth.

Sister Paxton – probably thinking this is the best way out of the situation – decides she will walk out the door in disbelief, but Sister Barnes refuses to join her and argues against some of Mr. Reed’s arguments. And so, both end up passing through the door of belief.

This is where things start to get really weird. The door leads to a dark basement and when they go down the stairs, they find a very haggard old woman, and Mr. Reed tells them that she is a living prophet who can perform a miracle.

He gives her a pie – blueberry pie of course – then tells Barnes and Paxton that she’s been poisoned, which causes her to die. But then he lets them know that she will resurrect and tell them what she saw on the other side in the short time she was alive.

At this point, the doorbell rings and Mr. Reed goes to answer – only to discover that the former Mormon is looking for the missionaries after they fail to answer.

Unfortunately, he is perfectly happy with Mr. Reed’s claims that he did not see them, and so this possible rescue attempt comes to nothing. But while he was gone, Barnes and Paxton tried to think of other ways to escape and managed to get their hands on some matches and try to light a fire to create smoke signals and alert someone because they were trapped.

Anyway, in the. In the midst of this, the old woman appears behind them and does exactly what Mr. Reed said she would do, explaining that she had seen clouds and angels while she was dead – before saying to enigmatic way that “it’s not real”.

Reed then returns to the basement, and after some arguing with Barnes and Paxton, very suddenly pulls out a knife and slits Barnes’ throat, apparently killing her – although Reed claims it will be another miracle and she will return just like the supposed prophet. .

When it appears that this is not happening, he then cuts off her arm and pulls out a piece of metal which he believes proves that Sister Barnes was not actually real and that the world is a simulation. He then tells Paxton that the only way She can escape the simulation by killing herself, because she is real and this will bring her back to the real world.

But Paxton isn’t convinced. She says that the piece of metal is actually a contraceptive and that Reed is just trying to make an excuse because something in his plan went wrong. Meanwhile, she also puts forward her own theory about how he pulled off the trick with the prophet…

What was Mr. Reed’s plan?

Paxton explains that Reed had simply turned off the dead woman, using the distraction of the doorbell – which he had factored into his plan – to get another woman to dispose of the body and strike the same pose, before reading a scenario about what was happening. life is like the other side that Reed had given him.

But she deviated from the script, with her comments about it not being real, forcing Reed to improvise the simulation part of his plan. Paxton then finds a trapdoor that leads to another cave, and she goes down to find that there is a room with many other women who all look like the Prophet and are being kept in cages.

Mr. Reed then follows her and asks her if she has discovered what the one true religion is, and she says yes: it’s “control”. He had planned every moment – ​​aside from the simulation part – to lead her to this moment, to prove that he can control anyone, the same way all religions do.

As he continues to explain this, Paxton then stabs him with a letter opener and returns to the previous basement, but while she is checking on the seemingly dead Barnes, the injured Mr. Reed reappears and stabs her in the stomach. She falls to the ground and begins to pray, while Reed crawls towards her – apparently to slit her throat and kill her.

But just as he is about to strike, he is suddenly hit in the back of the head and falls dead, and it turns out that Barnes wasn’t dead yet, saving Paxton with his final act before she also does not fall and die. .

Paxton then returns to Mr. Reed’s office and manages to escape through a window only to find that the exterior is now covered in snow, with the final scene showing a butterfly landing on his hand.

Exactly what all this means is not made explicit — and unlike Mr. Reed, the film makes no definitive statement about the faith. But the final moments can certainly be interpreted as a miracle, with Barnes managing to cling to life just long enough to save her friend.

An alternative reading like Paxton’s in fact did gets killed by Mr. Reed, and what we see in the end is simply his entrance into the afterlife – with the ground now covered in snow representing the clouds the prophet had spoken of more early and the reappearance of Barnes representing the angel. Just as with faith, it is up to each spectator to find the interpretation that seems most logical to them!

Interestingly, Hugh Grant recently revealed that he filmed two separate endings for Mr. Reed, telling Radar Games: “There’s a moment where I’m crawling on the ground towards her, after being stabbed, which I did in two ways. One where he’s still trying to make the whole thing funny, like he tried to make the whole thing funny. fun evening. It’s nice to say: “Look at this, it’s fun, dying.”

“And then I did another one where all his defenses are gone and he doesn’t care about himself that he’s going to die, and he’s very scared. He wants comfort and he wants her to comfort him, maybe with a prayer.”

He added: “I’m not entirely clear on how they put it together, or which of these two performances they’re going for. I think it’s the latter. But I know they have a lot telescoped the last 20 minutes, the movie went on for a long time, so maybe it’s not entirely clear I quite like the second way – ultimately, after a whole hour and a half of this guy being totally. in control, he’s a scared rabbit.

Heretic is now showing in UK cinemas.

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