Everybody who wants to be a screenwriter should watch this movie!
I was wearing my new shoes that I got for Christmas today. I hopped over to the corner store to grab a drink, and while waiting in line, heard a guy behind me say, “Those shoes are fire.”
“Too soon,” I said. “Too soon.”
What a weird week.
It’s the beginning of the year. You want to start things off with a bang.
And then… fires.
Fires fires everywhere. You can check out my mini-blogging about the fires in the comments section of the previous post.
Suffice it to say, I might have to end my relationship with fire.
But, since it looks like things are finally calming down, I can focus on the site again.
So I checked the box office numbers over the weekend and, oh boy. What a dumpster fire.
TOO SOON, CARSON!
Sorry, sorry.
Truthfully, there’s nothing wrong with Den of Thieves 2 being the top movie of the weekend. It just doesn’t inspire a lot of passion. You now? So, I finally bit the bullet and paid 20 freaking dollars to rent Heretic. The way I justified it is that that’s what it would’ve cost me to go see it in the theater. So why not?
Best 20 dollars I’ve spent all year.
As someone who loves great screenwriting, there is a particular brand of script that I’m always looking for. It’s the script where the writer has developed a captivating story within an inexpensive scenario.
The reason I’m so obsessed with that setup is that the writer is relying on nothing more than good dramatic storytelling to keep the reader engaged. That’s the purest form of screenwriting. I see so many screenwriters – especially young ones – try to win over the reader with rampant GSU and crazy shootouts and wild car chases and shocking plot twists.
Once you learn the basics of drama, you can put three characters in a room and have the reader on the edge of their seat. Which is exactly what happens here. Two Mormon girls come to a man’s house to pitch their religion. He turns the tables on them, pushing them to convince him their religion is worth joining. And the next thing you know, they’re in danger.
So, what are these basic storytelling elements that are at play in Heretic?
Let’s start with building the initial premise around tension and suspense. Tension and suspense will get you VERY FAR as a storyteller. It doesn’t do everything. You still have to create characters we’re interested in and build a plot that pushes those characters in interesting story directions. But tension and suspense alone can keep many a story exciting.
When Sister Barnes and Sister Paxton arrive at Mr. Reed’s house, we know immediately something is up with him. That’s where the tension begins. We’re suspicious of this guy.
In a way, the scenario works as dramatic irony even if it’s not technically dramatic irony. Dramatic irony is when we know more than the characters do. It works best when we know our heroes are in danger but they don’t know it yet.
So, if we would’ve met Mr. Reed chopping up a body in the back room AND THEN had him greet Sister Barnes and Sister Paxton, that would be a textbook case of dramatic irony, as we would know they were in deep shit.
Instead, we only sense that Mr. Reed is bad, something the girls, at first, do not. That’s what’s creating tension. And it also creates suspense. Now we have to keep reading to reach the moment where the heroes realize what’s going on. It’s very hard for a reader not to want to read until the heroes catch up with the rest of us. Dare I say it’s impossible. So that’s a very powerful tool to use as a screenwriter.
But that’s not all that’s going on here. Beck and Woods understand that setting up dramatic irony (or ‘shadow dramatic irony’ in this case) is just the beginning. As a writer, you want to then play with the tool.
For example, as their initial conversation about religion in the living room proceeds, Sister Barnes becomes suspicious about Mr. Reed. But Sister Paxton is still totally oblivious to it. She’s way too trusting. So now, you’ve split the dramatic irony between the heroes. One senses something is wrong. The other doesn’t. This advances the dynamic in the room, keeping the interaction fresh.
That’s not by accident. Good writers know that every writing tool has an expiration point in the story. You can only use the suspense of a certain situation for so long before the audience demands it come to a head. Therefore, if you want to keep using that dramatically ironic scenario, you must find ways to advance the dynamic of the interaction.
However, let’s say that that’s all Beck and Woods did here. They just used this creepy guy and these scared girls and played ONLY THAT NOTE the whole way through the script. Would it work? No. As writers, you must also expand the context of the scenario, which is exactly what they do.
One of the big early beats in the story has Mr. Reed pulling out a Mormon bible, complete with hundreds of tabs and notes in it. It’s clear that he’s studied the Mormon religion extensively. He then uses that knowledge to challenge the girls. He brings up lots of details about the religion, ultimately landing on Mormonism supporting men taking more than one wife. Do they support this?
The reason this deeper knowledge is important is because it establishes the writers are committed to going beyond a surface-level thriller. They’ve done that extra research which will allow them to make this just as much of a mental exercise as a thrilling one. Which is what happens. The girls are forced to defend their religion, which takes us even deeper into the themes of the story, which amount to faith and trust in one’s religion.
Most of the scripts I read don’t do that second part. The writers would not have done extensive research on Mormonism. They wouldn’t be able to write about it specifically. Instead, they’d focus on the fun stuff, like, what’s Mr. Reed going to do next? Don’t get me wrong. That stuff will still work. But when you bring in specificity and detail, it supercharges the dramatic elements of the story.
Once the writers milk all they can from that first scenario (a full 30 minutes!), they change locations, pulling the characters into a new room, this one with two doors on the far side, which we understand will represent choices the characters will have to make.
Just putting the doors there alone creates suspense. We will now keep watching to see which doors the girls choose. Once you’ve set up a scenario like this, it allows you to play around. That’s an important screenwriting tip so let me repeat it: Once you’ve set up a strong suspenseful scenario, it allows you to play around.
Think about it. If you’ve promised the reader a treat at the end of the scene, they’ll be willing to sit with you in the meantime and hear what you have to say. The mistake many writers make is they never create the suspenseful scenario in the first place. Which means there is no treat at the end. If you then try and play around, it will feel random, purposeless, and the reader will become anxious quickly. Why would they keep reading if there’s no release?
The ‘playing around’ is really fun here. Mr. Reed goes on a long monologue about the nature of “iterations.” He uses props, explaining that Monopoly was once another board game called The Landlord’s Game. He then plays an oldie record and points out that it’s the tune that would later inspire Radiohead’s “Creep.” Iterations, he explains, is all religions are – repurposed old religions, new and improved. And Mormonism is the newest of them all.
That’s all fun stuff to learn, but if there weren’t two looming doors at the back of the room, I’m not sure I would’ve cared to listen to Mr. Reed’s 12 minute monologue about iterations.
After another 30 minutes, Beck and Woods take you to a third location. It’s a minor thing but an important one. Readers will get bored if they’re in one place for too long. Provide us with new locations that lead to new challenges and it’s like getting a new caffeine hit from a cup of coffee. We’re excited again.
They really do everything right here, the writers.
Probably the most impressive thing they did (warning, spoilers ahead) is making their deus ex machina ending work. A deus ex machina ending is when your hero is dead to rights and then something shows up at the last second to save them. It’s one of those things that SEEMS like it should work, because your hero survives in a surprising way. But it’s an empty feeling because the hero didn’t have to do anything to earn their survival.
However, Beck and Woods cleverly set up a minor rule earlier that ensures when our heroine is saved at the last second, it makes complete and total sense.
If you couldn’t tell, I REALLY liked this movie. I would put it up there with Anora as best script of the year. I knew these two could write their butts off when I read that birth scene in A Quiet Place. They had the misstep with “65” but, as Harry Dunne from Dumb and Dumber would say, “Then you go do this and TOTALLLLLY REDEEM YOURSELVES.” What a good movie! I’ll retroactively add it to my top 10 of 2024.
