With Halloween around the corner, it feels like the perfect time to talk about something scary.
And while I could write about ghosts or haunted houses, I’d like to explore something a little more psychologically unsettling: a charming man who invites two young women into his home and gradually makes it clear that they are not free to leave.
The 2024 psychological horror film Heretic offers plenty to think about if you’re interested in the dynamics of cults, manipulation, and coercive control. Its villain, Mr. Reed, is frightening not only because of what he does, but because of how he presents himself along the way.
He is polite. He is articulate. He appears curious and welcoming.
And underneath that carefully constructed exterior is a profound desire to control other people.
A note before we begin: This article contains major spoilers for Heretic, including its violence and ending. It also discusses emotional abuse and coercive control.
What is Heretic about?
Heretic follows two young missionaries, Sister Barnes and Sister Paxton, who arrive at the home of Mr. Reed, played by Hugh Grant. He initially seems interested in hearing about their religious beliefs, and the women accept his invitation inside.
What begins as a conversation about faith gradually becomes something much more disturbing. Reed challenges their beliefs, controls their choices, and eventually reveals that leaving his home will not be as simple as walking out the door.
As the film unfolds, it becomes clear that Reed has created an elaborate environment designed to manipulate, frighten, and overpower the people who enter it.
Reed argues that the “one true religion” is control. Whether or not we agree with his conclusion about religion, his own behaviour gives us a great deal to consider about the psychology of control, and what can happen when someone positions themselves as the ultimate authority over another person’s reality.
What is the dark triad?
The dark triad is a term used in personality research to describe three overlapping traits:
- Narcissism: traits associated with grandiosity, entitlement, and a heightened sense of one’s own importance.
- Machiavellianism: a tendency toward strategic manipulation, deception, and using others to achieve one’s goals.
- Psychopathy: traits associated with callousness, reduced concern for others, and, in some descriptions, impulsive or antisocial behaviour.
These traits are studied on a spectrum and can overlap, although researchers continue to debate how distinct some of them are. The dark triad is a research framework, not a diagnosis in itself.
I’m not diagnosing Mr. Reed, or suggesting that a fictional character can be clinically assessed. Instead, I’m using his behaviour as a lens through which to explore patterns that can appear in manipulative or controlling relationships.
It’s also important to be careful about applying these labels to people in real life. Someone does not need to fit a personality label for their behaviour to be harmful. Likewise, the presence of a trait does not mean someone will become violent or abusive.
What matters most is the pattern of behaviour and its impact on the people around them.
1. Narcissistic traits: “I know the truth, and you don’t”
One of the most striking things about Mr. Reed is his certainty.
He does not simply want to have a discussion about religion. He positions himself as the person who has seen through the illusions that others still believe. The missionaries are not treated as equals in a conversation; they become an audience for his superior understanding.
Questioning religious beliefs is not, in itself, narcissistic or abusive. It can be thoughtful, meaningful, and necessary. What makes Reed’s behaviour concerning is the combination of superiority, contempt, and control.
He has already decided what the women need to learn. He controls the setting in which the conversation takes place. And when they challenge him, their perspectives do not carry the same weight as his own.
In real life, this kind of dynamic can be difficult to recognize because the person may appear knowledgeable, confident, or even unusually insightful. They may present themselves as someone who sees what everyone else is missing.
But there is a difference between someone sharing an idea and someone insisting that their interpretation is the only valid one.
A controlling person might leave you feeling that:
- Your questions are evidence of ignorance or weakness.
- Their perspective is always more informed than yours.
- Disagreement means you are defensive, naïve, or unwilling to face the truth.
- You need their guidance to understand your own experiences.
Over time, this can erode your confidence in your own judgment.
2. Machiavellian traits: Creating the illusion of choice
Reed’s manipulation is not random. It is deliberate and carefully planned.
Early in the film, he creates the impression that the women can safely enter his home. He suggests that his wife is present, knowing the missionaries are more comfortable entering a home where another woman is there. Later, when the women want to leave, they discover that the situation is not what they believed it to be.
