The Heretics is a 2017 Canadian body horror film directed by Chad Archibald and produced by Black Fawn Films and Breakthrough Entertainment. It is about a young woman who is kidnapped and transforms into a demon.
Plot
Gloria is kidnapped by a cult which, under a locust moon, performs an occult ritual while wearing grotesque masks before committing suicide. A locust moon is the appearance of the moon in late spring after the "Flower Moon" of May. Five years later, a traumatized Gloria is living with her mother, Ruth. Slowly recovering from her experience, Gloria attends a therapy group at her local church with her lover Joan. Joan tells Gloria she has something special planned for their anniversary tomorrow. But on the night before their anniversary, Gloria is kidnapped by Thomas, a man whose face is hideously scarred by fire, and taken to a remote cabin in the countryside.
Joan launches an increasingly frenetic search for Gloria, and pulls a knife on a man who is indifferent to Gloria's kidnapping. When a police officer learns of Joan's violent behaviour, he suspects that she was involved in Gloria's kidnapping, which leads her to kill both him and the inconvenient witness Ruth. Thomas tells Gloria that he was one of the cultists who had kidnapped her five years ago, and that he was moved by her humanity, which caused him to abandon his beliefs on that night. He feigned suicide, and states that he kidnapped her to protect her from the remaining cultists, who intend to finish the ritual under the coming locust moon. The cultists believed that they had implanted the demon Abaddon, the "Taker of Souls", into Gloria's body and that it has been growing inside of her for the last five years.
Under the light of the locust moon, Gloria becomes seriously ill and begs Thomas to take her to a hospital. Both Thomas and Gloria experience visions of Abaddon while various occurrences suggest a malevolent supernatural force is present in the cabin. As Gloria begins to grow wings, Thomas starts to believe she really is turning into Abaddon, and contemplates killing her before the transformation is complete. Joan is revealed to be the leader of the cult who kidnapped Gloria. Thomas tells Gloria that Joan is really his sadistic sister Gwendolyn who scarred him with fire. Gloria, whose appearance is increasingly inhuman as her metamorphosis processes, starts to lose herself mentally and begins to speak in the voice of Abaddon, saying she will kill him first and take his soul to hell.
Gwendolyn learns from a man who witnessed the second kidnapping that the kidnapper had a scarred face, which leads her to deduce that it was Thomas. Gwendolyn goes to the cabin (which belonged to their parents), knocks out Thomas, taunts Gloria over her physical degeneration, and begins to perform an occult ritual before a chained Gloria. Thomas breaks free, kills Gwen and takes a seemingly dead Gloria outside under a rising sun. Gloria revives and attacks him, saying in the voice of Abaddon that she will take his soul to hell.
Cast
Nina Kiri – Gloria
Ry Barrett – Thomas
Jorja Cadence – Gwendolyn
Will King – Kent
Nina Richmond – Ruth
Austin Duffy – Abaddon
Production
The film was financed by Breakthrough Entertainment as the last in a two-year eight-picture deal with Black Fawn Films, signed in June 2014, at about $500,000 each. Chad Archibald directed the film, which was written by Jayme LaForest.
The film was shot in Toronto, Erin and Guelph, Ontario.
Distribution and release
The Heretics premiered at the 11th edition of the Canadian Film Festival in Toronto, on 22 March 2017. Jason Anderson of the Toronto Star called it "a standout" among the new features. The eight-picture deal with Breakthrough had solidified Black Fawn's reputation, and their films were universally welcomed at horror film festivals. The Heretics was also screened at the 2017 Berlin International Film Festival.
Toronto-based distributor A71 obtained the Canadian rights to the film, which was released at 15 Landmark Cinemas theatres across the country on 1 November 2017 as a special event screening, followed by a week-long national release beginning 3 November. Breakthrough Entertainment distributed the film internationally. A71 partnered with Black Fawn to release the film on DVD and Blu-ray in early 2018.