Plot Summary: Monique (Gabby Beans) is isolating with her brother and father when she gets a message from her old friend Mavis (Emily Davis). Mavis has been having terrible dreams of a mysterious figure that is dressed like a plague doctor. Against her families wishes, Monique breaks out of their bubble to visit her friend to help her. Things of course do not go well when an entity called the harbinger starts to enter their dreams. Worse yet, it threatens to erase them as if they never existed, in this timely horror outing by Andy Mitton director of YellowBrickRoad and The Witch in the Window.
Horror in all of its forms typically reflects not only the society the we live in, but the times as well. Keeping this in mind, it would seem that it would be only be a matter of time that there would be a crop of films dealing with the COVID global pandemic. Recently, we got two films from Rob Savage, Host and Dashcam, and now you can throw in Andy Mitton’s latest The Harbinger, as well. Mitton has always been a filmmaker that, for better or worse, never plays it safe in terms of high concept horror. Therefore, I think his movies tend to divide fans, which is certainly not a bad thing.
The Harbinger deals directly with the pain, isolation, and fear of the pandemic and transforms all of that into a literal boogeyman. This is a simple, yet pretty interesting concept. However, I love how Mitton takes this a step further and introduces into the narrative some very real palpable existential fears. On a very basic human level, it’s terrifying to think we might be completely and totally forgotten, and everything and everyone we ever knew just moved on. Outside of the normal anxiety of peak-COVID, this is the core unnerving dread-filled concept of The Harbinger. This is a really effective hook that the movie can neatly hang its narrative on.
The film is at its best when it takes little intimate snap shots of life and transforms them into clawing and grotesque nightmares. The scene that comes to mind is a flashback to young Monique (Mwape Sokoni) and her mom (Qiana Watson) that seems like a sweet scene, but we quickly realize this to be a horrible dream. Indeed, it is this dream aspect woven into the plot that always kept me feeling uncertain about what was real and what wasn’t. I think this is a brilliant way to keep you constantly off-balance and never feeling really safe. I would also be remiss if I didn’t mention the perfectly executed jump-scare that had me almost off my seat. Bravo, Andy.
Matching the movie’s bleak tone is an equally subdued, yet eerie look. Cinematographer Ludovica Isidori (Test Pattern) and production designer Xiyu Lin help paint every inch of this film in a claustrophobic, dreary, other-worldly feeling. Credit should also go to the design of the plague doctor costume, which is unsettling, and thankfully does not come off cartoonish or laughable. Despite this movie being dark, there are some nice bits of black comedy sprinkled throughout. For example, the idea of a work-at-home demonologist who has screaming rug rats in the background is amusing, but it also adds some sly (albeit not subtle) bit of commentary on remote working. It’s savage bits of satire like this that help elevate the film into a more polished and introspective work.
You need great actors to help sell such a far-out premise. Thankfully, this is an excellent cast. Gabby Beans is utterly spellbinding as our lead, and it’s her skills that ground the movie despite being such a fantastical outing. Every single actor feels on the same page with the material and I was happy that there wasn’t a single lackluster performance.
I will say that for as much as I loved the movie, I do think there are some aspects of the movie that I felt could have been better explained. At times, it did leave me wanting a bit more in terms of depth of plot, such as seemingly dropping what feels like a main character midway through. Speaking of, I felt certain characters could have greatly benefited from being fleshed out more. Still, I felt the overall movie was engaging, creepy as hell and thoughtful in a way that cerebral horror fans will enjoy. The Harbinger is a wonderfully haunting and original film.
The Harbinger had its World Premiere at the 2022 Fantasia International Film Festival.
Directors: Andy Mitton
Runtime: 86m
Cast: Gabby Beans, Cody Braverman, Emily Davis, Ray Anthony Thomas, Myles Walker
The Harbinger is an engaging, creepy as hell and thoughtful in a way that cerebral horror fans will enjoy.
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GVN Rating 8
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Big film nerd and TCM Obsessed. Author of The Ultimate Guide to Strange Cinema from Schiffer Publishing. Resume includes: AMC’s The Bite, Scream Magazine etc. Love all kinds of movies and television and have interviewed a wide range of actors, writers, producers and directors. I currently am a regular co-host on the podcast The Humanoids from the Deep Dive and have a second book in the works from Bear Manor.