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Infestation: Fantastic Fest 2026 – The Heretiks

THE HERETIKS MOVIE REVIEW

Horror website Dread Central has gotten into the filmmaking game with their first ever production, The Heretiks, which premiered at this year’s Fantastic Fest. The story follows a coven of witches who have aims to awaken their goddess who dreams the world which will bring about the end of all things. Why you would want to do this is extremely clear in this day and age. However, the ritual requires the sacrifice of a young girl at midnight, which their pre-rituals has randomly chosen and marked. This sacrifice-to-be is a pre-teen named Mabel who wants to go trick-or-treating with her young friend Wesley and with her older sister Ada. When the coven appears ready to drag Mabel away, an unexpected protector appears. The original head of the coven, Cai, disapproves of their goals and is determined to stop the end of the world and protect this family, although she’s about as warm towards regular folks as a Terminator. Chris and Wright examine this film that seems to want to be a ‘starter horror’ but occasionally gores its way past what that level would usually be.

DIRECTED BY: Gregg Bishop

STARRING: Luke Speakman, Ava Mae Seidensticker, Josie Juliette Wert, Isabel Zhou, Tess Williams, Kiera O’Connor, Spencer Brabham, Kimberly Epstein, Leslie Cortes, Mary Ruth Ralston, Jaxin New

 

YOUR REVIEWERS

 

Christopher Lawrence Cox (Founder, Da Boss, Digital Noise, Highly Suspect Reviews, Screener Squad, Deliberations of Doom)

Born in the wilds of northern Virginia, Chris managed to put all of his survival skills to use and barely escaped with his life to Austin Texas in 1992 where ever since he’s dabbled in everything from plumber’s assistant to sandwich maker, from band to bar and theater management. An opportunity to see theatrical release films for free by becoming a critic on a local public access show called “The Reel Deal” turned into a full-time job when Chris and his friends decided to take it to the internet. They built the site Spill.com, adding multiple podcasts and animated features, to no small amount of success. During this time, a fortuitous friendship sprung up between Chris and young Brian Salisbury, who was also a local film critic, and they merged their forces of will, and their laundry list of ideas for shows, to eventually build this community of critics. While Brian eventually followed his heart to a new family, Chris continues on with a cast of colorful folks from all over the country (and a few others).

 

Wright Sulek (The Other Boss, Trash in the Can, Digital Noise, Highly Suspect Reviews, One Man’s Trash, Screener Squad)

Wright hails from the northern suburbs of Dallas, Texas. His passion for filmmaking brought him to Austin to study and make movies. Since then he’s had his hand in acting, writing, and directing his own short films with numerous like-minded film geeks he’s met along his journey. His newest interest has brought him into the podcasting world. He co-hosted a few different movie related podcasts such as ‘And Now This’ and ‘The Match Cut’. He currently co-hosts with longtime friend, Eric Samaniego, where they talk shop about the grimiest, trashiest, lost gems of movies on their show, ‘Trash in the Can’. Wright also guests and hosts reviews on Screener Squad and Highly Suspect Reviews as well as co-hosts Digital Noise with Chris Cox. As of 2024, Wright has now been inducted into the Austin Film Critics Association as well as co-owns the One of Us network with Chris Cox.

 

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