Pie scented candles to make people think there is fresh home cooked pie in the oven is the most evil and malicious thing I have ever scene. Kidnapping and such is bad too.
As a practicing Latter Day Saint member I can’t lie I’m very excited for this film. I’m a horror lover and A24 has made some of my favorite movies of all time. I hope they portray the missionary’s in a well thought out way that is realistic. I definitely understand why other members in the church would not appreciate this type of representation, but with religious horror already being such a big genre I think it’ll be interesting to see the lds church being portrayed like this, instead of just the typical catholic horror movie.
Hello, fellow church member and horror fan! 👋 A24's movies are a little extreme for me (I really can't do gore) but I love me a creepy story! I'm also a (sometimes-)horror author and I wrote an LDS horror story (as well as some other pieces); if you're interested, hit me up, I'll send you the info! :)
@@memesouls8653 I mean it’s not necessarily encouraged but it’s really up to the viewer’s discretion. For me personally that’s not something I worry too much about since I know my limits on what I will or won’t watch if that makes sense.
I just got back from my mission and I actually am excited for this movie. (Even though I hate horror) from the trailer I actually like how they have represented the Sister Missionaries, and it genuinely feels pretty respectful. They have outfits, hair, even the proselyting bags down. You can tell they put a ton of attention to detail to the creation of this movie. And from the trailer the missionaries seem to be made out as attentive and smart, such as not entering his home unless an adult female was present (unfortunately people lie) noticing the candle, and trying to get out of the situation. -I had an experience on my mission where we were teaching a man who said his wife was inside, luckily she was, she was an older woman that only spoke Lebanese and was in very poor health, so she had a hard time moving and did not meet us at the door. We had no reason to believe he was lying, and he wasn’t, I can’t imagine what these Sisters would have been thinking, knowing they unknowingly put themselves in such a terrible situation. But as a recently returned missionary I don’t know if I will be able to watch this movie as soon as it comes out. It is way too real. Missionaries see a lot of terrible things, and unfortunately many are put in danger, but luckily the church has implemented so many great trainings, resources, and procedures to do everything they can to insure the safety of their Missionaries and other members. These Sisters Missionaries are young girls, average aged 19-26, often living in foreign places, speaking a different language, companions with someone they just met, meeting with dozens of strangers a week, hoping that situations like this will only happen in movies. While it is very interesting to see this representation it might take me a while to actually WATCH it, I currently have way too many loved ones and friend out on missions at the moment 😂
Solid video man! Great thoughts and stories from your mission experience. I served in upstate NY and had similar thoughts while watching the trailer myself. Curious to see how this plays out over the coming months with publicity from mainstream media!
Appreciate that my friend. Yeah I’m really interested to see if there is a ripple at all from it in the press or how people interact with missionaries.
I’m a Latter-day Saint and I think too often our members and missionaries are used as nice but dim-witted characters to laugh at and are usually misrepresented in TV and films. Most of the time it doesn’t seem particularly malicious but it would be nice to be portrayed as something other than nutty, naive dopes who haven’t got a clue. There are, after all, a large majority of us who are reasoned intelligent people. I think we’re able to take most of these kind of shows with good humor, but I do get annoyed on occasion at the lack of respect we’re treated with. I think I’ll skip “Heretic”. It doesn’t seem very appealing to me.
As an ex JW, I think it's more so to highlight the dangers. I hated door to door witnessing for many reasons including safety problems. You never know who's house you're stepping into, or if they're actually trustable or not.
It's hard to say, from this trailer, what to expect. I'm not a fan of horror, but there is still room for a "hero's journey" story to be told. I'm not optimistic that will be the case, I don't know A24 and hadn't heard about this film until now. (I liked your reaction by the way. There's a dearth of reasoned conversation about most topics)
@forallthesaintspod well, I will be on my own on the 8th, wandering London and trying to make the timezone adjustment, If you're so inclined. I don't land until afternoon, so Church probably isn't in the cards. I could bring you a signed copy of my book (which has a Latter-day Saint character, so you can compare how I do at representing vs. A24 😂)
My take is we shouldn't take it too seriously. How many times has the Catholic church been a part of storylines? Think exorcist movies or DaVinci code. All for fun. Probably innacurate but just for fun
Good point! I think it (perhaps) "harms" actual real-life practicing Catholics less, since they've historically been a more prominent faith in most areas of the world; the church is comparatively tiny so it's easy to freak out that portrayals like this or "The Book of Mormon Musical" are going to be peoples' only or first encounter with our faith. I'm a member and a horror fan and sometimes-horror writer who thinks horror can be a great way to illuminate the power of real faith, so it's cool to see your take. :)
I was watching RUclips with my siblings and got the trailer as an ad. I was surprised to see missionaries in a movie trailer, but I started to get a really bad feeling, like the spirit had left. so I skipped it. Thank goodness I did.. I came back to watch the trailer on my own, and honestly it disgusts me. Seeing those sisters in peril is just absolutely horrible to me, and this is coming from someone who loves horror movies. I will definitely be skipping this one. Thank you for posting your reaction and opinions on this! Really nice to see another member’s insight!
Saw the movie yesterday and I think it represents Mormonism very positively. Would like to see a film review on the channel in the future! Great reaction btw
@ that’s very kind. My baby sister is currently a sister missionary in Washington so I’ve avoided the opportunity so far! I’m very glad to hear you feel it’s a positive representation though
Thank you for your candor and BRAVERY in checking into this. We (as members) need to be aware but not poisoned by garbage. I’m sad that people will actually watch this out of curiosity.😢 Thank you for all you do!!
To your point about viewers of exmo channels mostly being nevermos: it's absolutely true. Just look at Mormon Stories' viewership stats. A lot of these people are looking for channels that fall into the genre that I like to call "cult porn". "Cult porn" channels like to cherry-pick the worst anecdotes within a religion's culture and history and present them as if they were the norm. It's a cheap and easy way to get views, but it's anything but honorable.
