{"id":13026,"date":"2026-09-20T00:01:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-20T00:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mailnewsgroup.com\/ohmr\/?p=13026"},"modified":"2026-09-16T18:18:12","modified_gmt":"2026-09-16T23:18:12","slug":"halloween-magic-with-a-body-count","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mailnewsgroup.com\/ohmr\/halloween-magic-with-a-body-count\/","title":{"rendered":"Halloween Magic With a Body Count"},"content":{"rendered":"
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MOVIE REVIEWS
\nThe Heretiks<\/strong>
\n –   <\/strong> <\/strong> <\/strong><\/p>\n

Genre: <\/strong>Horror, Supernatural, Thriller
\nYear Released: <\/strong>2026
\nRuntime:<\/strong> 1h 29m
\nDirector: <\/strong>Gregg Bishop
\nWriters: <\/strong>Luke Piotrowski, Ben Collins
\nCast: <\/strong>Josie Juliette Wert, Ava Mae Seidensticker, Kimberly Epstein, Tess Williams, Luke Speakman, Spencer Brabham
\nWhere to Watch: <\/strong>shown at Fantastic Fest 2026<\/p>\n

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RAVING REVIEW: <\/strong><\/strong><\/strong>For a while, THE HERETIKS feels like the most dangerous Disney Channel Halloween special that never existed. There are witches, kids sneaking around, fun Halloween costumes, old folklore, forbidden magic, and enough edgy teenage angst that something like HOCUS POCUS doesn’t feel like a ridiculous comparison. Then director Gregg Bishop flips a switch, the violence starts flowing, and the movie makes it very clear that nobody promised these kids a family-friendly adventure. That turn is where THE HERETIKS really won me over.<\/p>\n

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There’s something almost nostalgic about the setup. Ada is caught between adolescence and adulthood, already feeling disconnected from the life around her, while her younger sister Mabel is considerably more comfortable being exactly who she is. Halloween gives everything a layer of make-believe before the supernatural danger becomes real, and a renegade witch named Cai shows up with exactly the sort of mysterious energy that makes you wonder whether trusting her is a good idea or the worst decision they’ll ever make.<\/p>\n

A coven selected Mabel as the sacrifice needed to awaken an ancient evil, and Ada has to keep her sister alive to stop the ritual. THE HERETIKS has mythology to establish without overwhelming us. Ancient beliefs, witches with their own histories, a ritual with apocalyptic consequences, and enough family tension give the story the feeling that the sacrifices have meaning.<\/p>\n

The folklore elements give it a surprisingly old-fashioned quality. Bishop isn’t trying to create witches that feel like a modern take or version just to update them. There’s something feral and almost storybook-like about the danger surrounding this coven, as though Ada and Mabel wandered into one of those tales where the woods were never safe, and adults probably shouldn’t have left children alone in the first place.<\/p>\n

THE HERETIKS has the energy of those Halloween movies a lot of us watched when we were younger. Kids are involved in something larger than themselves, supernatural rules have suddenly become relevant, adults can’t be counted on, and survival depends on the young characters figuring things out as they go. That creates adventure, and the movie is smart enough to let us enjoy it before reminding us this isn’t actually made for children. Once the violence arrives, it isn’t watered down because kids are involved. The film never really turns it up to eleven, but there’s definitely something here that you wouldn’t see in a family-friendly horror.<\/p>\n

Horror has a strange habit of putting children at the center of a story and then automatically putting on kid gloves to soften the impact of everything around them, as though having a kid in the cast means the movie needs to become entry-level horror. THE HERETIKS rejects that idea. Kids can be vulnerable without the genre protecting them, and their presence can make the brutal moments feel dangerous because the usual safety net disappears. I loved that Bishop and company went for it. Kids can get impaled here, just as easily as an adult.<\/p>\n

There’s a point where the whimsical witchy atmosphere collides headfirst with the more bloody territory, and the movie becomes considerably more interesting than its opening stretch prepares you for. Blood, physical violence, and practical effects push the story firmly into adult horror without throwing away the adventurous spirit that got us there. Instead of choosing between a spooky coming-of-age story and something designed for a late-night Fantastic Fest crowd, THE HERETIKS decides it wants both.<\/p>\n

