'Heretic's intense ending, explained

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If you've seen Heretic, chances are high you'll never see Hugh Grant the same way again.

This ominous, brazenly academic, and complex A24 horror film from co-writers/co-directors Scott Beck and Bryan Woods (A Quiet Place) quite literally traps you in a maze of unspoken threat, religious debate, and blueberry pie, with Grant's horribly hospitable Mr. Reed proving one of the more surprising villains in modern horror.

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But how about that ending? What actually happened with the big reveal, and what was with that final moment? We're going to dig into the unsettling details of the ending of Heretic, so consider this your massive spoiler warning.

What's Heretic about?

Credit: A24

On a dark and stormy afternoon, Mormon missionaries Sister Barnes (Sophie Thatcher) and Sister Paxton (Chloe East) are assigned to visit addresses who've previously signed up for further information about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Next on their list is Mr. Reed (Grant), who invites them in on the socially appropriate premise that his wife's baking in the next room.

Mr. Reed seems quite charming at first, engaging the pair in a deep conversation about faith and how "religion isn't at the centre of culture anymore." But it soon becomes apparent that there's something off; for example, this self-described scholar of religion may brandish a "hubby" mug, but his wife is nowhere to be seen. It's not until Mr. Reed reveals his more sinister methods of testing one's faith and enlightenment that the two women realise they're in real danger. In order to leave the house, Mr. Reed insists they choose one of two doors, one labeled "belief" and one labeled "disbelief." But where do they lead?

What happens at the end of Heretic?

Credit: A24

The end of Heretic is a whirl of tense debate over belief and reality, gut-churning reveals, and violent ends. But it's also simply a man craving ultimate control over women, and masking his homicidal desires with long-winded lectures on the pitfalls and catches of modern religion.

After a terrifying ordeal and a vicious attack on Barnes, Paxton adopts her friend's strategy to "challenge" Mr. Reed, changing her tact from survival-based politeness to one of a more aggressive exchange. She debates the concept of belief with him, before accusing him of being a charlatan — the "miracle" they were forced to watch in Mr. Reed's basement was a ruse. Paxton figures out there has to be another entrance into the basement to test her theory, and finds a trapdoor. She's encouraged yet again by Mr. Reed to test her faith and decides to climb down into it, though she really has no choice at this point.

There, she finds the nucleus of Mr. Reed's sinister operation: a tunnel emblazoned with sinister occult symbols that leads to a freezing cold room. Here, she discovers multiple women imprisoned in cages, in extremely poor health and starving. Paxton was right. Every time Mr. Reed traps a woman in his maze-house, he poisons another via pie to "demonstrate" the miracle to the newly trapped, replacing them with one of the women in the cages. The macabre switcheroo lets him seemingly play God over and over again — while taking notes. Mr. Reed probably signs up for "more information" to lure religious representatives to his home, and the whole thing works like clockwork; the lights are timed, the locks are automatic, and the script is set.

Paxton is "allowed" to find these women by Mr. Reed so he can gleefully declare the true religion: control. He follows her through another door into the caged area for his "a-ha!" moment. But she stabs him with her concealed letter opener and uses his exit to escape. However, she gets lost in the maze-like house, retreating to the basement. There, Paxton is stabbed by a suddenly reappearing Mr. Reed, who took the tunnel. Bleeding, she does one thing he did not expect: She prays. As she does, Barnes suddenly stabs Mr. Reed with the nail board in her final act. Paxton musters the strength to return to the study where she uses Mr. Reed's wooden house map to find a small vent to crawl out through, and she stumbles through the woods to freedom. Finally, a butterfly lands on her finger, then disappears.

What's Mr. Reed's actual motivation here?

Credit: A24

Earlier in the film, when they're first invited in, Mr. Reed asks the missionaries their thoughts on one big question: "What is the one true religion?" It keeps coming up over the course of the film, with Mr. Reed confessing he's tried "every sect, cult, and doctrine" out there looking for the answer, trawling ancient history and modern religions, and eventually coming to one conclusion: Control is the one true religion. Essentially, Mr. Reed is practicing contrived experiments in his macabre basement theatre to "prove" this, after lengthy mansplaining monologues about Monopoly, Jar Jar Binks, and Radiohead to bolster his arguments.

Mr. Reed has built a maze-like trap for faith-driven women, one that manipulates them into doubting their beliefs as a distraction from the fact that they're being held captive by a homicidal man. "It's easy to control someone who's lost everything," he says. The number of women under Mr. Reed's control also nods to the very first question he asked of Barnes and Paxton in the living room: "How do you feel about polygamy?" It's a foreshadowing you may have glossed over, but an uncomfortable opener nonetheless.

At the end of the day, this is a man who wants to exercise power over women. Ultimately, it's not about religion, and it's not about faith; it's about violent, male control. From the moment Barnes and Paxton entered Mr. Reed's metal-lined, deadlocked house, he knew he had a literally captive audience for his findings.

However, they outwitted him, with Barnes making a final sacrifice to save her friend.

What's the deal with the butterfly?

Credit: A24

At the very end of the film, we see Paxton stumbling through the woods in her final escape from Mr. Reed's house. In the final frames, a butterfly lands on her finger, then disappears.

It's likely the butterfly is a representation of her fallen friend, Barnes, who was present in an earlier scene when the three discussed what happens when we die. Paxton had said she would like to be reincarnated as a butterfly, and that she'd land on the tips of the fingers of her loved ones to make sure they knew it was her. Barnes may have been trying to let Paxton know she was with her.

Alternatively, Paxton just had a near-death experience, so perhaps the butterfly is a representation of herself, on another plane of existence, checking in.

As the butterfly disappears almost immediately, we're left in an ambiguous state of whether Paxton saw what she wanted to see (affirming that believing is seeing) or not. Was her hallucination proof of belief or a fabricated vision?

Heretic is now streaming on Max.

UPDATE: Mar. 5, 2025, 3:19 p.m. EST This was first published on Nov. 9, 2024. It has been updated to reflect streaming options.