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There will be many differing opinions about “Heretic,” the horror film in theaters this week about a man who traps two sister missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

One topic people are already discussing is the use of women as victims in this and other horror films.

“Heretic” is of course full of the tropes associated with the horror genre, including the evil man terrorizing women and the last girl trope, in which a girl or woman is the last person standing at the end who has defeated the bad guy.

The writers and directors of “Heretic,” Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, long ago chose female Latter-day Saint missionaries as protagonists for the genre. After the film’s world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, they said they wrote the film’s first scenes with the sister missionaries ten years ago because the writers thought they were such a good hook. They then set the project aside to work on other parts of it.

The final girl trope is widely discussed in film circles.

Here’s what an essayist wrote about the final girl character, essentially predicting the ending of “Heretic”:

“But what actually makes a Final Girl? She is virtuous. She abstains from drinking, drugs and premarital sex,” wrote Grace Pulliam. “Final Girl is modest. She is beautiful, but is not aware of it. Understated. She plays fair. A good girl. This is why she lives while her more promiscuous peers die. Final Girl is the gold standard, the role model for the impressionable female viewer.”

Pulliam found the trope misogynistic because filmmakers used it in the 1960s and 1970s to punish women who did not conform to social norms. The idealized final girl survives because she behaves as the filmmakers demand, otherwise they will kill her.

The final girl trope has similarities to the old cinematic trope of the naive or naturally sane Latter-day Saint.

“Sister missionaries are truly compelling characters, well-dressed young women who we assume are innocent, kind and devout. Of course, they are the ideal victims in a story like this,” says Christine Blythe, co-host of the podcast “Angels and Seerstones: A Latter-day Saint Folklore Podcast.”

Blythe hasn’t seen the movie yet, but she read the script and was disappointed.

“We’re taking these young, vulnerable 19- and 20-year-olds who are just incredible – they’re sacrificing a year and a half of their lives to do something really healthy and good – but instead of focusing on that, (the filmmakers) look to their immaturity and their naivety, which is certainly there because they are young, and wanting to make that kind of center of discussion, a kind of point of humiliation for the entire faith.

Such misrepresentations of faith and believers are one reason why so many Christians, from evangelicals to Catholics to Latter-day Saints, respond so strongly to “The Elect.” They feel represented in this, a feeling that many Latter-day Saint students at BYU conveyed when they gave a standing ovation last week to Dallas Jenkins, creator of “The Chosen.”

My recent stories

The Problem with ‘Heretic,’ Hugh Grant’s New Horror Film About Latter-day Saint Missionaries (October 31)

About the church

How the Church Keeps Missionaries Safe.

Single men over the age of forty can now serve full-time missions. And women over forty have expanded their missionary opportunities.

Church leaders broke ground for the Tarawa Kiribati Temple, giving the church 53 temples under construction.

Elder David A. Bednar spoke about artificial intelligence and moral agency during a worldwide devotional for young adults.

The First Presidency has announced the locations for the Colorado Springs Colorado Temple and the Missoula Montana Temple.

The Orchestra at Temple Square celebrated its 25th anniversary.

What I read

In response to another religious film now in theaters, “Conclave,” our Kelsey Dallas answers the question, “How should Hollywood deal with religion?”

I previously recommended a great book by Garrett M. Graff, “The Only Plane in the Sky,” an oral history of the terrorist attacks on America on September 11, 2001. I am now reading his new book, “When the Sea Came Alive: An Oral History of D-Day”, and it is a great look into the minds of the planners, the soldiers and the civilians. I’ve read a lot about World War II, but here’s one detail I didn’t know: American automakers built three million cars in 1941. After Pearl Harbor, they only built 139 more until the end of the war, when they switched to making planes, tanks and other war supplies.