Hugh Grant will play the lead role in the creepy trap story

Mr. Reid promises to show them a miracle, challenge their beliefs, and even offer them a way to escape—but nothing in this story is what it seems. Directors Scott Beck and Brian Woods (who wrote and directed) keep the twists and turns, forcing us to consider our own perceptions of faith. They also dare to ask an even more pressing question: Why do we believe what we believe?

The Heretic is not an anti-religious film, nor does it portray its two faithful sisters as zealous or ignorant of the world. In the film’s opening scene, Beck and Woods have a bit of cheeky fun with our swaggering expectations of these missionaries.

We meet Barnes and Paxton as they sit on a bench debating—at least—Magnum’s extra-large condoms and whether they’re really the same size as regular condoms. As the camera pans above and behind them, it shows a sign that says “Who Said Size Doesn’t Matter?” Sister Paxton seems to be the most naive of them all, but she is not stupid. (She is the one who brings these condoms.)

The duo also discuss the Broadway musical The Book of Mormon, deciding that it still has some good songs despite the show making fun of their religion. In the next scene, The Heretic uses a cruel prank by mean schoolgirls to put us firmly in the sisters’ corner.

Beck and Woods slowly build up the tension as our heroines arrive at Mr. Reed’s house. His abode looks like something out of a horror movie, with its long gated driveway and secluded location in a wooded area. Pay close attention to the back of the house. Trust me on this one.

In contrast, the interior is deceptively cozy, with vintage wallpaper, a “Bless the Mess” sign hanging on the wall, and a living room full of comfy couches. Mr. Reid attributes these touches to his wife, who is in the kitchen making a blueberry pie. Her presence is the only reason Paxton and Barnes entered his house. They are not allowed to be alone with a man, not even so amiable a gentleman as Mr. Read appears to be; a woman must be present.

If only they’d noticed the blueberry pie-scented candle burning on the coffee table, a clear indication that Mrs. Reid wasn’t in the kitchen baking cookies. This disgusting development comes at the same time that the sisters discover that they are locked inside with no apparent means of escape. (The Alamo Drafthouse pumped blueberry flavor into my theater, a trick that was actually kind of disgusting.)

Once its premise is established, Heretic becomes a clever series of cat-and-mouse games driven not by gruesome events, but by dialogue. The film features three hands, in which East and Thatcher’s characters compare intelligence to Grant’s creepy self-taught theology student. The actors got into claustrophobic long shots that last 10 minutes.

The excellent performance is enhanced by South Korean cinematographer Chung-Hoon Chung (The Old Man, The Handmaiden), who captures close-ups of each actor that would make Lillian Gish jealous.

Mr. Reed knows as much about the Book of Mormon as his prisoners, and even more about the contradictions inherent in all religious dogmas. In ominous fashion, he offers Paxton and Barnes several options aimed at simulating the free will supposedly offered to humans by whatever deity they worship.

He even hints at Frank R. Stockton’s famous 1882 story Woman or Tiger?, by writing “faith” and “unbelief” on two separate doors and offering each as a means of escape. If they believe he is telling the truth about where the door leads, they must choose the door of “faith.” If not, they should go with door number 2.

“Which would you choose?” the film slyly asks us.

By the end of his career, Grant had become very adept at making the English charms that had made him a star appear malevolent. While Thatcher and East are his equals at every turn, East stands out a little more. She has a stronger character arc. The film does not allow any woman to succumb to fear and fall apart; if anything, they get stronger as the plot gets more gruesome.

The camera rarely leaves Philip Messina’s wonderful designs at Mr. Reed’s home, but when it does, we follow Topher Grace’s Kennedy Sr., who repeatedly appears at the door looking for his charges. It’s as useful as a horror fan would expect.

Beck and Woods burst onto the scene with the script for 2018’s A Quiet Place. Their script for this film is designed not just to scare, but to provoke conversation. Although the plot thins out a bit towards the end, “The Heretic” does a good job of peppering us with uncomfortable questions. Mr. Reed would be proud of the way the movie plays with us.

★★★

HERETIC

Written and directed by Scott Beck and Brian Woods. Starring Hugh Grant, Sophie Thatcher, Chloe East, Topher Grace. At AMC Boston Common, Landmark Kendall Square, Alamo Drafthouse Seaport, AMC Causeway, Coolidge Corner, Suburbs. 110 min. R (although mildly violent, it turns gore into an allegory)

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Audie Henderson is a film critic for the Boston Globe.