Disagree with you on this one. Many of the comments on ex mo channels are people who can relate to what others are going through and share their stories as well. Even if they aren't ex mormon, but are ex some other high demand religion. It's a place for people to find community and feel they aren't alone in their doubts or faith crisis or trauma or whatever they've gone through. Providing a platform for struggling people to find community and help is honorable imo.
@@arkroogs90 key word "some" are ex members from other faiths. Most are just nevermos watching it for entertainment. It's cult porn for the gentile gaze
The two actresses portraying the sister missionaries are both disaffected or ex-members (not clear which) of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. While in some ways that can be an advantage, I'm always wary about how their disaffection influences how they judge what constitutes an honest portrayal versus a distorted caricature which may have led to their disaffection. Certainly, an all positive and naive portrayal would be similarly disingenuous, but I'm not a fan of "faith crisis" being the most exploited plot element in films that tackle religion. There are many other aspects of being religious that are worth examining in film, and I don't like that the only feature that Hollywood seems interested in when it comes to Latter-Day Saints are struggles regarding belief in the Restoration or more basic doctrines. I do think that subject is relevant, but I can't help but think that the reason for "faith crisis" being a central feature is because the vast majority of content in regards to the Church these days revolves around apologetics and discussions of controversy. This, mingled with the prolific anti-mormon social-media machine, can make it seem as if loss of faith is the most common experience for people in the Church. Perhaps that is true, but I'd like a little bit of variation.
I hope they make the sister missionaries here actual in depth characters that aren’t naive. I’m hoping that they escape. My gut feeling though is that they will lose their faith, and maybe even say one of them is secretly gay. I also hope that they discover evidence of other faiths being victims in the maze because otherwise it would seem the Church and its faith would be targeted specifically. I can also see one sister being more “believing” than the other and they can switch in their levels of faith. All in all, they better be triumphant and keep the faith. And films like these do plant seeds of malicious ideas into weirdos heads, which if it did cause harm in real life would be awful. Seeing this I just put myself in their shoes, took me back to my mission, and I just got an adrenaline rush seeing it because if that happened to me he picked the wrong missionary because I have 100% full faith and belief in what I believe.
@@forallthesaintspod Darn… it would be so cool to see those characters wrestle with faith and triumphant in the end, with a positive rep for the Church… but yeah if that’s the case it’s just another predictable disappointment. But maybe it would be an opportunity for others to learn the Gospel? Who knows…
@@dwilliams21 thank you! I’m amateur story teller and just love stories. Heretic is a horror/thriller, and there’s one thing to remember and expect about horror. The protagonist cannot survive unless they are scared (scar) by something. It must be a physical, or emotional scar. Maybe they lose an eye, or maybe they lose their mind. Either way they are traumatized by the event. I say this because it explains a part of my fear and reasoning of why they may lose their faith if they survive. What I hope, and can imagine, is that the sister in the black dress is more “disbelieving” than the other sister who may be more “believing”. The sister in the black dress may find that in the end she does believe because of the horrifying situation the insane religious doctor guy put her and her companion in designed to literally test their faith as it appears. That’s the character development I’m hoping for.
@@forallthesaintspodThey are acting to a script and a director so it's not their personal story. Having said that, they might have given the director details about what they experienced and there's nothing wrong with that.
Ben, thanks for featuring this clip. It was intersting. I think the film has the possibility of being quite suspenseful, and I believe it will actually attract additional interest to our faith, but I do not hold out much hope that the portrayals of these two missionaries will be very strong. At least one of them will give in to doubt like the two actresses apparently did in real life. It is sad to always be thought of as the low hanging fruit as a faith, but to these shallow Hollywood minds, that is about all we are. Watching the trailer by itself without your commentary makes it even more creepy. I think I will skip it. I love what you do. Keep it up. You are making a difference.
Glad to hear your respected view Elder Andersen, we miss you and your wife. We had some good times! Thanks for this. I hope there will naturally be some intrigue, I hope our sister missionaries are not negatively impacted on the streets around the release of it.
I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Thank you for your reaction, Brother Ben Hancock. I am reminded of FDR as I read these interesting comments: "Human kindness has never weakened the stamina or softened the fiber of a free people. A nation does not have to be cruel to be tough." Most Latter-day Saints are very kind AND very tough. Popular media often misinterprets that kindness as gullibility or stupidity. What a misstep on their part! & I believe that misinterpretation is alive and well in "Heretic."
I am a fan of psychological horror and I have heard that the film has a lot of dialogue. Because I know people who have views that this character (Hugh Grant) seems to have, I would like to see continuous failed attempts at dismissing religion or faith, in general. In other words, if the sisters prove him wrong at every turn, that is a positive. However, he is a twisted man with evil intent. The more he is proven wrong, the more unhinged he may become. My hope is that the dialogue may open future discussion and aid in helping convert unbelievers.
I just hope they don't keep calling members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saint's mormons lol (great vid, I agree with you on all points as a member)
I lived in Utah for 15 years. I think for the plot of the movie it's irrelevant what religion the missionaries are. The narrative could work with Jehovah's Witnesses just as easily. It's not the doctrine that matters to the plot of the movie, it's the interrogation of the concept of belief itself. Being LDS missionaries is a MacGuffin to get the girls through the door and into the house. The movie probably won't pick apart Mormon beliefs but will use Mormon belief/faith as a stand in for any religious faith, belief or conviction.
I think you're right. There are a number of reviews from people who saw the whole movie at a festival and most of them say that is, in fact, the main premise of the movie. The specific religion of the door-to-door solicitors doesn't matter so much as their struggle to retain their faith during this horrific ordeal.
