Heretic star Hugh Grant believes that A24 horror movies are the perfect "antidote" for the current state of cinema: "They have brought real, fresh filmmaking back"

Hugh Grant in Heretic
(Image credit: A24)

At first, you may be wondering why British rom-com legend Hugh Grant is in the new horror movie Heretic. Considering that he is best known for being a charming gentleman in the likes of Four Weddings and a Funeral, taking on a sinister villainous role seems rather unexpected for the star.

However, it turns out that Grant is a huge fan of the modern horror scene, especially films produced by indie darling studio A24. Not only that, it seems that the star is a firm believer in the more "fucked-up", the better. Even more so, he states that these movies are exactly what cinema needs right now, being responsible for bringing audiences back to theaters.

Speaking to GamesRadar+, Grant is full of praise for these A24 productions, saying: "I am so thirsty for new stuff, stuff that's interesting and mold-breaking. I'm such an admirer of the way some of these new horror films, particularly the ones financed by A24, have brought real, fresh filmmaking back. Incredible originality, weirdness, and fucked-up-ness."

He continues: "It's such a great antidote to the way cinema has been going for the last ten years - more and more formulaic, gigantic. These are bringing people back, people are actually interested in stories about human beings and originality."

Hugh Grant as Mr Reed in the upcoming movie Heretic.

(Image credit: A24)

That's partly what drew Grant to Heretic, a film he is very proud to be a part of. In the movie he pushes himself like never before, taking on the role of dangerous stranger Mr. Reed, a man two Mormon missionaries are attempting to convert.

Much like the character of Mr. Reed himself, the movie isn't probably what you expecting, with the first half essentially being a theological debate, as the characters discuss topics surrounding religion. 

Not only are the ideas being discussed rather bold, but the fact that the first hour of this horror movie is so dialogue heavy, is certainly a gamble from the filmmakers.

It's that style of risk-taking that appealed to Grant, as he states: "It's quite brave the whole conception of the film, quite new, it breaks a lot of the normal laws of filmmaking, especially with dialogue. Most films say let's keep the dialogue short and sweet, pithy, but this one isn’t at all like that [laughs]. It's quite interesting tonally the whole film - is it a thriller? Is it a horror? Then there's comedy in it too. I quite like that mishmash."


Heretic releases in UK cinemas on November 1, before opening in US theaters on November 8.

For more, check out the other upcoming horror movies that are soon heading your way.

Emily Murray
Entertainment Editor

As Entertainment Editor at GamesRadar, I oversee all the online content for Total Film and SFX magazine. Previously I've worked for the BBC, Zavvi, UNILAD, Yahoo, Digital Spy and more.

Read more
Christopher Abbott as 'Blake' in Wolf Man
Nosferatu, Abigail, Werewolves… why is Hollywood suddenly loving monster movies again? Director of new horror Wolf Man has a theory
Julia Garner as Charlotte and Christopher Abbott as Blake in Wolf Man
Wolf Man director explains how the new monster movie defies horror tropes through Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner's couple
Nicolas Cage as Longlegs in Longlegs/Osgood Perkins and Nicolas Cage standing side-by-side at a Longlegs event
Longlegs director has shared his dream project outside of horror, and now we're hoping it happens
Calliana Liang as Chloe in Steven Soderbergh's new horror-drama Presence
New haunted house horror Presence is unlike anything you've seen before – and cements Steven Soderbergh as one of our most interesting filmmakers
John Lithgow as Dave Crealy in The Rule of Jenny Pen
John Lithgow and Geoffrey Rush's twisted chiller is a much-needed shake-up to the horror genre, disrupting harmful elderly stereotypes embraced by the likes of X and The Shining
Ayo Edebiri in Opus
The Bear star's new A24 cult thriller proves Ayo Edebiri needs to be the final girl in a horror movie
Latest in Horror Movies
Halloween director John Carpenter
15 years on from his last horror movie, Halloween's John Carpenter says he'd "love to direct again" – but he has one condition
Dan Stevens in supernatural horror The Ritual
The Godfather and Godzilla x Kong stars' new exorcism horror The Ritual gets a creepy first trailer
Saw X
Billy the Puppet gives Saw fans some hope on the future of the horror franchise by updating his LinkedIn profile to "employed"
Final Destination Bloodlines
Final Destination: Bloodlines drops new trailer with a first look at the return of the late Tony Todd to the horror franchise
Jack Reynor in Midsommar
Midsommar star cast in new Mummy movie, but still no word from the original stars
Kurt Russell in The Thing holding a stick of dynamite.
43 years later, John Carpenter has hinted at who turns into The Thing in the horror movie and one eagle-eyed fan has worked it out
Latest in News
Pillars of Eternity
10 years later, in a post-Baldur's Gate 3 and Avowed world, Obsidian is giving its own throwback CRPG Pillars of Eternity a turn-based combat mode
Destiny 2 Lightfall
When Destiny 2 "weekly active users dropped lower and faster than we'd seen since 2018," Bungie assembled an A-Team to put out some fires: "We needed to do something"
Velma, Daphne, Fred, Shaggy, and Scooby-Doo looking at a giant key which is also a clue
Netflix is rebooting Scooby-Doo as a live-action series from the producer of Supergirl and The Flash centered around a "supernatural murder" at a summer camp
Astro Bot
Astro Bot went through 23 pitch iterations before its director promised PlayStation "happy gameplay" and "overflowing charm," though it did once end with robot decapitation that made "some people really upset"
Tomb Raider
5 years after Avengers, 2 years after its last layoffs, and who knows how long before Perfect Dark and Tomb Raider return, Crystal Dynamics announces another round of layoffs
AI Limit
"AI is not as effective as it might appear": Dev of AI-focused Soulslike RPG says they didn't use any AI-generated content and it can't match "genuine creativity"