A24's Heretic has been featured in film festivals and called "brilliant, nerve-jangling horror" by Indiewire. ScreenRant says that it is "Sure to have everybody talking." The official trailers have certainly piqued interest in the film's religious horror. Alamo Drafthouse is now slated to take audiences even further into the madness depicted in the movie. Read on for the details.
The Pie
According to an exclusive at the website for Variety, the production company "A24 will make certain movie theaters smell like blueberry during a pivotal scene of the upcoming Hugh Grant horror film." In addition to treats and scratch-and-sniff cards available to customers, "the aroma will be activated at Alamo theaters via Joya Studio's atomization technology, which employs cold-air diffusion to disperse scented molecules as fine, dry air without the use of heat, water or alcohol."
For those not yet familiar with the significance of the scent, the film brings two young missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints into the home of a charming Mr. Reed and his wife, who is in the kitchen, making a blueberry pie. The missionaries are put at ease and form a connection while smelling the expected pie in another room. It is only when they are left alone that Sister Barnes glimpses the label on a scented candle and discovers that the blueberry pie is merely the product of a decoy.
According to a statement from directors Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, "The blueberry pie in 'Heretic' is activated by Hugh Grant's Mr. Reed as a metaphor for blind faith and a disturbing reminder to question everything." Infusing the theaters with the very smell that gives the protagonists a false sense of security will be nerve-wracking, but the idea made the directors "howl with laughter." This response encouraged the founder of Joya Studio, Frederick Bouchardy. Speaking on how humor is "really missing from the fragrance world," he expounded on what they hope to convey with this diffusion:
"That a scented candle is a main character in this film changes the stakes. Instead of irreverent creative expression, we are implicated in the experience - and love it!"Frederick Bouchardy
Heretic will be released in theaters on November 8 and we look forward to seeing this metaphor played out in full.