From what I understand, Hugh Grant's character is a wicked, violent, twisted man who is at war with all denominations and all faiths. I personally know real people who make a goal of trying to turn others from a Christian faith. This man obviously takes this to an extreme. The fact that his intended victims are LDS missionaries is a bit of a coincidence. I think missionaries were used in the film as representative of faith and pure intention, even if the film, itself, misrepresents their religion. As I alluded to previously, there are many in the world who confuse religious faith with political ideologies. This man seems to be of that ilk. I am hoping that the sisters prevail and stay true to their faith, causing him to possibly acknowledge his error in thinking or, at least, to consider doing so.
I was very disturbed by this trailer. My daughter and I were at the movies to watch Twisters. There were several disturbing trailers that I felt were extremely inappropriate to show before a PG movie. It is obvious that most of the previews were for movies that would definitely be released rated R. Being LDS, it was very unnerving to see two Sister Missionaries placed in that situation. In the beginning, my daughter and I were like, Oh! Sister Missionaries! Fun! Then we were like, what the f???? Um, no. Wow. Just wow. We were bothered by most of the previews, which were pretty bad. The previews alone, could have been rated R. They were that disturbing and disgusting.
I Just watched the film and It actually is incredibly well written. Very thought provoking. The trailer is somewhat misleading, there is no Labyrinth to go through unless you consider it metaphorically. There is peril for sure but It is more a battle of ideologies and wits, this movie may actually strengthen Mormons faith in their beliefs.
I spent too long this afternoon reading the RUclips comments after watching the trailer. There was a very interesting mix of posts from practicing and former members. There are too few spaces that it seems like the two groups are willing to share. So for that alone I’m glad the movie was made. I couldn’t help but think about the variety of plots which could come out of this trailer set up. Most of them are unsatisfying low-hanging fruit. I finally thought of the plot and ending I’d like to see. I have little hope of seeing that film so I probably won’t watch whatever A24 has made. I’ll stick with my own version. 😊 Lastly, based on the comments I read, at least the one actress isn’t a hater, she just doesn’t feel the Church is for her. And someone else wrote that a Church member is a producer so here’s hoping the tropes will be limited.
A broader theme that I see in how members of the Church are represented is the strong, almost magnetic assumption that the most trustworthy people to speak about a group are the ones who left it e.g. exmos. I don’t see it changing given how effective it is at ensnaring peoples’ minds with cynical thinking against the Church.
Isn't the church putting young women in danger though, by putting them in a position of harms way telling them to knock on strangers doors? Yeah I worry about this film inspiring dangerous copy cats, but those dangerous people would have most likely tried to scare or hurt the sister missionaries anyway. I don't think watching one film would make them bad people, a person like that would try to hurt some vulnerable young women anyway. Seems to me the easy solution would be to stop putting missionaries in danger out alone in the field, exposed to who knows what. And also, I don't really see it as exploiting faith for entertainment. As someone else said, so many religious horror films have been made about the Catholic Church, why not lds, or any other church? It's never really been about a particular faith I think horror is mostly about the metaphors of certain concepts that all religious people face. The exorcism for example explores sexuality in puberty of a teen girl, it's not literally about demonic possession. (Though it was inspired by a tragic case of an exorcism gone wrong that resulted in a girl dying, but though that was the inspiration for the film, it was literally about that, or a criticism of the catholic church in that case. Especially seeing as in that film, the girl is saved, she doesn't die like that the real girl did. And to my knowledge this film doesn't seem inspired by any real crime, though I could be wrong). I think a lot of people are also thinking that this is disrespecting their personhood, their humanity, just because it mentions the lds church. Like, ok an analogy would be that I don't drink alcohol right? That's my choice. But I don't see someone who drinks alcohol as less of a human being, even though I don't agree with alcohol consumption. Them choosing to believe something different than me has no effect on my respect for them and their personhood as a human. And I feel that way about people of other faiths. I don't agree with or believe in their faith, but that doesn't have an effect on my belief in them as a human being deserving of respect. There's a separation between the self and a choice like faith. Why should I care if someone doesn't believe in the same church as me? I don't even care if they explain to me why they hate my church, that has nothing to do with me. We can even still be friends, I don't care.
I'm a church member who is also a horror fan and clicked on the original trailer out of curiosity. I quickly wound up here! Gotta say: I'm enjoying Hugh Grant's villain era (Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, anyone?). In another timeline, he would have made a great Gilderoy Lockhart; he's able to exude a perfect mix of smarm and Things Going Deeply Wrong. I think the reveal of a MAZE in the house is incredibly intriguing--but I fear this will end up a slasher film (Saintsploitation film?) where the girls are brutalized. Another commenter mentioned "Oh, it turns out one will be gay" and, yeah, unfortunately, that seems a likely possibility as well in this era of filmmaking. But I like to be optimistic. The idea that they're just being observed makes me hopeful that it will be more psychological horror than gory. I'm just tired of the trope of "all religion is evil and/or ineffective". It's everywhere and it's annoying! I am an LDS author who writes horror from time to time (not under this name). Since so many mainstream media portrayals want to subvert our faith/religious faith in general, I wrote an LDS horror short story that was grounded in real life--the main character is a construction worker, so when things get real, he does not exclaim, "Oh, my giddy aunt!"--,but still portrayed our faith as a viable way to combat Actual Evil. (If you think about the history of horror stories, this shouldn't be revolutionary--in the O.G. DRACULA, where they're fighting the vampire with sacred Communion wafers!) However, even if you search for my story by its title with my author name, Amazon won't pull it up on the search results, so unfortunately it's likely to remain invisible even to the LDS audience that might be interested in it! (If you, Brother Ben, would like a copy, reply here and I'll send an e-copy along). (Also: DANG those girls nailed the perky voices.)
I wouldn't focus too much on the LTS's part, I'm pretty sure that's a story device to get the characters in the house. Looks like the theme is of religion and belief/disbelief so it will probably fall under the umbrella of all the religions. And I really don't think it's exploitation...it's a valid thing to explore.
