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From 'The Exorcist' to 'Heretic,' why holy horror can be a hit with moviegoers
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FILE - Alan Ruck, from left, Alfonso Herrera, Ben Daniels, Geena Davis, creator/executive producer Jeremy Slater and executive producer/director Rupert Wyatt participate in the panel for "The Exorcist" during the Fox Television Critics Association summer press tour, Aug. 8, 2016, in Beverly Hills, Calif. - photo by Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP, File
In the new horror movie, “Heretic,” Hugh Grant plays a diabolical religious skeptic who traps two scared missionaries in his house and tries to violently shake their faith. What starts more as a religious studies lecture slowly morphs into a gory escape room for the two door-knocking members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, underscoring just how well-suited religion can be for terrifying and entertaining thrill-seeking moviegoers. “I think it is a fascinating religion-related horror as it raises questions about the institution of religion, the patriarchy of religion,” said Stacey Abbott, a film professor at Northumbria University in Newcastle, England, whose research interests include horror, vampires and zombies.