Companion’s sturdy structuring, biting humor, and tight pace of escalating tension allows it to bolster its thematic sentiments through an intriguing premise. It’s acidic fun with a twisted, beating heart.

After over half a decade since its predecessor, ’Den of Thieves 2: Pantera’ serves a second round of patient, unraveling thrills that puts in a bit more thought in its modest ambition as straightforward genre pastiche.

Arjo Atayde’s haunted, steely stoicism is an adequate anchor to hold ‘Topakk’ on. There are plenty of fist-pumping viscera to be found, but the film’s lack of grasp on its chaos hurts it more often than not.

A tense, cerebral, yet crowd-pleasing chamber piece, ‘Heretic’ stacks tantalizing theological disquisitions and moments of primal terror on top of each other to create one entertaining thrill ride.