You've got a point--where else in modern society do two young women have a reason to enter a stranger's house? Storywise, it's not an unreasonable setup. Plus, the rainstorm is (again, storywise) a contributing factor for them being eager to get in (and not questioning where the wife is at that moment).
Hi Ben: I appreciate you reaching out to me about your podcast channel. I love how you reviewed this trailer. Any publicity we receive as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints may be of a tremendous value. We can't stop people from doing what they do, but we need to embrace the good that can come from it. I love the Lord and know He is in control. It is how we react to good and bad that we are held accountable for, and your reaction was perfect. Thanks
For your information, we do not call it Mormonism. Mormons are something we are called by others due to the name of our book "the book of Mormon" (cause he's the one who compiled the records and buried it) and people of our faith ended up adopting the nickname. In recent years we've dropped the name and are shifting towards using the full name of our church (The church of Jesus Christ of latter-day saints) since people often confuse us as worshipping Mormon (which we don't), we believe in Jesus Christ as any other Christian faith does. We are not Mormons, we are Christians and we do not practice "Mormonism"
Can Mormons EVER see themselves portrayed in popular culture without getting a big narcissistic ego about it? People who watch this movie are not going to particularly think about Mormons. They just needed a pair of religious individuals and sister missionaries fit the role!
I’m sure you can appreciate that the trailer made it look like potentially a very public attempt at deconstructing our faith and things very personal to us. In retrospect, I’m hearing that that isn’t as much the case in the full movie. I certainly don’t think my tone was narcissistic or egotistical?
@ the whole “Book of Mormon” led to baptisms actually” angle was what I was referring to. I got called a narcissist by an investigator when I was a missionary in Japan, and at the time I thought it was so weird to be called that. But, I feel like she was totally right that we were kinda narcissistic.
@@bradensorensen966 I think we handle media scrutiny more graciously than many other faiths and don’t see anything wrong with alchemising a negative/embarrassing situation into a positive one. That’s not narcissistic ego, that’s faith and optimism
I don’t think this is an attack on Mormons or Mormonism. I think it’s probably a comment on religious belief in general. Mormon missionaries was just a way to get them in the door.
From what I’ve heard, I will be too. But I wonder if I should just be happy that we have been chosen to feature than the other general faiths that are chosen
I object to your broad statement that the majority of podcasts against the Church are made by people who have never been members who are trying to exploit the Church and its members. All of the podcasts I've heard are made by legitimate former members of the Church who have numerous rather legitimate sounding and seemingly well-reasoned grievances with certain doctrines, customs, and practices of the Church. A lot of these people appear to have proof of their actual former membership in the Church, so I think it is a mistake to paint all of them, or even most of them with such an erroneous broad brush such as you seem to do in your video.
@@FamilyWithoutHousing I agree with you. What I said in the video was that their listeners are mainly people who have never been members of the church, and who enjoy listening in out of intrigue.
I’m personally not interested. A24 films are deep movies but they still have a very let’s say progressive background and I can see them putting a lot of negativity towards not just our church but all Christian faiths. So it’s a no for me. Plus it hits a little too close to home. I was followed home on my mission and this type of scenario does happen. Lucky my companion and I were fine but others not. I guess you could say it can bring awareness to being careful when you enter homes and the mission rules are there for a reason but I don’t need to watch a horror film to understand that. The Saratov approach is a much better representation of how this situation and faith works because it’s a true story instead of some Hollywood studio that makes strong r rated films. In England that would be a rating of 18+.
I think this is evidence that the devil works hard with all kind of ways to fight against Christ's church and many members are affected by this! I hope and pray that this doesn't scare sister missionaries from serving a mission! 🙏 and that gives some people ideas to scare our dear sister missionaries! ❤
I would love to know what you thought of the trailer, let me know in the comments - and don't forget to press subscribe!
Pie scented candles to make people think there is fresh home cooked pie in the oven is the most evil and malicious thing I have ever scene. Kidnapping and such is bad too.
Seriously dark thoughts brought about that candle
As a practicing Latter Day Saint member I can’t lie I’m very excited for this film. I’m a horror lover and A24 has made some of my favorite movies of all time. I hope they portray the missionary’s in a well thought out way that is realistic. I definitely understand why other members in the church would not appreciate this type of representation, but with religious horror already being such a big genre I think it’ll be interesting to see the lds church being portrayed like this, instead of just the typical catholic horror movie.
Yes this is a viewpoint that I do feel sympathetic to, and A24 have a decent track record with portraying a realistic religious experience
Hello, fellow church member and horror fan! 👋 A24's movies are a little extreme for me (I really can't do gore) but I love me a creepy story! I'm also a (sometimes-)horror author and I wrote an LDS horror story (as well as some other pieces); if you're interested, hit me up, I'll send you the info! :)
I thought LDS members aren’t allowed or at least are heavily discouraged from watching Rated R films?
@@memesouls8653 I mean it’s not necessarily encouraged but it’s really up to the viewer’s discretion. For me personally that’s not something I worry too much about since I know my limits on what I will or won’t watch if that makes sense.
I just got back from my mission and I actually am excited for this movie. (Even though I hate horror) from the trailer I actually like how they have represented the Sister Missionaries, and it genuinely feels pretty respectful.
They have outfits, hair, even the proselyting bags down. You can tell they put a ton of attention to detail to the creation of this movie.
And from the trailer the missionaries seem to be made out as attentive and smart, such as not entering his home unless an adult female was present (unfortunately people lie) noticing the candle, and trying to get out of the situation.
-I had an experience on my mission where we were teaching a man who said his wife was inside, luckily she was, she was an older woman that only spoke Lebanese and was in very poor health, so she had a hard time moving and did not meet us at the door. We had no reason to believe he was lying, and he wasn’t, I can’t imagine what these Sisters would have been thinking, knowing they unknowingly put themselves in such a terrible situation.
