Heretic

I gave it a 4! Cause today I am happy and generous!

OK, so it's not a complete waste of time, not your average B movie, more of a C category, could fill up some time if you seriously have nothing better to do, still I wouldn't recommend it. It goes hand in hand with "The Last Will and Testament of Rosalind Leigh", a tad bit of a different approach on the Christianity subject, but overall, it will bore you.

So, yeah, try something different this time, as "Heretic" is maybe too slow, maybe lacks a serious budget and the director couldn't fully fulfill his dream, anyway, somewhere, something kinda died. But still, believe it or not, it gets better with time. Not so much a +, more of a...what a beginning.

Heretic, an OK movie, that will disappoint the most!

ALL of the good reviews must have been written by cast and crew although they really should distance themselves from this poor attempt at feature film making. Complete waste of time. Classify this as a boring Christian drama rather than a horror genre film. Horror? Really? I concur with another reviewer that this could have been a passable short if done as a film school project, but as a feature film it fails in every way, completely. And, a shout out to the shill reviewers: Why would you even bother hyping this the way you do? Why not just say that this was, in your opinion, a great effort by up and coming film makers to put together a professional quality film on a shoestring budget. I might not agree, but at least there could be some truth to your review. By attempting to hype this bore-fest as anything more than that you do a disservice to both the viewer and the film makers. Overall, a lousy uncompelling story to start with.

Despite never having heard about the 2012 horror movie "Heretic", from director Peter Handford then I opted to watch it, as I stumbled upon it here in 2025. Yeah, I am a sucker for all things horror.

Writers Bethany Clift and Peter Handford put together a script and narrative that was a bit sluggish and slow paced. There wasn't a whole lot of interesting or thrilling things happening throughout the course of the narrative. And that made for a somewhat dull viewing experience. I am not saying that "Heretic" was a downright bad movie, not at all, it just lacked elements to keep the storyline interesting for the viewers.

I was not familiar with a single actor or actress on the cast list, and that is actually something that spoke in favor of the movie, as I enjoy watching new and unfamiliar talents on the screen when I watch a movie. The acting performances in the movie were fair enough.

This is not a movie that I would recommend to horror fans, as the movie proved to be somewhat dull and devoid of scary contents. And it definitely is not a movie that will grace my screen a second time.

My rating of director Peter Handford's 2012 movie "Heretic" lands on a generous three out of ten stars.

Okay, I never normally review stuff on here either but I thought someone had to stick up for this bloody (ha ha!) film! I am not cast or crew member but think some of the reviews on here are being a bit harsh. I agree that is it slow and that isn't your normal horror but I liked the fact it was a bit different and that they have tried to do something different with it although I am not sure it totally works. Also, it is much better than some of the Hollywood stuff I have seen lately (The Purge? Insidious 2? Anyone? Anyone?) and it was made for a lot less money. I don't agree with whoever said the akira kurosawa stuff below (definitely cast or crew or best friend!) but I did enjoy it so I am giving it a 7 because I thought they tried something different and the critics seem to like it so it can't be all that bad. Lots of reviews on here for such a small film though.

I tried, I REALLY tried sitting through this; I normally like religious based Thrillers / Horror films a lot. I'm not saying that the movie is totally awful, by any means. I get the impression that all involved really did try their best, especially the primary actor playing the priest.

It's just that it honestly is not that good. NO WHERE NEAR what these 9 and 10 star reviews are stating, not even close... Heh, along with being seriously annoyed when I see those, I also find it so funny in how transparent they are... 'Hitchcock! Genius!', etc., etc... It's SO funny, if they just didn't go over the top like they do, making the film sound like the next 'Cumming' for God's sake, and assume that we are all impressionable 3 year-olds, and maybe give it 7 stars, just MAYBE some of us just might buy it. But, no... Pretty stupid...

Anyway, I think the idea for the story is fine, but to me anyway, the endless, shallow dialog just doesn't do it. And, come on, having this somewhat seasoned priest saying 'F v< k' every other sentence; really...??? Just straight out dumb...

A GOOD director might have been able to salvage this movie; perhaps adding more subtlety and mood may have given this a decent chance at being a pretty good, entertaining Horror film. So, I feel that the director probably carries the most blame here, particularly in the somewhat stupid, and very common way these characters spoke to one another. Two of MANY examples would be the early discussion between the two priests at the bar (including many laughable 'F v< ks') and the flashback to the confessional with James. I think that the EXACT same thing could have been accomplished, but just a hell of a LOT better! In the first case, couldn't these two 'good friends' have shown a little more realistic concern and believable emotion between them, instead of this superficial, 'When are you gonna treat me as a friend?!' and 'No really,I'm fine'. That's it...? That is supposed to engage us and convince us of how close they are...? Uh huh... And, in the second instance in the confessional, couldn't the director have given that scene (they WERE discussing a VERY serious matter) some REAL bloody WEIGHT...!?? Instead we get, 'Pray to God for help' and the reply, 'F v< k that!'

PLEASE...

I cannot truly recommend this in any way; like I mentioned, it's certainly not the worst movie that I've seen, just one where I feel that a SERIOUS lack of the director's skill in eliciting good performances from the actors GREATLY took away from whatever potential may have been there...