Critic Reviews

A mini-masterpiece, with lean filmmaking and lots of surprises.

Expect deep conversations to follow your screening.

Although it is unashamedly a genre piece, Heretic is not only an expertly engineered work of suspense but also an ingeniously structured colloquy about the most deeply held belief systems.

It gets under the skin and into the mind and does what good psychological horror does best: leaves the viewer unsettled and perhaps a little shaken even after the end credits roll and the lights turn back on.

Heretic leans on horror and serial killer thriller conventions for its plot and rising suspense. The foreshadowing is obvious, but the ways it is deployed always surprise and chill.

The only thing holding Heretic back from instant classic status is its final act, where some of the big secret reveals end up a bit disappointing after so much great build-up.

Never has pondering theology been so devilishly entertaining — and amen to that.

Divisiveness aside, and despite a few stumbles in pacing as it pivots from cool premise to interesting conclusion, Heretic is a wonderfully effective, chilling thriller from two of the best genre storytellers currently in the game.

Heretic knows exactly how to keep us mesmerized. It's a unique horror experience that's sure to have everyone talking.

Eventually, Heretic does evolve into something a bit more familiar, shedding the heart-pounding sense of pure wrongness that defines the first hour in favor of more action, violence, and traditional excitement. And it's all very well-executed, frequently very scary and, honestly, probably the right choice for filmmakers who clearly care about their audience.