But as a recently returned missionary I don’t know if I will be able to watch this movie as soon as it comes out. It is way too real. Missionaries see a lot of terrible things, and unfortunately many are put in danger, but luckily the church has implemented so many great trainings, resources, and procedures to do everything they can to insure the safety of their Missionaries and other members.
These Sisters Missionaries are young girls, average aged 19-26, often living in foreign places, speaking a different language, companions with someone they just met, meeting with dozens of strangers a week, hoping that situations like this will only happen in movies.
While it is very interesting to see this representation it might take me a while to actually WATCH it, I currently have way too many loved ones and friend out on missions at the moment 😂
Great thoughts and comments, thank you for sharing this!
Definitely not just a horror movie. It’s way deeper than that.
Definitely
Solid video man! Great thoughts and stories from your mission experience. I served in upstate NY and had similar thoughts while watching the trailer myself. Curious to see how this plays out over the coming months with publicity from mainstream media!
Appreciate that my friend. Yeah I’m really interested to see if there is a ripple at all from it in the press or how people interact with missionaries.
I’m a Latter-day Saint and I think too often our members and missionaries are used as nice but dim-witted characters to laugh at and are usually misrepresented in TV and films. Most of the time it doesn’t seem particularly malicious but it would be nice to be portrayed as something other than nutty, naive dopes who haven’t got a clue. There are, after all, a large majority of us who are reasoned intelligent people. I think we’re able to take most of these kind of shows with good humor, but I do get annoyed on occasion at the lack of respect we’re treated with. I think I’ll skip “Heretic”. It doesn’t seem very appealing to me.
Totally agree. Thanks for sharing!
Did you know that Keutcher(sp?) , one of the first latter day saints producers of such films...this was his very frustration.
You might be surprised.
As an ex JW, I think it's more so to highlight the dangers. I hated door to door witnessing for many reasons including safety problems. You never know who's house you're stepping into, or if they're actually trustable or not.
@@mylife-23That’s true. I was an LDS missionary. Although, as missionaries we learned to pick up on clues from people we taught.
Thank you for bringing Love Actually High Grant into this. 😅
Great video!
He has to be in! Thank you so much
It's hard to say, from this trailer, what to expect. I'm not a fan of horror, but there is still room for a "hero's journey" story to be told. I'm not optimistic that will be the case, I don't know A24 and hadn't heard about this film until now. (I liked your reaction by the way. There's a dearth of reasoned conversation about most topics)
Congratulations to your sister. Hope she is well.
Thank you Edwin, always glad to hear from you. She is well, doing her best, and on American soil too!
@@forallthesaintspod I'm trading places in a little over a week. I'll be sure and wave to you when I touch down in Heathrow. 😀
Hopefully I’ll catch you one of these days
@forallthesaintspod well, I will be on my own on the 8th, wandering London and trying to make the timezone adjustment, If you're so inclined. I don't land until afternoon, so Church probably isn't in the cards. I could bring you a signed copy of my book (which has a Latter-day Saint character, so you can compare how I do at representing vs. A24 😂)
My take is we shouldn't take it too seriously. How many times has the Catholic church been a part of storylines? Think exorcist movies or DaVinci code.
All for fun. Probably innacurate but just for fun
Very fair point
Good point! I think it (perhaps) "harms" actual real-life practicing Catholics less, since they've historically been a more prominent faith in most areas of the world; the church is comparatively tiny so it's easy to freak out that portrayals like this or "The Book of Mormon Musical" are going to be peoples' only or first encounter with our faith. I'm a member and a horror fan and sometimes-horror writer who thinks horror can be a great way to illuminate the power of real faith, so it's cool to see your take. :)
I was watching RUclips with my siblings and got the trailer as an ad. I was surprised to see missionaries in a movie trailer, but I started to get a really bad feeling, like the spirit had left. so I skipped it. Thank goodness I did.. I came back to watch the trailer on my own, and honestly it disgusts me. Seeing those sisters in peril is just absolutely horrible to me, and this is coming from someone who loves horror movies. I will definitely be skipping this one.
Thank you for posting your reaction and opinions on this! Really nice to see another member’s insight!
You should check out the movie martyrs (the French one) it might be more in your wheelhouse
Saw the movie yesterday and I think it represents Mormonism very positively. Would like to see a film review on the channel in the future! Great reaction btw
Was just thinking today if I should do that or not. You think I should?
@ it’s a popular movie right now and I think you’d have some great insight.
@ that’s very kind. My baby sister is currently a sister missionary in Washington so I’ve avoided the opportunity so far! I’m very glad to hear you feel it’s a positive representation though
Thank you for your candor and BRAVERY in checking into this. We (as members) need to be aware but not poisoned by garbage. I’m sad that people will actually watch this out of curiosity.😢 Thank you for all you do!!
Thank you!
Bravery? He watched a trailer for a movie!
You're being dramatic😅
To your point about viewers of exmo channels mostly being nevermos: it's absolutely true. Just look at Mormon Stories' viewership stats. A lot of these people are looking for channels that fall into the genre that I like to call "cult porn". "Cult porn" channels like to cherry-pick the worst anecdotes within a religion's culture and history and present them as if they were the norm. It's a cheap and easy way to get views, but it's anything but honorable.
Completely agree
@@jacobmayberry1126 I love this faith.
Disagree with you on this one. Many of the comments on ex mo channels are people who can relate to what others are going through and share their stories as well. Even if they aren't ex mormon, but are ex some other high demand religion. It's a place for people to find community and feel they aren't alone in their doubts or faith crisis or trauma or whatever they've gone through. Providing a platform for struggling people to find community and help is honorable imo.
@@arkroogs90 key word "some" are ex members from other faiths. Most are just nevermos watching it for entertainment. It's cult porn for the gentile gaze
The two actresses portraying the sister missionaries are both disaffected or ex-members (not clear which) of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. While in some ways that can be an advantage, I'm always wary about how their disaffection influences how they judge what constitutes an honest portrayal versus a distorted caricature which may have led to their disaffection. Certainly, an all positive and naive portrayal would be similarly disingenuous, but I'm not a fan of "faith crisis" being the most exploited plot element in films that tackle religion. There are many other aspects of being religious that are worth examining in film, and I don't like that the only feature that Hollywood seems interested in when it comes to Latter-Day Saints are struggles regarding belief in the Restoration or more basic doctrines.
