The Heiress

It's a movie which lacks. It has a distorted, jump on the bandwagon message and although the nightmare scenes are OK looking the whole piece is lacking chops in storytelling. The director appears to, as an actor done a tonne of equally cheap 'pound shop' brit gangster movies and it shows here.

Lots of potential and good acting but the storyline wandered for the last 25 mins and ultimately wasn't that scary. The tension between the medical and church is a good idea but never really developed.

There are some decent ideas here, but they're not developed enough. The acting is mixed, direction isn't great, nor is the cinematography. Of course the low budget puts limitations on the production, so I'm sure all concerned could do better, but more fully-developed ideas and a better script needn't have cost any more. The gorgeous and talented Candis Nergaard is a bit wasted here. It has its moments but ultimately isn't really satisfying.

Slow start to the film Not scary but still enjoyed the film nice to see a British horror low budget but nice effort

With a brilliant central performance, The Heiress slowly builds its tension, taking its story in unexpected directions. Director Chris Bell is just as confident flipping genre tropes as he is utilising traditional scare tactics to keep the viewer firmly behind a pillow. The "person behind a closing door" scares are there, but they don't feel worn in the same way they do in other films as they are earnt through the ever thicker atmosphere the film churns up. The Heiress also faces up to the traditional Church vs Science fight shared by many other suburban horror films, but tackles it with a fresh approach that feels more grounded in reality. This juxtaposition is echoed throughout the film, a fight between the mundane and supernatural, be it parental bickering or vivid dreams. But the bottom line with a horror film is "does it scare?" Here The Heiress really delivers. It is one thing to make a decrepit mansion or a dark forest scary, but here the terror is in brightly lit fields and a detached new build.