After spending half his career in rom-coms, Hugh Grant now plays monsters

After some difficulties connecting to a Zoom, Hugh Grant eventually opts to just phone instead. "Sorry about that," he apologizes. "Tech hell."

Grant is no lover of technology. Smart phones, for example, he calls the "devil's tinderbox."

"I think they're killing us. I hate them," he says. "I go on long holidays from them, three or four days at a time. Marvelous."

Hell, and our proximity to it, is a not unrelated topic to Grant's new film, "Heretic." In it, two young Mormon missionaries (Chloe East, Sophie Thatcher) come knocking on a door they'll soon regret visiting. They're welcomed in by Mr. Reed (Grant), an initially charming man who tests their faith in theological debate, and then, in much worse things.

After decades in romantic comedies, Grant has spent the last few years playing narcissists, weirdos and murderers, often to the greatest acclaim of his career. But in "Heretic," a horror thriller from A24, Grant's turn to the dark side reaches a new extreme.

The actor who once charmingly stammered in "Four Weddings and a Funeral" and who danced to the Pointer Sisters in "Love Actually" is now doing heinous things to young people in a basement.

"It was a challenge," Grant says. "I think human beings need challenges. It makes your beer taste better in the evening if you've climbed a mountain."