Hugh Grant to Star in Horror Movie Re: Sister Missionaries

[bluebell]

13 minutes ago, ttribe said:

Now THAT I would watch!

Sister Smith reaches into her bag, but instead of scriptures pulls out a gun and starts taking out the baddies!

You guys have got to watch "Inspired Guns"

 

[The Nehor]

17 hours ago, blackstrap said:

Hugs are the new  hand shake .I think it is the new generation's way. 

Finally.

[Amulek]

18 hours ago, Peacefully said:

Speaking of missionaries, since when has hugging been allowed? We had a sister confirmed in sacrament and there were hugs all around, even for the Elders. 

Don’t get me wrong, I thought it was refreshing, but I’ve never seen it since becoming a member. 

The current missionary guide just says, "Do not flirt or associate inappropriately with anyone" (link). 

I would have to go back and check my white handbook for the exact language, but I'm pretty sure hugging was discouraged (if not outright prohibited) back when I was a missionary in the late 90's.

Should be pretty easy for me to find. I underlined every rule I broke on my mission, and I know for certain that I hugged people. I kissed a couple of women too.

 

[MustardSeed]

13 minutes ago, Amulek said:

The current missionary guide just says, "Do not flirt or associate inappropriately with anyone" (link). 

I would have to go back and check my white handbook for the exact language, but I'm pretty sure hugging was discouraged (if not outright prohibited) back when I was a missionary in the late 90's.

Should be pretty easy for me to find. I underlined every rule I broke on my mission, and I know for certain that I hugged people. I kissed a couple of women too.

 

Yikes- I hugged a missionary Christmas Day in our home after they spent the whole day with us, and the way he sprung away from my hug you’d think I was The Devil Herself.  My orthodox anxiety ridden mother gasped audibly- 

I was written out of the Will that day no doubt. 
 

I’ll never try that again even if the rules allow! 

[Kenngo1969]

11 hours ago, Amulek said:

The current missionary guide just says, "Do not flirt or associate inappropriately with anyone" (link). 

I would have to go back and check my white handbook for the exact language, but I'm pretty sure hugging was discouraged (if not outright prohibited) back when I was a missionary in the late 90's.

Should be pretty easy for me to find. I underlined every rule I broke on my mission, and I know for certain that I hugged people. I kissed a couple of women too.

 

Trivia question/riddle: I, too, was a missionary under the "no hugging" rule in the early '90s (November 1988-November 1990: Got home Thanksgiving Day.  How cool is that?!! ) yet, despite the fact that I hugged a woman I had never even met when I got off the plane, I didn't break any mission(ary) rules.  How?

[The Nehor]

1 hour ago, Kenngo1969 said:

Trivia question/riddle: I, too, was a missionary under the "no hugging" rule in the early '90s (November 1988-November 1990: Got home Thanksgiving Day.  How cool is that?!! ) yet, despite the fact that I hugged a woman I had never even met when I got off the plane, I didn't break any mission(ary) rules.  How?

Baby sister or niece that wasn’t born when you left.

[Kenngo1969]

7 minutes ago, The Nehor said:

Baby sister or niece that wasn’t born when you left.

Nope ... Good guess, but I think a "hug" in that case would be less reciprocal and more one-sided.  (You're on the right track, sorta, but I did say "woman.")

[Niblo]

13 hours ago, MustardSeed said:

Yikes- I hugged a missionary Christmas Day in our home after they spent the whole day with us, and the way he sprung away from my hug you’d think I was The Devil Herself.  My orthodox anxiety ridden mother gasped audibly- 

I was written out of the Will that day no doubt. 
 

I’ll never try that again even if the rules allow! 

Bugger! 😫

[Bill “Papa” Lee]

On 6/13/2023 at 4:25 AM, smac97 said:

https://geektyrant.com/news/hugh-grant-looking-to-star-in-mormon-missionary-horror-film-heretic-from-a-quiet-place-writers

Can't say I'm enthused about this.

Thanks,

-Smac

Hugh Grant in a movie, with or about is like “oil and water”. Would not want to see it, or drink such a cognition.  

[Tacenda]

2 hours ago, Kenngo1969 said:

Nope ... Good guess, but I think a "hug" in that case would be less reciprocal and more one-sided.  (You're on the right track, sorta, but I did say "woman.")

A soon to be sister-in-law?

