An unconventional horror film and an old-school World War II drama arrive in movie theaters this week. Here’s our review of each.

“Heretic” >> A24’s slow burner set almost entirely inside a freaky snowed-in house does deploy horror staples such as jump scares and gore — but does so judiciously, and relatively late in the thicket of its mind game. The film prefers to focus instead on weighty but entertaining theological discussions between two plucky Mormon missionaries (Sophie Thatcher, Chloe East) and the deep thinking — or so he believes — pie peddler Mr. Reed (Hugh Grant), an educated guy with warped intentions.

The more worldly Sister Barnes (Thatcher) and Sister Paxton (East) get caught in a trap of his devising and become unwitting mice to Reed’s toying cat once they enter his domain on a false pretense that he wants to be enlightened about Mormonism.

Horror diehards will likely walk away feeling hoodwinked by a freaky trailer that promises something more extreme than what gets delivered. But those seeking restraint and something more clever than the usual carnage will find this talky (in a good way) creeper offers more to chew on than the genre norm.

“Heretic” does give you the case of the minor willies, but it’s more preoccupied about the pecking order and back history of world religions and the control they exert on their disciples. Big frights take a back seat.

Directors/screenwriters Scott Beck and Bryan Woods — who together wrote “A Quiet Place” and have made a few horror films — keep your mind engaged throughout, but do, on occasion, slip into the overly didactic. They just can’t help themselves.

Yet nothing about “Heretic” is stilted, which is a feat given 90 percent of the film takes place inside Mr. Reed’s sparsely decorated home where various doors take you to ever more unsettling destinations.

“Heretic” avoids being sterile or stagy because the extra-chewy dialogue is basted and battered in pop-culture symbolism, bouncing from Monopoly to fast-food restaurants to Radiohead and so on in order to make salient, entertaining religious points.

Equally responsible for making “Heretic” work are its three actors. Thatcher and East, both of whom used to be associated with the Mormon Church, avoid stereotyping either their characters or their religion. Instead their characters emerge as smart and resourceful, one more resourceful than the other.

But as good as they are, it is Grant who is the beacon of dark light here from the instant he opens his front door and flashes his boyish smile that just seems slightly off. His character could easily have become one-note — a disturbed, secluded man — but the former king of the rom-com plays him in various keys, making him funny, weird, smart and threatening, sometimes all at once. It’s a devilish high point in his career.

Details >> out of 4; in theaters Friday.

“Blitz” >> Award-winning filmmaker Steve McQueen goes old-school, in a way, with his breathtakingly filmed World War II adventure story set around a 9-year-old boy, George (impressive newcomer Elliott Heffernan), who courts disaster one day during the Blitz of London so he can reunite with his mom Rita (Saoirse Ronan) and grandfather (Paul Weller). True to McQueen’s standards, “Blitz” is polished and crafted to perfection. It also richly evokes the ‘40s in Britain — the clothes, the streets, the homes, the hairstyles, the racism and the fallout of war — which is strikingly captured in the shadowy cinematography of Yorick Le Saux.

“Blitz” isn’t revolutionary and tells an old-fashioned story of the sort that many of us have seen before. But it does so well, and features another tremendous acting turn from Ronan, who conveys the love and panic a mother feels once she discovers that her son is not where he is supposed to be — in this case a country home where he can be out of harm’s way.

Overly precocious George jumps from the train bound for the countryside and, in true Dickensian fashion, encounters some helpful people and some unsavory types on his treacherous trek back home.

While fans might crave a more edgy McQueen, there’s no mistaking that the auteur is helming this epic film and still thinking outside of the box.

His story addresses the era’s racism (George is mixed race) and the fate that his father suffered partially due to that. But the film distinguishes itself more around its impressively set action scenes, one in a subway that recalls elements of James Cameron’s “Titanic” and the other a haunting bit of brilliance that contrasts the gaiety of a big party and jazz performance with the destruction and death left in the rubble after an air attack.

Both scenes are memorable and stunning in a solid, not remarkable, film that warmly celebrates the unbending love shared between a mother and son and the courage and bravery of Londoners during The Blitz. Expect anything more than that, and you’ll be disappointed.

Details >> ; in theaters Friday and available to stream Nov. 22 on Apple TV+. (Note: it would be a shame not to see this on a big screen).

Contact Randy Myers at soitsrandy@gmail.com.