User Reviews

Tales from the Darkside: Heretic starts as art thief & fence Mr. Harte (Bruce MacVittie) takes delivery of a crate full of stolen artifacts from a recently excavated sixteenth century monastery. Harte is excited by a genuine sixteenth century painting & realises he can make a fortune on it, but then he gets a visit from a Monk who sets about making Harte see the error of his criminal ways...

Episode 7 from season 3 this Tales from the Darkside story originally aired in the US during November 1986, directed by Jerry Smith one has to say that Heretic is alright but nothing special. The script by Edithe Swensen is a typical 'bad guy gets his comeuppance in an appropriately ironic way' story with a bit of history thrown into the mix. The script mentions Saint Bartholomew which is a name that a lot of people either won't recognise or know the significance of, for what it's worth St. Bartholomew was one of the twelve Apostles of Jesus & if you didn't know that then at least some of this episode will pass you by. There is also a scene set amongst the Spanish inquisition which is a far more well known & notorious part of history. The ending isn't great, the story is a little predictable & as I have already said some of the more obscure religious references may pass some viewers by.

The sequence set during the Spanish inquisition looks pretty good with nice period production design otherwise the entire story takes place within Harte's apartment. For those of you out there who don't know according to Wikipedia the definition of a Heretic is a person who expresses or acts on opinions considered to be heresy which itself is described as a challenge to a prescribed system of belief, especially a religious one. So now you know. The acting is alright here.

Heretic is an OK Tales from the Darkside episode, it tries to be moral & clever at the same time but at only twenty minutes in length it runs out of time & can't really develop it's plot enough to make maximum impact. Not bad but not great.

***SPOILERS*** Greedy and unscrupulous art dealer Harte,Bruce MacVitte, thinks that he hit the jackpot when he finds at the bottom of what he received, from far off Spain, in the trunk hidden in a false bottom a 16th century painting back during the Spanish Inquisition that can bring him in 10's of thousands of dollars by fencing it to art collectors who are more then willing to take it off his hands. Giving the person-his partner in crime-Jimmy, Michael O'Hare, mare pocket change, a few lousy bucks, for his discovery Harte now plans to find someone who'll pay the big bucks that he'll demand for the painting.

As it tuns out it's this mystery man, Alan Scarfe, that shows up at Harte's door not offering him any money for his painting but demanding that he turns it over to the monastery, in Spain, where he had his stooge Jimmy steal it from! At first telling the mystery man to get lost Harte soon finds himself in the painting itself and being tortured by Inquisitor,Roberts "The Boss" Bossman, and his smiling assistant Dominic Marcus,until he not only turns over the painting but confesses to his crime. Which after what he's being put through he's more then willing to do.

****SPOILERS**** Weaking up in a cold sweat Harte finds out all this was just a nightmare and soon goes back in trying to sell the stolen painting to the highest bidder only to come up short for the price he wants. It soon turns out that the greedy and not too hip or clued in to what's happening Harte is again visited by the Inquisitor who's a bit pi**ed off at what he's doing that after giving him a second chance to repent of his crime. And you can just guess what happens to the now scared to death Harte after that!

Buying items stolen from churches and selling them for a cool profit, the immortal soul of the thief named Harte is put under inquisition (he's stretched in some medieval torture barn, with one of the guards punching him in the stomach once) after he acquires a painting that reflects the "judge" (Roberts Blossom, looking cadaverous and slightly "mad pious") condemning someone (Harte becomes this victim) to hell. One of the inquisitor's spiritual advisors (Alan Scarfe) tries to plead with the thief to change his ways to no avail. Will Harte (Bruce MacVittie) be sentenced and punished or can getting rid of the painting rescue him from the inquisition? I think this one is a misfire. It is just too preachy. And this is Mark of the Devil (1970) lightened for television. Its message of "repent or perish" is heavy handed and there's never any sincerity in Harte even when he's tortured. I don't think MacVittie ever gets it across that he had been enlightened; his fate isn't a surprise because MacVittie rarely is able to show any sort of strong reaction to anything he sees. He's thrust into an extraordinary situation but his response to it all is rather colorless. Even when he talks down a cohort named Jimmy (Michael O'Hare) who wants a piece of the action due to the find of the painting, MacVittie, going through his personal history on how he got where he is (affluent after a rough start, climbing to where he is over people), rarely registers a pulse in his performance. He's a good actor in the right role, though. He spends most of his time in a robe in this episode, with it pulled off so he can take some abuse for his sins. The budget is just too minuscule to truly sell the grim medieval setting. Blossom's casting is a novelty, but he's one of the reasons, sadly, the episode is so blunt force in its message.

Unscrupulous wealthy art dealer Harte (a splendidly slimy portrayal by Bruce MacVittie) purchases a stolen 16th century painting from a thief that turns out to be more than he bargained for after Harte finds himself on trial as a heretic in a Court of Inquisition. Director Gerald Cotts relates the intriguing story at a steady pace and ably crafts a spooky enigmatic atmosphere. The uniformly ace acting keeps this one humming: MacVittie makes for a perfectly smarmy and unrepentant jerk, Michael O'Hare contributes a lively and amusing performance as lowly thief lackey Jimmy, Alan Scarfe does stand-out work as a monk who offers Harte a chance to redeem himself, and, best of all, quirky veteran character actor Roberts Blossom makes the most out of his juicy role as a stern and merciless grand inquisitor. Edithe Swensen's smart script delivers a spot-on central message on how you reap what you sow. The potent religious angle gives this overall worthy episode additional provocative substance.