[Amulek]

7 hours ago, Kenngo1969 said:

Trivia question/riddle: I, too, was a missionary under the "no hugging" rule in the early '90s (November 1988-November 1990: Got home Thanksgiving Day.  How cool is that?!! ) yet, despite the fact that I hugged a woman I had never even met when I got off the plane, I didn't break any mission(ary) rules.  How?

Hmm... My first thought was new step-mother or some other newly added female family member due to marriage.

I also considered something like a new Stake President's wife, as the Stake President would have been your presiding authority on your return home and probably wouldn't have a problem with his wife hugging a returned missionary. 

Another possibility would be that you were either released from your mission prior to departure or were instructed that your release was effective the moment your foot stepped off the plane. 

Am I anywhere in the ballpark? Inquiring minds want to know!  

 

[Amulek]

21 hours ago, MustardSeed said:

Yikes- I hugged a missionary Christmas Day in our home after they spent the whole day with us, and the way he sprung away from my hug you’d think I was The Devil Herself.  My orthodox anxiety ridden mother gasped audibly- 

I was written out of the Will that day no doubt. 

LOL!

 

21 hours ago, MustardSeed said:

I’ll never try that again even if the rules allow! 

I didn't keep my old purple dragon (Missionary Guide), but I did pull out my white handbook and here's what it says, word-for-word (I'll omit the underlining for parts I broke):

Quote

OPPOSITE SEX

Never be alone with or associate inappropriately with anyone of the opposite sex. Flirting or dating is not tolerated. You are not to telephone, write to, or accept calls or letters from anyone of the opposite sex living within or near your mission boundaries. 

You and your companion may visit single members or investigators of the opposite sex, including divorced persons, only when accompanied by a couple or another adult member of your sex. Try to teach single investigators in a member's home, or have missionaries of the same sex teach them. Always follow this rule, even if the situation seems harmless.

So I guess no-hugging rules have always come from mission presidents. I don't recall my first mission president having much to say about it (and I hugged his wife when they met us at the airport). My second mission president was a former PR director for Ricks and he was certainly much more...conscientious of how missionaries ought to appear and act. Good guy, but easily my second favorite mission president.  

 

Edited June 16, 2023 by Amulek

[Kenngo1969]

35 minutes ago, Amulek said:

Hmm... My first thought was new step-mother or some other newly added female family member due to marriage.

I also considered something like a new Stake President's wife, as the Stake President would have been your presiding authority on your return home and probably wouldn't have a problem with his wife hugging a returned missionary. 

Another possibility would be that you were either released from your mission prior to departure or were instructed that your release was effective the moment your foot stepped off the plane. 

Am I anywhere in the ballpark? Inquiring minds want to know!  

 

Good guesses.  The first.  My brother got married while I was away.  (Since, she has passed away, Alas!  Billy Joel was right: "Only the good die young."   See you soon, Rita ... but not too soon! )

[Saint Bonaventure]

I'm not certain that Hugh Grant will not be playing the part of one of the missionaries.

[mfbukowski]

On 6/16/2023 at 10:21 AM, Saint Bonaventure said:

I'm not certain that Hugh Grant will not be playing the part of one of the missionaries.

Or most likely a mission President or church official kinda guy.

[Amulek]

On 6/16/2023 at 12:21 PM, Saint Bonaventure said:

I'm not certain that Hugh Grant will not be playing the part of one of the missionaries.

Well, Hugh Grant is no Robin Williams, but I could bring myself to go see a Sister Doubtfire movie.

Don't think they'll be going in that direction though.

 

[smac97]

Heretic Trailer Previews A24 Horror Movie About Mormon Missionaries Starring Hugh Grant

Quote

A24 has released the first Heretic trailer for the new A24 horror movie about two Mormon missionaries. The film, which stars Hugh Grant, releases in United States theaters this November.

The film “follows two Mormon missionaries who attempt to convert a man that turns out to be far more dangerous than they could have anticipated.”
...

Heretic is written and directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods. The filmmaking duo previously directed 2015’s Nightlight, 2019’s Haunt, and 2023’s 65, while they were also writers on 2018’s A Quiet Place and 2023’s The Boogeyman.

In addition to Grant, Heretic stars Chloe East (The Fabelmans, The Wolf of Snow Hollow) and Sophie Thatcher (The Boogeyman, MaXXXine).