I do think that subject is relevant, but I can't help but think that the reason for "faith crisis" being a central feature is because the vast majority of content in regards to the Church these days revolves around apologetics and discussions of controversy. This, mingled with the prolific anti-mormon social-media machine, can make it seem as if loss of faith is the most common experience for people in the Church. Perhaps that is true, but I'd like a little bit of variation.
Ooo. I did not know that. Thanks for sharing, that adds a very interesting dimension
I hope they make the sister missionaries here actual in depth characters that aren’t naive. I’m hoping that they escape. My gut feeling though is that they will lose their faith, and maybe even say one of them is secretly gay.
I also hope that they discover evidence of other faiths being victims in the maze because otherwise it would seem the Church and its faith would be targeted specifically.
I can also see one sister being more “believing” than the other and they can switch in their levels of faith.
All in all, they better be triumphant and keep the faith. And films like these do plant seeds of malicious ideas into weirdos heads, which if it did cause harm in real life would be awful.
Seeing this I just put myself in their shoes, took me back to my mission, and I just got an adrenaline rush seeing it because if that happened to me he picked the wrong missionary because I have 100% full faith and belief in what I believe.
Learning that the actresses are disaffected members of the church makes me feel that this may not be a positive representation!
@@forallthesaintspod Darn… it would be so cool to see those characters wrestle with faith and triumphant in the end, with a positive rep for the Church… but yeah if that’s the case it’s just another predictable disappointment. But maybe it would be an opportunity for others to learn the Gospel? Who knows…
You have some really good ideas for this film!! I want to see your version! :D
@@dwilliams21 thank you! I’m amateur story teller and just love stories. Heretic is a horror/thriller, and there’s one thing to remember and expect about horror. The protagonist cannot survive unless they are scared (scar) by something. It must be a physical, or emotional scar. Maybe they lose an eye, or maybe they lose their mind. Either way they are traumatized by the event.
I say this because it explains a part of my fear and reasoning of why they may lose their faith if they survive.
What I hope, and can imagine, is that the sister in the black dress is more “disbelieving” than the other sister who may be more “believing”. The sister in the black dress may find that in the end she does believe because of the horrifying situation the insane religious doctor guy put her and her companion in designed to literally test their faith as it appears.
That’s the character development I’m hoping for.
@@forallthesaintspodThey are acting to a script and a director so it's not their personal story. Having said that, they might have given the director details about what they experienced and there's nothing wrong with that.
Ben, thanks for featuring this clip. It was intersting. I think the film has the possibility of being quite suspenseful, and I believe it will actually attract additional interest to our faith, but I do not hold out much hope that the portrayals of these two missionaries will be very strong. At least one of them will give in to doubt like the two actresses apparently did in real life. It is sad to always be thought of as the low hanging fruit as a faith, but to these shallow Hollywood minds, that is about all we are. Watching the trailer by itself without your commentary makes it even more creepy. I think I will skip it.
I love what you do. Keep it up. You are making a difference.
Glad to hear your respected view Elder Andersen, we miss you and your wife. We had some good times! Thanks for this. I hope there will naturally be some intrigue, I hope our sister missionaries are not negatively impacted on the streets around the release of it.
Now watch the film itself, along with some of the "Heretic: Ending explained" videos and tell us what you think.
I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Thank you for your reaction, Brother Ben Hancock. I am reminded of FDR as I read these interesting comments: "Human kindness has never weakened the stamina or softened the fiber of a free people. A nation does not have to be cruel to be tough." Most Latter-day Saints are very kind AND very tough. Popular media often misinterprets that kindness as gullibility or stupidity. What a misstep on their part! & I believe that misinterpretation is alive and well in "Heretic."
Not sure how you get this out of the trailer. These sisters are so like the sisters I’ve met :)
This is great! What program/aoftware do you use to make the screen on screen for this video?
Thank you! I believe it’s Premiere Pro
@@forallthesaintspod thanks, man!
I am a fan of psychological horror and I have heard that the film has a lot of dialogue. Because I know people who have views that this character (Hugh Grant) seems to have, I would like to see continuous failed attempts at dismissing religion or faith, in general. In other words, if the sisters prove him wrong at every turn, that is a positive. However, he is a twisted man with evil intent. The more he is proven wrong, the more unhinged he may become. My hope is that the dialogue may open future discussion and aid in helping convert unbelievers.
John Major glasses as a giveaway! 😆
I’m not wrong I think! 😂
@@forallthesaintspod From IMDb: “Plot under wraps.” Interesting.
I just hope they don't keep calling members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saint's mormons lol (great vid, I agree with you on all points as a member)
Thank you, and yes agreed!!
I lived in Utah for 15 years. I think for the plot of the movie it's irrelevant what religion the missionaries are.
The narrative could work with Jehovah's Witnesses just as easily. It's not the doctrine that matters to the plot of the movie, it's the interrogation of the concept of belief itself. Being LDS missionaries is a MacGuffin to get the girls through the door and into the house.
The movie probably won't pick apart Mormon beliefs but will use Mormon belief/faith as a stand in for any religious faith, belief or conviction.
Interesting and fair viewpoint, you may be right!
I think you're right. There are a number of reviews from people who saw the whole movie at a festival and most of them say that is, in fact, the main premise of the movie. The specific religion of the door-to-door solicitors doesn't matter so much as their struggle to retain their faith during this horrific ordeal.
From what I understand, Hugh Grant's character is a wicked, violent, twisted man who is at war with all denominations and all faiths.
I personally know real people who make a goal of trying to turn others from a Christian faith.
