From 'The Exorcist' to 'Heretic,' why holy horror can be a hit with moviegoers

Religion is well-suited for terrifying and entertaining thrill-seeking moviegoers. In the new horror movie, “Heretic,” Hugh Grant plays a diabolical religious skeptic who traps two scared missionaries in his house and tries to violently shake their faith. What starts more as a religious studies lecture slowly morphs into a gory escape room. Horror has had a decades-long attraction to religion, Christianity especially, with the 1970s “The Exorcist” and “The Omen” being prime examples. One expert says religions and horror tackle similar questions about what it means to be human.