Joy DeNicola

I enjoyed the movie for the first 30-40 minutes. It had mystery, intrigue and tension as two young, devout, religious missionary girls visit the home of an intellectual heretic upon his request for a meeting to learn about their religion. The roles are played well by the tree primary actors, Hugh Grant, as the charming yet menacing and heretical Mr. Reed and Sophie Thatcher and Chloe East as the two young missionaries, Sister Barnes and Sister Paxton respectively. Quickly, upon their arrival at the home, you know that things are not entirely on the up and up and the tension immediately begins to rise. In the doorway of the home, the girls announce that according to church doctrine, they are not allowed to enter the home without another adult female present. Mr. Reed assures them that his wife home and is in the kitchen baking a blueberry pie, the aroma of which wafts through the air. The girls then happily enter the home believing Mrs. Reed is dutifully baking in the kitchen and will join them shortly. The missionaries begin their testimony of all the promises and glories of their beloved region, which are immediately challenged and debated by Mr. Reed, but in a slightly light-hearted manner - at time he is glib and only mildly edgy. But that begins to devolve quickly into more blunt challenges and biting defiance. The girls continue to ask when Mrs. Reed will joins them and remind Mr. Reed of their church doctrine once again. But Mrs. Reed's presence never manifests, and eventually the girls realize that the blueberry aroma turns out be nothing more than a scented candle. When Mr. Reed briefly leaves the room, the missionary girls, feeling unnerved, decide to leave the house, but quickly discover the door is unable to be opened and they now appear to be trapped the home with the seemingly sinister and unstable Mr. Reed. When they question him about the "stuck door" he tells them that the door lock is on a timer and will not be able to be opened until the next morning. GULP!! Mr. Reed's proceeds to engage the young missionaries in a rather intellectual debate with sharp criticism of world religions, which are strongly in opposition to the rather naive young women's unquestioning life-long indoctrination into their beloved faith. This part of the movie was interesting and could have continued on this path, pitting Mr. Reed and his beliefs against those of the missionaries, creating further tension between two opposing and deeply held beliefs and a fight between two polar ideologies, but sadly, from here things quickly devolve into what I would label cheap horror move antics. In order to avoid spoiler alerts, I will not reveal more of the plot other than to say, I personally found the movie to be a disappointment as it began as to unravel into a weird, almost unrelated second story. If you are a fan of psychopathic gore and predictable horror, this movie might be for you. On the other hand, if you are hoping to see a reasonably intelligent movie antagonistically pit two contrary and dogmatic viewpoints against each - one held my a menacing aging man and two virtuous, young believers, this may only hold your interest for the first 40 minutes or so of the movie. I would give the movie 4 stars for the first part of the film for its intrigue, smart debates and acting. Thereafter, I give it 0 stars for its total weirdness and stupid storyline.