This man obviously takes this to an extreme.
The fact that his intended victims are LDS missionaries is a bit of a coincidence.
I think missionaries were used in the film as representative of faith and pure intention, even if the film, itself, misrepresents their religion.
As I alluded to previously, there are many in the world who confuse religious faith with political ideologies.
This man seems to be of that ilk.
I am hoping that the sisters prevail and stay true to their faith, causing him to possibly acknowledge his error in thinking or, at least, to consider doing so.
I was very disturbed by this trailer. My daughter and I were at the movies to watch Twisters. There were several disturbing trailers that I felt were extremely inappropriate to show before a PG movie. It is obvious that most of the previews were for movies that would definitely be released rated R.
Being LDS, it was very unnerving to see two Sister Missionaries placed in that situation. In the beginning, my daughter and I were like, Oh! Sister
Missionaries! Fun!
Then we were like, what the f???? Um, no.
Wow. Just wow.
We were bothered by most of the previews, which were pretty bad. The previews alone, could have been rated R. They were that disturbing and disgusting.
Totally agree. Firstly, wasn't Twisters awesome? I loved it. But yes, previews show too much these days.
I Just watched the film and It actually is incredibly well written. Very thought provoking. The trailer is somewhat misleading, there is no Labyrinth to go through unless you consider it metaphorically. There is peril for sure but It is more a battle of ideologies and wits, this movie may actually strengthen Mormons faith in their beliefs.
5:33, why did they ask?
I spent too long this afternoon reading the RUclips comments after watching the trailer. There was a very interesting mix of posts from practicing and former members. There are too few spaces that it seems like the two groups are willing to share. So for that alone I’m glad the movie was made.
I couldn’t help but think about the variety of plots which could come out of this trailer set up. Most of them are unsatisfying low-hanging fruit. I finally thought of the plot and ending I’d like to see. I have little hope of seeing that film so I probably won’t watch whatever A24 has made. I’ll stick with my own version. 😊
Lastly, based on the comments I read, at least the one actress isn’t a hater, she just doesn’t feel the Church is for her. And someone else wrote that a Church member is a producer so here’s hoping the tropes will be limited.
Not a believer but I'm intrigued with your reaction. Just saw this yesterday and wondered what mormons think of the film
Thanks for commenting, I’d love to hear your thoughts on the movie?
A broader theme that I see in how members of the Church are represented is the strong, almost magnetic assumption that the most trustworthy people to speak about a group are the ones who left it e.g. exmos. I don’t see it changing given how effective it is at ensnaring peoples’ minds with cynical thinking against the Church.
Isn't the church putting young women in danger though, by putting them in a position of harms way telling them to knock on strangers doors? Yeah I worry about this film inspiring dangerous copy cats, but those dangerous people would have most likely tried to scare or hurt the sister missionaries anyway. I don't think watching one film would make them bad people, a person like that would try to hurt some vulnerable young women anyway. Seems to me the easy solution would be to stop putting missionaries in danger out alone in the field, exposed to who knows what.
And also, I don't really see it as exploiting faith for entertainment. As someone else said, so many religious horror films have been made about the Catholic Church, why not lds, or any other church? It's never really been about a particular faith I think horror is mostly about the metaphors of certain concepts that all religious people face. The exorcism for example explores sexuality in puberty of a teen girl, it's not literally about demonic possession. (Though it was inspired by a tragic case of an exorcism gone wrong that resulted in a girl dying, but though that was the inspiration for the film, it was literally about that, or a criticism of the catholic church in that case. Especially seeing as in that film, the girl is saved, she doesn't die like that the real girl did. And to my knowledge this film doesn't seem inspired by any real crime, though I could be wrong).
I think a lot of people are also thinking that this is disrespecting their personhood, their humanity, just because it mentions the lds church. Like, ok an analogy would be that I don't drink alcohol right? That's my choice. But I don't see someone who drinks alcohol as less of a human being, even though I don't agree with alcohol consumption. Them choosing to believe something different than me has no effect on my respect for them and their personhood as a human. And I feel that way about people of other faiths. I don't agree with or believe in their faith, but that doesn't have an effect on my belief in them as a human being deserving of respect. There's a separation between the self and a choice like faith. Why should I care if someone doesn't believe in the same church as me? I don't even care if they explain to me why they hate my church, that has nothing to do with me. We can even still be friends, I don't care.
I'm a church member who is also a horror fan and clicked on the original trailer out of curiosity. I quickly wound up here!
Gotta say: I'm enjoying Hugh Grant's villain era (Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, anyone?). In another timeline, he would have made a great Gilderoy Lockhart; he's able to exude a perfect mix of smarm and Things Going Deeply Wrong.
I think the reveal of a MAZE in the house is incredibly intriguing--but I fear this will end up a slasher film (Saintsploitation film?) where the girls are brutalized. Another commenter mentioned "Oh, it turns out one will be gay" and, yeah, unfortunately, that seems a likely possibility as well in this era of filmmaking.
But I like to be optimistic. The idea that they're just being observed makes me hopeful that it will be more psychological horror than gory.
I'm just tired of the trope of "all religion is evil and/or ineffective". It's everywhere and it's annoying!
I am an LDS author who writes horror from time to time (not under this name). Since so many mainstream media portrayals want to subvert our faith/religious faith in general, I wrote an LDS horror short story that was grounded in real life--the main character is a construction worker, so when things get real, he does not exclaim, "Oh, my giddy aunt!"--,but still portrayed our faith as a viable way to combat Actual Evil. (If you think about the history of horror stories, this shouldn't be revolutionary--in the O.G. DRACULA, where they're fighting the vampire with sacred Communion wafers!)
However, even if you search for my story by its title with my author name, Amazon won't pull it up on the search results, so unfortunately it's likely to remain invisible even to the LDS audience that might be interested in it! (If you, Brother Ben, would like a copy, reply here and I'll send an e-copy along).