Thatcher told Elle Magazine in a May 2024 interview that, while she’s no longer practicing and doesn’t agree “with pretty much anything” the organization stands for, she used her upbringing in the Mormon church to convince the Heretic team to cast her.

“I wanted it to feel like my family,” Thatcher said. “My co-star, Chloe East, also grew up Mormon. I feel like we both did a good job of making it real and grounded and not a joke.”
...
Heretic releases in United States theaters on November 15, 2024, from A24.

The trailer for this movie has dropped:

Hmm.  I wonder if the women being missionaries is merely a plot device, or if it is more integral to the story/plot.  Some of the dialogue has some interesting hints:

Quote

From A Quiet Place writer-directors Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, Grant plays the sinister Mr. Reed, an older gentleman who at first seems harmless when he answers the door for a pair of young Mormon missionary women (Sophie Thatcher and Chloe East) spreading the word about Jesus Christ.

“We can’t come inside unless another woman is present,” Thatcher’s character says in the trailer.

“My wife is home, does that count?” Grant’s character replies. “Do you like pie? My wife has pie in the oven.”

After chatting about religion for a while — “I think it is good to be religious. To find your faith in a doctrine you actually believe,” Grant’s Mr. Reed says — he goes to check on that pie. While he’s gone, things take a turn for the worst when the women notice a blueberry pie scented candle on the coffee table, triggering the realization that Mr. Reed has been lying to them.

But by that point, it’s too late — they’re already trapped in his labyrinth. Cue the desperate attempts to escape as they realize the front door is, of course, locked.

“We just need to go home,” one of the women says.

“I won’t keep you if you wish to leave. But I want you to choose which door to go through based on your faith,” replies Mr. Reed, writing the words “Belief” and “Disbelief” on two different doors.

“What does this have to do with us leaving?” one woman asks.

“Everything,” says Mr. Reed.

Also, the name of the movie is "Heretic," so it will be interesting to see if themes of faith are genuinely explored, or if the movie is just another schlocky horror movie that just happens to have sister missionaries as the victims.

I'm not into horror movies, so I doubt I'll see this one.  Too many bleak movies coming out these days, IMO.

Years ago I took my wife to see Revenge of the Sith.  She wasn't much of a Star Wars fan, and by that point I was not really one either, but we went with another couple to make a date of it.  The movie ended, as you know, on something of a dark note.  We sat there while the closing credits rolled, and after a minute or so my wife turned to me and said "Okay, let's go home and watch Anne of Green Gables."  It was a funny, yet poignant, moment, and one we have revisited a few times since.  We are both fine with hearing difficult stories, but we both want to have some element of hope and redemption, some measure of hope.  As Samwise Gamgee put it:

Quote

FRODO: I can't do this, Sam.

SAM: I know. It’s all wrong. By rights we shouldn’t even be here. But we are. It’s like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger they were. And sometimes you didn’t want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But in the end, it’s only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you, that meant something. Even if you were too small to understand why. But I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back only they didn’t. They kept going because they were holding on to something.

FRODO: What are we holding on to, Sam? 

{SAM looks at FRODO...SAM walks over and lifts FRODO to his feet.}

SAM (resolute): There’s some good in this world, Mr.  Frodo. And it’s worth fighting for. 

Just so.  We need to be able to hold on to something.  Horror movies generally don't do this.

Most of my favorite films and stories address dark, difficult issues.  It's a Wonderful Life has a family man contemplating suicide (and includes scenes where James Stewart was apparently expressing some IRL PTSD from World War II).  Nicholas Nickleby and other Di{c}kens stories regularly address privation, maltreatment, death, disease, illness, malice, and so on.  To Kill a Mockingbird addressed entrenched racism and its terrible effects.  In all of these, though, there are lessons to be learned, principles to be gleaned, hope and redemption to be found.

Horror movies, on the other hand, generally lack these virtues.  Instead, they tend to dwell on, and steep their audiences in, violence, gore, nihilism, cynicism, misanthropy, etc.  Yeesh.  No thanks.  There are way too many "virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy"-style stories to hear and to tell.  Hope and redemption typically need to be a part of the story for me.  Fundamentally nihilistic/misanthropic storytelling is not worth my time.

Thanks,

-Smac

Edited June 25, 2024 by smac97

[Kenngo1969]

On 6/13/2023 at 11:30 AM, Saint Bonaventure said:

... I'm one of 7 people who saw September Dawn. That film couldn't have gone over well with LDS audiences.

