Heretic

Another one of those low budget British indie horrors that somehow got a wide DVD release complete with attractive slipcase and fake critical acclaim. The model seems to be to package these as blockbusters and stock up Internet review sites with fake all-star reviews in a bid to draw viewers. HERETIC is much the same as the others I've watched, a painfully boring horror flick in search of a proper story, not endless chit-chat and wandering around looking at mildly interesting locations. The tale is about a priest with a crisis of conscience who experiences frightening events that may or may not be in his head, but it's all laboured and unengaging.

This film was apparently a first time effort for its makers and with that in mind was not too awful…. The acting was not bad, pretty natural in fact, but was not helped by a script that lacked logic and progression and some dodgy direction. Quite often the characters seemed to have forgotten something they said a couple of minutes before and drama was forced into the script rather than created by writing craft and careful direction. This made some of the characters almost unbearable to watch, the policeman for example. The script writer could maybe have researched police procedure, shouting "I am a police officer…" does not grant much at all. The cinematography was professional and the sound track was OK though a little over powering at times.

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.

Some of these reviews are clearly friends of the director or crew. The back of the blu ray said strong gore, violence !?! Where?!........why this film was an 18 I do not know as it's very tame. Some fairly decent acting from this amateur cast. This felt like a short story that was stretched out far too long.

Bonus point for the gorgeous female leads. Especially the flirty blonde with the vodka. Swiiiing. Ha ha.

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!