Fantastic Fest 2026: THE HERETIKS (2026)
What do you get when you combine the sensibilities of 1990s-2000s era Halloween-themed Disney Channel Original Movies and HELLRAISER-esque gore? You might get something like THE HERETIKS, which had its world premiere at Fantastic Fest last month. Gregg Bishop’s film is a unique combination of very different aesthetic and narrative sensibilities that seem to only have one thing in common: loving Halloween. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, and makes THE HERETIKS a new kind of seasonal treat in its own right, taking cues from its disparate influences and birthing something totally new, albeit frustrating (but somehow still fun) in its wake.
Ada (Josie Juliette Wert) has been through a lot since she left and returned to her sleepy hometown. She’s dropped out of college and is living back at home, dealing with the consequences of blowing up her former life and burning every bridge she’s ever made. As she’s adrift and figuring out her life and herself, she’s helping raise her delightfully wry younger sister, Mabel (Ava Mae Seidensticker). Mabel comes home at the beginning of the film, suspended from school for dressing up for Halloween. It’s clear from this character intro that the sisters are distinctly different, serving as a classic sibling duo: the loser older sibling and the clever, cunning younger sibling. Soon, Mabel will have to worry about bigger problems. It turns out that she’s been marked for death by a coven that believes that the goddess they serve will wake up with the sacrifice and end the world with it. With the help of the stoic witch Cai (Kimberly Epstein), a former member of the coven that wants them to break away from this fatal belief, and Mabel’s friend Wesley (Luke Speakman), Ada will have to figure out how to save her sister using magic before its too late.
The premise of THE HERETIKS is intriguing and brings to mind the vibes of not only the aforementioned 1990s-2000s era Disney Channel Original Movies, but also films from the ‘80s featuring children in distress. The holiday setting and the kids teaming up with supernatural forces evokes not only something like HOCUS POCUS, but also 1980s classics such as THE MONSTER SQUAD and THE GOONIES. The film’s first half really digs into this vibe, with the main kids running through the decorated suburban neighborhoods festooned with pumpkins and skeletons, trying to outrun the real horrors awaiting them while the whimsical ones frame their chase. Scenes with Mabel and Wesley initially learning about the coven and magic from Cai feel very much akin to those films -- kids trying to learn from or work with beings that have a radically different understanding of the world. It’s a cozy choice, and imbues the movie with a familiarity that lets you sink into its world with little trouble.
You’d be right to wonder how the movie manages to marry this familiar, comforting tone with a harsher, bloodier one. The answer is, well, it gets clumsy! The movie makes the stakes of the film: life or death, clear from the beginning. But as the second half unfolds it becomes clearer that we’ll be seeing the effects and collateral damage of those stakes as well. There’s a lot of bloodshed and death here that takes the unassuming atmosphere built up in the first half and corrupts it.
From the beginning of THE HERETIKS, it may not feel like a movie that would have a flayed, skinned man walking around a house, or child death that feels abrupt, but those are two real things that happen in the movie’s action-packed second half. As the ticking clock in our story moves onward (the coven wants to sacrifice Mabel at midnight), so does the pace of the film. Soon enough, Ada is learning spells from Cai, attack plans are being made, and there’s at least one inappropriate confession of love/kiss (which, to be fair, feels true to the 1980s of it all). From the attack plans to the casualties, THE HERETIKS doesn’t hold back in letting you know that it’s willing to go all the way, cozy vibes be damned.
Overall, though, it feels like the film is trying to balance the two different movies it wants to be, and teetering between the two moods can lead to an overwhelming sense of imbalance throughout the film. The story, of sisterhood and forging your own beliefs in uncharted territory in your life, is universal and helps keep the film grounded otherwise. The characters are worth rooting for, although a smidge more character development for our lead squad would have been a nice way to add a bit of depth to the film.
Because of its shifting vibes and shocking turn, THE HERETIKS might not work for you. However, if you’ve ever asked yourself why one movie can’t harness both the coziness and the harrowing bloodshed of the season at the same time, this might be exactly what you’re looking for. A bold, unorthodox take on the Halloween movie, THE HERETIKS is in a class all its own, making it both a frustrating and fun watch.
