My (super detailed) analysis of the 2024 horror movie Heretic

Magnum sized condoms are an illusion!

I don’t have many articles behind the paywall and the paywall isn’t high either. But this article about the 2024 horror movie Heretic and its true meaning and true ending really is an in-depth analysis with unique explanations that (so far and as far as I know) no one else has figured out. As such it’s one of my few articles that will remain behind the paywall indefinitely. It’s mainly so as to keep my content unique and make it a bit harder for others to copy it.

If you are not a paid subscriber, you can still read it by doing a free 7 days trial, or redeeming your one free article. And if you don’t wanna do any of that either, you can still read the first part of it, but there is much, much more in the full article. (The full article is almost 7 times the length of the preview article - so it has A LOT of info).

As always I am assuming you have already seen the movie and are now looking for an explanation of its meaning and especially it’s perplexing ending. But just to recap, here is a short summary of the plot: Two Mormon missionaries, Sister Barnes and Sister Paxton are invited into Mr. Reed’s mysterious house and from the moment they enter it, he manipulates and traps them with the goal of gaining complete control over them.

I know, having Mormons pester you right at your front door can be pretty scary. But that’s just how the movie starts! So if you can’t handle such terrifying imagery, this movie is definitely not for you :-)

Heretic is a very interesting, very thought provoking and extremely unnerving horror movie. What makes it so scary (at least for me) is that I actually know people who are pretty much exactly like its villain, Mr. Reed - including his willingness to harm other people and his way of justifying it.

So who are the characters in this movie? What kind of people do each of the characters symbolize in real life and what then is this movie ultimately really about and what is its message? And once we understand that, how can we then use all that to really make sense of the ending?

This article is gonna be my in-depth answer of all these questions.

On the surface the movie Heretic seems similar to Gnostic movies like The Matrix about which I have already spoken about at length. Especially when it comes to the character of Mr. Reed. He is very similar to the character of the Architect in the Matrix in the way that he can use the surroundings he created for his prisoners to manipulate and control them and to keep them trapped and ultimately even alter their perceptions.

But there is a fundamental difference that sets this movie apart from being just another Matrix clone. Because while the character of the Architect in the Matrix is a representation of the Gnostic Demiurge (Demiurge literally means Architect) and therefore reflects the Gnostics disdain for Jehovah and the religions that worship him, this dynamic is very intentionally reversed in Heretic.

Far from being a religious figure, Mr. Reed is actually as staunchly opposed to Jehovah and to organized religions as the many atheists and Gnostics are who basically try to paint Jehovah as evil. As a matter of fact Mr. Reed’s looks, mannerism and the arguments he uses mimic that of both Richard Dawkins (most famous atheist) and David Icke (most famous proponent of the Gnostic simulation theory in modern times).

So unlike The Matrix, Heretic in reality is a movie that was very obviously NOT made by people who are Gnostics but by people who are the opposite - namely Agnostics. Actually it was made by the same company that also made the equally unnerving and thought provoking Midsommar.

Now you might say that Agnostic isn’t the opposite of Gnostic, but actually it kinda is and this movie made me realize that. Because…