It’s Halloween night, and witches are trying to kill a child – the perfect set up for a horror movie. But what if there was another witch with a counter-attack, and the kids were ready to defend themselves? That’s the setup of Gregg Bishop’s The Heretiks, a witchy home invasion horror.
Mabel (Ava Mae Seidensticker) and Ada (Josie Juliette Wert) are sisters with a strained relationship, and after Ada drops out of college in an existential crisis, Mabel, a middle schooler, is acting out for attention. Their parents are distant figures in their lives. On the night of trick or treating, Ada ditches Mabel and her friend Wesley (Luke Speakman) for a Halloween party, to try and talk with an ex-boyfriend she recently dumped. Before Mabel makes it home, a coven of witches shows up out of nowhere and tries to kill her. Saved by the heretic witch Cai (Kimberly Epstein), they all make it back home where Cai explains the situation. Mabel has been randomly chosen as a ritual sacrifice, to wake the goddess the coven worships and end the world. If Mabel and the others can survive the night, the ritual will fail, so all they have to do is keep the witches out of the house until the morning.
Reminiscent of Hocus Pocus, with the setup of witches trying to kill children on Halloween night, this will feel familiar to genre fans. But it’s much darker and gorier than the childhood favourite. The Halloween vibes are strong, with costumes and decorations as the film’s backdrop, making The Heretiks an excellent seasonal pick. The witches are scary and threatening, each with different powers and abilities, making them hard for the kids to fight off.
Most of the performances are solid, but Cai, the witch fighting back, over-acts and seems to be in a different film than the other characters. However, this could be an intentional choice, since she’s meant to be much older than she appears, she may be from a different time and setting. The rules of the coven and the ritual are hard to follow, with more rules being added throughout the film to clean up contradictions in earlier statements. Viewers will enjoy the film if they can just accept what’s said in the moment without thinking about the logic of the magical rules.
The most interesting theme in the film is the exploration of faith. The witches are powered by faith in anything, stating that there is power in belief. Even believing in yourself and others counts for the coven’s needs. As the characters accept their situation and start to challenge their beliefs, they are able to fight back. Discussions of faith add to the emotional weight of the film.
The Heretiks is a fun Halloween movie for fans of witches, family dramas, and high-stakes occult stories. Lean into the grown-up Hocus Pocus feel, and this film will become a seasonal favourite.
The Heretiks had its world premiere at Fantastic Fest 2026 on Sunday, September 20.