(Also: DANG those girls nailed the perky voices.)
I loved D&D - I thought it was done brilliantly!
I wouldn't focus too much on the LTS's part, I'm pretty sure that's a story device to get the characters in the house. Looks like the theme is of religion and belief/disbelief so it will probably fall under the umbrella of all the religions. And I really don't think it's exploitation...it's a valid thing to explore.
That’s fair enough. One can’t help but feel suspect when both actresses happen to be disaffected members.
You've got a point--where else in modern society do two young women have a reason to enter a stranger's house? Storywise, it's not an unreasonable setup. Plus, the rainstorm is (again, storywise) a contributing factor for them being eager to get in (and not questioning where the wife is at that moment).
Hi Ben: I appreciate you reaching out to me about your podcast channel. I love how you reviewed this trailer. Any publicity we receive as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints may be of a tremendous value. We can't stop people from doing what they do, but we need to embrace the good that can come from it. I love the Lord and know He is in control. It is how we react to good and bad that we are held accountable for, and your reaction was perfect. Thanks
Thank you Rian for your comment, what a pleasure and surprise to hear from you here.
Not too realistic as in our mission (Ecuador; mid-1980's) we'd say where's the wife/SO/husband/children; whomever was requested.
A24 has no chill.
Looks like it’s more of a warning ‼️ I don’t share your beliefs however I wouldn’t knock on doors of people I do not know.
This movie seems very dark and no light....
Fun fact, the two actresses who play the sister missionaries are both ex-mormons, however their families / extended families still practise mormonism.
Yeah I am only new to this fact, very interesting indeed
For your information, we do not call it Mormonism. Mormons are something we are called by others due to the name of our book "the book of Mormon" (cause he's the one who compiled the records and buried it) and people of our faith ended up adopting the nickname. In recent years we've dropped the name and are shifting towards using the full name of our church (The church of Jesus Christ of latter-day saints) since people often confuse us as worshipping Mormon (which we don't), we believe in Jesus Christ as any other Christian faith does. We are not Mormons, we are Christians and we do not practice "Mormonism"
I saw spoilers and apparently one missionary dies. Great
That’s not good! I think @WardRadio managed to have a look at the script on their channel
Why would you spoil it here for everyone else then?
Well maybe one of them could have been my sister then
@@Hey-i3vstill doesn’t explain why you spoiled it?
I think it’s dangerous because it gives people weird ideas
Agreed!
I find missionaries nocking on my door to already be very creepy and an unwanted intrusion. Sounds like a great premise for a horror film.
Judging someone because of their choice of glasses frames? Could say the same about you!
It is a film, commenting on a creative decision to style him like that. Everything is intentional to create a character.
Can Mormons EVER see themselves portrayed in popular culture without getting a big narcissistic ego about it? People who watch this movie are not going to particularly think about Mormons. They just needed a pair of religious individuals and sister missionaries fit the role!
I’m sure you can appreciate that the trailer made it look like potentially a very public attempt at deconstructing our faith and things very personal to us. In retrospect, I’m hearing that that isn’t as much the case in the full movie. I certainly don’t think my tone was narcissistic or egotistical?
@ the whole “Book of Mormon” led to baptisms actually” angle was what I was referring to. I got called a narcissist by an investigator when I was a missionary in Japan, and at the time I thought it was so weird to be called that. But, I feel like she was totally right that we were kinda narcissistic.
@@bradensorensen966 I think we handle media scrutiny more graciously than many other faiths and don’t see anything wrong with alchemising a negative/embarrassing situation into a positive one. That’s not narcissistic ego, that’s faith and optimism
I don’t think this is an attack on Mormons or Mormonism. I think it’s probably a comment on religious belief in general. Mormon missionaries was just a way to get them in the door.
I hope you’re right!
You are all going to Love it. Get ready Be not afraid have faith and trust It’s not what many worried members are assuming without seeing it
Oh dude relax its a horror movie end of story
I feel pretty relaxed 😎
I feel I am going to be very disappointed in this movie's depiction of us
From what I’ve heard, I will be too. But I wonder if I should just be happy that we have been chosen to feature than the other general faiths that are chosen
I object to your broad statement that the majority of podcasts against the Church are made by people who have never been members who are trying to exploit the Church and its members. All of the podcasts I've heard are made by legitimate former members of the Church who have numerous rather legitimate sounding and seemingly well-reasoned grievances with certain doctrines, customs, and practices of the Church. A lot of these people appear to have proof of their actual former membership in the Church, so I think it is a mistake to paint all of them, or even most of them with such an erroneous broad brush such as you seem to do in your video.
@@FamilyWithoutHousing I agree with you. What I said in the video was that their listeners are mainly people who have never been members of the church, and who enjoy listening in out of intrigue.
I’m personally not interested. A24 films are deep movies but they still have a very let’s say progressive background and I can see them putting a lot of negativity towards not just our church but all Christian faiths. So it’s a no for me. Plus it hits a little too close to home. I was followed home on my mission and this type of scenario does happen. Lucky my companion and I were fine but others not. I guess you could say it can bring awareness to being careful when you enter homes and the mission rules are there for a reason but I don’t need to watch a horror film to understand that. The Saratov approach is a much better representation of how this situation and faith works because it’s a true story instead of some Hollywood studio that makes strong r rated films. In England that would be a rating of 18+.
You’re right. I think this may be a general L for wider religion.
I liked your reaction until you “bore testimony”. Putting yourself out there for this won’t age well. I’m an ex Mormon if you couldn’t tell lol
5:34 you ARE NOT Christian 😂
Ugh. I hope the film fails miserably. Im not a fan of horror / suspense films anyway.
Me neither!
I think this is evidence that the devil works hard with all kind of ways to fight against Christ's church and many members are affected by this! I hope and pray that this doesn't scare sister missionaries from serving a mission! 🙏 and that gives some people ideas to scare our dear sister missionaries! ❤