Didier Konings’ short folk-horror film follows Frieda, a childless villager who escapes an attempted rape by fleeing into the forest and returns pregnant. When the villagers discover her transformation and find her attacker mutilated but alive, their fear turns towards accusations of devilry. The review argues that the film uses this story to explore patriarchal suspicion of female bodies, emotions and the natural world.

The film’s medieval setting and feminist themes draw on familiar witch-hunt and pagan-horror traditions, but Konings gives them added force through grim dialogue and striking, mist-filled visual sequences. Frieda’s encounter with the forest is portrayed as an ecstatic embrace of nature, contrasting with the villagers’ hostility and fear. Heresy is described as a promising debut that could establish Konings as a successor to filmmakers such as Robert Eggers and Ari Aster, and will be released digitally on 28 September.