10 Best Characters From 2024 Horror Movies
6. Mr. Reed - Heretic
Hugh Grant's storming career reinvention reached its arguable zenith this year with his mesmerising, Golden Globe-nominated performance as Mr. Reed in Heretic. But beyond the obvious appeal of seeing Grant play so massively against type, Reed is just a transfixingly horrific character.
The initial facade of warmth he presents to two young Mormon missionaries slowly gives way to something far more sinister as he reveals his true, sadistic intent.
Even knowing the full revolting extent of Reed's actions, it's tough to look away from his verbose, increasingly unhinged rants about organised religion, and what he eventually reveals to be his ultimate thesis - that control itself is the ultimate form of religion.
Seeing Reed slyly spring his trap, ensnare his victims, and then subject them to untold horrors in an attempt to prove himself correct is nothing if not compulsively entertaining, and at times darkly hilarious, especially given his many hypocrisies which soon enough reveal themselves.