One of the film’s clearest examples of manipulation is the choice between two doors: one associated with belief and the other with disbelief. The women are encouraged to believe that their choice has meaning, yet both doors ultimately lead them further into Reed’s trap.
This is an extreme, fictional example of what might be called a false choice: being offered options that appear to give you control while the person presenting them has already arranged the outcome.
In everyday relationships, a false choice might sound like:
- “You can do what I’m asking, or I’ll assume you don’t care about me.”
- “You’re free to leave, but don’t expect anyone else to understand you the way I do.”
- “You can disagree with me, but that just proves you’re not ready to hear the truth.”
The person may insist that you are free to choose, while attaching consequences that make one option feel unsafe, frightening, or impossible.
The question is not just “Was I given a choice?” It is also:
“Was I genuinely free to make it without being punished, threatened, or manipulated?”
3. Psychopathic traits: Callousness and a lack of concern for others
As the film progresses, Reed’s lack of concern for the women’s wellbeing becomes impossible to overlook.
He terrorizes them, imprisons women, and commits violence in service of his own ideas. He appears willing to treat other people’s suffering as material for an experiment: something he can observe, orchestrate, and use to prove a point.
His behaviour can be viewed through the lens of callousness, one of the characteristics associated with psychopathic traits. His violence does not establish a diagnosis, and most people with elevated dark triad traits do not commit the extreme acts depicted in the film.
Still, Reed’s behaviour raises an unsettling question:
What happens when another person’s fear, pain, or humanity matters less to someone than their desire to get what they want?
In less dramatic situations, callousness might show up as a repeated disregard for another person’s distress. Someone may see that you are upset and continue pushing. They may dismiss your pain as an inconvenience, mock your vulnerability, or treat the harm they caused as irrelevant.
We all have moments when we are distracted, defensive, or less empathic than we would like to be. The concern is a persistent pattern, especially when the person refuses accountability and continues the behaviour after its impact has been made clear.
How Heretic reflects cult-like dynamics
Mr. Reed is not a conventional cult leader with a large group of followers. He is a fictional captor who creates a controlled environment around himself. Nevertheless, his behaviour echoes dynamics that can occur in cults and other high-control groups.
These include:
Claiming exclusive access to the truth
Reed positions himself as someone who understands the truth more clearly than the people around him. The implication is that others must move through the experience he has designed in order to understand what he already knows.
In a high-control group or relationship, a leader may similarly claim to possess special knowledge or insight. Members may be encouraged to doubt their own judgment and look to the leader for answers.
Having strong beliefs or a respected teacher is not inherently harmful. The concern arises when questioning is discouraged, dissent is punished, and the leader’s authority becomes more important than the wellbeing or autonomy of the people around them.
Controlling the environment
Reed controls the physical space, the information available to the women, and the choices they are offered. The house itself becomes part of his system of control.
In real life, control can be less visible. A person or group might influence who someone spends time with, what information they consume, how they spend their money, or whether they feel permitted to question what is happening.
The more isolated and dependent someone becomes, the harder it can be to step back and evaluate the situation freely.
Using fear and confusion
Throughout the film, the women must continually adjust to new information. What initially seemed safe becomes threatening. What seemed like a choice becomes another trap.
Fear and confusion can make it harder to think clearly. When a person is preoccupied with managing someone else’s reactions or trying to avoid the next consequence, they may have less space to reflect on what they want or need.
This is one reason it can be so difficult to leave a controlling relationship or group. The person experiencing the control is often trying to navigate a situation that has been deliberately made confusing.
Presenting control as something beneficial
Perhaps one of the most disturbing aspects of Reed’s behaviour is that he presents his actions as a kind of lesson. He appears to believe that exposing the women to his version of the truth justifies what he does to them.
This can happen in less extreme forms when a controlling person frames their behaviour as being for your own good:
- “I’m only telling you this because I care about you.”
- “You need someone to push you.”
- “You’ll understand why I did this eventually.”
- “I’m protecting you from people who don’t have your best interests at heart.”
Care can include honesty, challenge, and concern. But care does not require you to surrender your autonomy.