 

September Dawn September Yawn September Bomb?

  

P.S.: To be absolutely, perfectly, crystal clear, in absolutely no way whatsoever do I condone what happened on September 11, 1857 or Latter-day Saints' role in it.  But it does seem as though if some see any opportunity whatsoever to impugn Latter-day Saints and their faith, they will seize it and exploit it with all their might. 

Edited June 25, 2024 by Kenngo1969

[MiserereNobis]

6 hours ago, smac97 said:

As Samwise Gamgee put it:

Heretic! Quoting the made-up movie dialogue instead of the book!

 

[Calm]

5 hours ago, MiserereNobis said:

Heretic! Quoting the made-up movie dialogue instead of the book!

 

I was shuddering as I yanked my eyes away from the obscenity.  

[Kenngo1969]

I watched the trailer.  There went 2:24 of my life I'll never get back.    Tracting out in the middle of nowhere?  No, thanks.  The closest I ever came to doing anything akin to that is when, I think (if I remember right) my companion and I were getting out of the car to go visit somebody, and, abruptly, he told me to get back in and we left.  I guess we impinged on the turf of one gangbanger or another.

But, since Latter-day Saints, of course, Polllyannas that they are, lack any awareness of the potential dangers of the real world (especially missionaries), tracting in the middle of nowhere is exactly what they would do.  Already, I have devoted entirely too much of my time to this dreck.  Hollow-weird* thinks Latter-day Saints are good for only a few things, none of which are worthwhile: (1) caricaturing, (2) making fun of, and (3) exploiting otherwise.  I don't expect anyone in Hollow-weird to make any real effort to understand anything relating to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as its adherents understand it.  That's a bridge too far for them.

______________________________

*My [apt, I think] name for Hollywood.

Edited June 27, 2024 by Kenngo1969

[LoudmouthMormon]

Heh.  Just for the record, if you go watch this horror movie, you'll be exposing yourself to various sound effects and visual filters and camera angles and whatnot, similar to those used in Under the Banner of Heaven.

Of course UtBoH was a light touch at such suspense- and dread-building elements, while Heretic is likely to drown the viewer in them from start to finish.  But yeah, lots of similarities, both of elements and the purpose for using them, to be found.

Edited June 27, 2024 by LoudmouthMormon

[Tacenda]

14 minutes ago, LoudmouthMormon said:

Heh.  Just for the record, if you go watch this horror movie, you'll be exposing yourself to various sound effects and visual filters and camera angles and whatnot, similar to those used in Under the Banner of Heaven.

Of course UtBoH was a light touch at such suspense- and dread-building elements, while Heretic is likely to drown the viewer in them from start to finish.  But yeah, lots of similarities, both of elements and the purpose for using them, to be found.

I wonder if this will be on something like Hulu or the theaters. Sorry if it's been mentioned already.

[bluebell]

2 minutes ago, Tacenda said:

I wonder if this will be on something like Hulu or the theaters. Sorry if it's been mentioned already.

It looks like it's going to be released in theaters.

 

17 minutes ago, LoudmouthMormon said:

Heh.  Just for the record, if you go watch this horror movie, you'll be exposing yourself to various sound effects and visual filters and camera angles and whatnot, similar to those used in Under the Banner of Heaven.

Of course UtBoH was a light touch at such suspense- and dread-building elements, while Heretic is likely to drown the viewer in them from start to finish.  But yeah, lots of similarities, both of elements and the purpose for using them, to be found.

It's a horror movie, so that kind of stuff is a given.  From what I've heard so far, the sister missionaries are just a generic vehicle for the plot; it's not really a commentary on Mormonism specifically.

But I guess we'll have to wait and see (or, someone will.  I'm not seeing this; it sounds dumb).  

[Tacenda]

2 minutes ago, bluebell said:

It looks like it's going to be released in theaters.

 

It's a horror movie, so that kind of stuff is a given.  From what I've heard so far, the sister missionaries are just a generic vehicle for the plot; it's not really a commentary on Mormonism specifically.

But I guess we'll have to wait and see (or, someone will.  I'm not seeing this; it sounds dumb).  

It just made me wonder when they compared it to Under the Banner of Heaven. Not many movies make it to the theaters these days they go straight to streaming.