Needless to say that I had never even heard about this 2024 horror movie titled "Heretics", from writer Ryan Ebert and director Jose Prendes, prior to sitting down here in 2025 to watch it. I opted to watch it solely because it was a horror movie that I had not already seen nor heard about, and the fact that I am a big fan of all things horror.
Now, had I known beforehand that "Heretics" was a 'found footage' movie, I would never even have given it the time of day. I absolutely abhor the pathetic 'found footage' type of movies. I mean, why invest your time, money or effort in a movie that you could just as easily have filmed yourself with your own digital video camera? Plus, I just find the whole subgenre of horror known as 'found footage' to be a massive waste of time.
Then there was the fact that this was a movie made by The Asylum. So yeah, that wasn't really something enticing that spoke in favor of the movie. But in all fairness, every now and again in a blue moon then The Asylum do churn out a good movie. But with the only "big" name on the cast list in this movie being Eric Roberts, then I wouldn't bet any money on this being a good movie, especially not since it was a 'found footage' movie on top of that.
Writer Ryan Ebert put together a script and storyline that proved dull and devoid of entertainment value. I zoned out a mere 30 minutes into the ordeal, and the movie just became background noise. The narrative was rubbish and the characters were one-dimensional and just lacking personalities and traits.
Of the entire cast ensemble, I was only familiar with Eric Roberts, Scott Mazzapica and Shelby Wright, and it is not like Eric Roberts's presence in movies really do much of anything to lift up a movie, as his performance is the same soulless and monotonous one that he does in every single movie that he is in. I was only familiar with Scott Mazzapica and Shelby Wright as I had just recently sat through the 2025 movie "Morgan: Killer Doll", in which both of them starred. The acting performances in the movie were actually not bad, nor were they particularly memorable. But then again, the actresses and actors virtually had nothing wholesome to work with.
Suffice it to say that the movie's cover over-sold the movie by a landslide. The movie's cover was actually good, but the contents of the actual movie, well, not so much.
My rating of director Jose Prendes's 2024 movie "Heretics" lands on a generous one out of ten stars. Another case of pure gold from The Asylum.