Are all religions or spiritual communities controlling?
No. And I think this distinction is essential when discussing Heretic.
Reed’s claim that all religion comes down to control is his interpretation, not an objective truth established by the film.
Religious and spiritual communities can offer meaning, belonging, comfort, ethical guidance, and a sense of connection. For many people, faith is a source of resilience and freedom.
At the same time, religious ideas can be used to justify control or abuse. So can therapeutic language, political beliefs, self-help philosophies, or seemingly secular ideas.
The question is less about what kind of belief system someone belongs to and more about how power is exercised within it.
Can people ask questions? Can they disagree? Are their boundaries respected? Are they free to leave without threats or retaliation?
Those questions can be useful in many kinds of relationships and communities.
Why controlling people can be difficult to recognize
If every controlling person behaved like a horror movie villain from the beginning, they would be much easier to avoid.
But manipulation often develops gradually.
Someone may initially appear charming, generous, attentive, or deeply interested in you. They may make you feel understood in ways you haven’t felt understood before. They may offer a sense of certainty at a time when you feel lost or vulnerable.
None of these experiences automatically means someone is manipulative. Warmth, confidence, and conviction can all be genuine.
What matters is what happens over time, particularly when you begin to have needs, boundaries, or opinions that differ from theirs.
Can they tolerate your “no”?
Can they accept that you have a different perspective?
Do they take responsibility when they hurt you?
Do you feel more able to be yourself around them, or do you find yourself becoming increasingly cautious, confused, or afraid?
These questions may tell you more than trying to determine whether someone fits a particular label.
If you’ve experienced a controlling relationship or group
Recognizing that you have been manipulated can bring up many feelings: anger, grief, shame, confusion, or even a longing for the person or community you left.
You might find yourself asking:
How did I not see it sooner?
But manipulation often works precisely because it unfolds gradually and is mixed with experiences that feel meaningful, loving, or safe. You may have been responding to the information and circumstances available to you at the time.
Being trusting, hopeful, or open to connection is not a character flaw.
Healing may involve rebuilding confidence in your own perceptions, reconnecting with parts of yourself that were pushed aside, and learning that you are allowed to have boundaries - even when someone else disagrees with them.
It can also involve grieving what the relationship or community meant to you. Something can have offered genuine moments of belonging while also having caused harm. Making room for both truths can take time.
Therapy after a controlling relationship
If you have experienced a controlling relationship, high-control group, or other situation that left you questioning yourself, therapy can offer a space to explore what happened at your own pace.
Together, we can make sense of the patterns you experienced, understand how they may still affect your relationships and sense of self, and work toward rebuilding trust in your own judgment.
You do not need to have the perfect words for what happened before seeking support.
Additional Resources
If you'd like to learn more about the psychology of cults and high-control groups, you may find these resources helpful:
Want to Explore Your Relationship with Belonging?
One of the reasons high-control groups can be so compelling is that they often offer something many people are deeply longing for: connection, acceptance, purpose, and a sense of belonging.
While every person's experience is different, some people find that leaving a cult also brings older relational patterns into focus. If you've noticed recurring themes around belonging, people-pleasing, or feeling like you have to earn your place with others, you may find my free Belonging Pattern™ email series helpful.
Offered through my coaching practice, this free resource includes three guided emails exploring the Emotional Orphan, Helper, and Scapegoat patterns and how they can shape the ways we seek connection, navigate relationships, and experience belonging.
If this resonates with you, you're welcome to explore The Belonging Pattern™
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Rebecca Steele | Smart Therapy®
Registered Social Worker, Psychotherapist (MA, MSW, RSW, CCC)
Rebecca Steele is a psychotherapist based in Waterloo, Ontario, offering virtual therapy to adults across Ontario and New Brunswick. She supports adults experiencing anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), relationship patterns, self-worth, emotional neglect, and high sensitivity (HSP traits). Her work integrates depth psychology, emotion-focused and psychodynamic approaches with other evidence-informed treatment to help clients better understand themselves and create lasting change. She may also incorporate the Enneagram as a tool for self-understanding and personal growth.
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