‘The Heretiks’: First Look at Our Halloween-Set Horror Movie from ‘Dance of the Dead’ Director Gregg Bishop!
For the better part of 25 years, I’ve lived and breathed horror. I started my first horror website when I was 20 years old, not because I had some grand business plan, but because I was a fan. That’s still who I am today.
Over the years, that passion turned into a career I could have never imagined. I helped build one of the largest horror platforms on the internet, worked alongside incredible filmmakers, helped launch franchises, produced films, and had the privilege of being part of projects that connected with audiences worldwide. Eventually, though, I realized I missed the freedom that came with simply being a fan. I wanted my autonomy back. I wanted to create, write, champion strange ideas, and take risks again.
That desire is what led me and several longtime friends and collaborators to acquire DREAD CENTRAL and build something bigger around it: a new company called BE AFRAID.
Today, I want to formally introduce you to BE AFRAID.
BE AFRAID is the parent company behind DREAD CENTRAL and the growing slate of projects we’re developing across horror media, including film production. The goal is simple: make cool things for horror fans by people who genuinely love horror.
Some of you already know parts of my history in the genre space. I co-created and produced the V/H/S franchise, produced films like Southbound and Terrifier 3, and have spent years collaborating with filmmakers whose work continues to shape modern horror.
What I’ve always loved most is horror that feels unpredictable. Films that take swings. Stories that catch you off guard. But at the same time, there’s a part of me that will always love the kind of horror I grew up on. The movies that made me fall in love with the genre in the first place. Sometimes I want to get back to those roots. Back to that classic Halloween-season energy. The kind of movie you’d discover late at night with friends, the kind that feels fun, eerie, atmospheric, and unapologetically horror. That spirit is a huge part of what inspired our first production.
I’m incredibly excited to officially announce the first feature film produced under the Be Afraid banner:
THE HERETIKS
The film is directed by Gregg Bishop, a filmmaker I’ve had the pleasure of working with multiple times over the years. Horror fans likely know him from Dance of the Dead, his wildly underrated V/H/S segment “Dante the Great,” and SiREN, the feature spinoff of David Bruckner’s V/H/S segment “Amateur Night.” I’m a huge fan of Gregg, who has a rare ability to make ambitious genre filmmaking feel massive, energetic, and cinematic while never losing the personality and fun that make horror special in the first place.
Even cooler, Bleiberg Entertainment, which previously backed Dance of the Dead, also financed and produced The Heretiks, bringing things full circle in a really exciting way.
So, without further ado, we’re excited to announce that principal photography has officially wrapped in Atlanta on The Heretiks, the latest horror offering from SiREN and Dance of the Dead director Gregg Bishop.
The film stars exciting new talent: Kimberly Epstein, Josie Wert, Ava Mae Seidensticker, and Tess Williams, alongside Luke Speakman from Zach Cregger’s Weapons.
The Halloween-set home invasion horror film follows Cai (Epstein), a renegade witch who must protect sisters Ada (Wert) and Mabel (Seidensticker) and friend Wesley (Speakman) from her former coven, led by sadistic fanatic Neve (Williams), who seeks to bring about the end times by sacrificing Mabel on Halloween night.
The film draws inspiration from the bold, genre-defining horror of the 1980s, movies that felt dangerous yet unmistakably fun, blending genuine scares with inventive practical effects and vividly drawn characters. The Heretiks channels that spirit, delivering a high-stakes Halloween-night story populated with colorful characters audiences can root for, fear for, and ultimately fall in love with, as the terror escalates inside a home under siege.
The Heretiks was written by Luke Piotrowski and Ben Collins, known for their work on Hulu’s 2022 Hellraiser reboot, the indie horror hit The Night House, and the cult favorite, Super Dark Times. Piotrowski will also make his directorial debut later this year with the Clive Owen exorcism film, Blasphemous.
Ehud and Ariel Bleiberg are producing through their namesake banner, along with Atlanta film industry veteran Alexander Motlagh (The Signal) and director Gregg Bishop, as well as Brad Miska (Terrifier 3) for Be Afraid, and Chris White (A24’s Backrooms).
Bleiberg is handling worldwide sales and will be showing exclusive first-look footage to buyers at their Cannes booth on the Riviera.
“I couldn’t be more proud of what this team pulled off,” said Bishop. “We set out to make a visceral, high-stakes Halloween horror experience, grounded in performance and built for a crowd, and I can’t wait to share it.”
Here’s another early look at the film, courtesy of Deadline, which also broke the news for us. We’re so excited to share it with you later this year.