That could have gone horribly wrong. Too much humor and the violence would feel like a cheap shock. Too much brutality and the early sense of fun would look like the movie tricked us into watching something. Bishop finds a pretty satisfying middle ground because the escalation feels like the danger revealing its true form. The movie doesn’t just become mean for no reason. It simply stops protecting its characters.<\/p>\n

The practical side of the horror helps sell that transition. The violence has a messiness that fits the old-school personality of everything around it. THE HERETIKS isn’t interested in big studio supernatural horror where characters get thrown across rooms by invisible digital forces for ninety minutes. When things get scary, they get tactile, and the blood-and-guts approach makes the danger feel much more immediate.<\/p>\n

That also gives the movie genuine horror DNA. Everything changes once the witches become a more physical threat. Characters run, hide, fight back, and make desperate decisions under pressure, while the supernatural element keeps the confrontations from falling into a familiar routine. Ada benefits the most from that escalation. Josie Juliette Wert gives her enough sarcasm and teenage dissatisfaction early on that her eventual transformation doesn’t feel like the movie suddenly assigned her “final girl” status. She’s unsure of where she belongs in her own life, but there’s never much question about where she stands when Mabel is threatened. Protecting her sister cuts through everything else.<\/p>\n

Mabel is just as important because Ava Mae Seidensticker isn’t just extra baggage here. She has her own personality, opinions, and enough stubbornness to push back against the adults and others around her. That may sound like a small decision, but horror movies built around protecting a child often forget to make the child an actual character.<\/p>\n

Kimberly Epstein gets one of the more interesting roles as Cai because the renegade witch never feels completely tamed by the story. She may be helping Mabel, but that doesn’t mean she suddenly stops being herself. There’s an unpredictability to her that keeps the alliance from becoming too comfortable, and the movie is better for refusing to turn her into the wise magical mentor who conveniently explains everything.<\/p>\n

If I were to point out a weakness, I’d say that the mythology still comes at us quickly. Rules, history, and relationships could probably work in a longer movie, and at under ninety minutes the story occasionally barrels past some things that might have benefited from more room. The momentum usually wins that argument, though. I’d rather have THE HERETIKS move too quickly than stop every ten minutes so somebody can deliver another speech about witch history. Because when it does stop, it’s not entirely sure what to do with itself.<\/p>\n

Ada decides in real time who she wants to become. Cai rejects the beliefs she inherited. Mabel is literally being asked to die because some tradition says she should. The battle against the coven naturally becomes a fight over whether these beliefs deserve obedience simply because they’re old. Thankfully, none of that gets in the way of the witches trying to kill people. That may be THE HERETIKS in one sentence. It has something to say, but it also knows we showed up for the witches.<\/p>\n

There’s a refreshing lack of embarrassment about being a horror movie here. Bishop embraces Halloween, folklore, good vs. bad, practical effects, dark humor, supernatural insanity, and eventually a healthy amount of carnage. The movie may resemble something you might have watched during a childhood Halloween marathon one minute and something your parents absolutely would not have let you watch the next. That contrast shouldn’t work nearly as well as it does.<\/p>\n

Kids don’t belong exclusively to family horror. Horror can put young characters in genuinely dangerous, horrible situations without turning exploitation of children into the entire point, and THE HERETIKS walks that line better than expected. Their age makes the violence scarier, not safer, while their personalities keep the movie from treating them as fragile objects adults need to rescue. By the time THE HERETIKS goes fully off the rails, it feels earned. The folklore has established the world, the Halloween atmosphere has invited us inside, and the coming-of-age material has given the characters something resembling a heart. That’s exactly the movie I wanted this to become.<\/p>\n

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[photo courtesy of BLEIBERG ENTERTAINMENT, BE AFRAID MEDIA, BISHOP STUDIOS LLC]<\/em><\/p>\n

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MOVIE REVIEWS The Heretiks  –      Genre: Horror, Supernatural, Thriller Year Released: 2026 Runtime: 1h 29m Director: Gregg Bishop Writers: Luke Piotrowski, Ben Collins Cast: Josie Juliette Wert, Ava Mae Seidensticker, Kimberly Epstein, Tess Williams, Luke Speakman, Spencer Brabham Where to Watch: shown at Fantastic Fest 2026 RAVING REVIEW: For a while, THE HERETIKS feels like the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13027,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/mailnewsgroup.com\/img\/0367\/0367742.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","iawp_total_views":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[47,18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13026","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fantasticfest","category-film-festival"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t