Was your third eye open a little wider during the pandemic? My extrasensory perception was more advanced during lockdown. I recall having vivid dreams. Kind of like the characters in The Harbinger, who dream of a Kreuger-like presence that haunts and taunts them while they sleep. Granted, my lockdown dreams were populated with drag queens and visions of grandeur, but I would have welcomed an evil harbinger warning of my impending demise just for variety’s sake.
We meet Mavis at the start of the film who is plagued by haunting visions of a ghostly plague doctor (the titular Harbinger). She explains to her friend Monique that she sleeps for days in a nightmare-like state that she is unable to wake from. And while sleeping, a dark supernatural spirit silently observes her, lurks in corners, and tries its damndest to not let her wake.
Monique goes to stay with Mavis, much to the concern of her family, to help aid her through this ominous bad patch only to begin suffering from the dreams herself. This is where The Harbinger begins to take on many layers, folded between the strict confines of pandemic rules and a consistent gray color palette that permeates the film.
Add to it a creepy kid character who seems to also fall victim to The Harbinger, and you have a miasma of eeriness that distinguishes this movie from the recent spate of horror fodder.
Andy Mitton’s The Harbinger succeeds as a slow burn for horror fans who prefer a little more psychological uneasiness to go with their viewing pleasure rather than outward violence and gore. Kudos to Mitton for choosing the pandemic as a setting for this film, which in itself is a disturbing element. You see the characters go through the machinations of adhering to CDC rules while also trying to stay ahead of the evil plague doctor who haunts them as they dream. One wishes Dr. Fauci had a guideline for that!
The Harbinger does well keeping the viewer guessing as to whether characters are in a dreamlike state or living real life. Also, Mitton’s score helps to add nerve-racking music to the mayhem as we witness characters narrowly escaping the grasp of The Harbinger and his large piercing beak.
This villain not only appears to cart his victims off into nothingness once they succumb to him, but goes further to wipe the minds clean of those that knew them, as if the victim never existed or left any sort of mark on the world. With one exception. Each character who suffers at the hands of the plague doctor leaves one personal trinket behind which family and friends may accidentally come across, but who will unfortunately have no understanding of who owned it or how it came to be. You simply cease to have ever existed if you cross The Harbinger.
Give the movie a try if you want some mood horror to get you moodier. And if not, DM me and I can regale you with stories of the drag queens I met while pandemic slumbering and the reality shows that I won during aforementioned slumber.
The Harbinger is written, edited, produced, scored and directed by Andy Mitton with Emily Davis and Gabby Beans deftly portraying Mavis and Monique respectively. Check it out in theaters now. Or rent/purchase it on popular streaming channels.
