The Harbinger

I am not really sure how to rate this movie. I tried to watch it last week but I fell asleep even though I wasn't tired. I thought that the movie was boring up onto that point and that that was the reason. Anyway yesterday I tried watching it again and I fell asleep once again so I watched the rest of the movie this morning and I have to say that I was really bored most of the time.

There's a good movie hidden in there and the basic concept is really interesting but the movie is struggling with pacing issues and a plot that is mostly boring with few standout scenes. It's a metaphor about Covid and what it did to people but honestly I think that this whole thematic is not that relevant anymore and kind of sucked dry.

If a movie with a story like this and some faster pacing would have been released two or three years ago I think it would have worked better. By watching the ratings I see that there are some people who enjoyed this movie, so I am not trying to convince you not to watch it but for me personally it's just didn't work. [3,5/10]

Monique breaks her family's strict Covid rules to visit her struggling friend Mavis. Mavis explains that she's been having vivid and terrifying nightmares, an empathetic Monique tries to help her friend, and it soon becomes a shared experience.

Better than I had expected, it's a well produced film with a pretty good storyline. Maybe Covid was generally a little less nightmarish in general, but it still served as an effective backdrop. Good use of surreal visuals and traditional, historical horror, The Plague Doctor in particular looks great.

It was well paced, I liked the characters, the family setup worked well, I also liked the way the scares were delivered, a few jump scares, but they weren't overdone. Well written, I liked how all of the loose ends tied together.

I thought the acting was very good, I thought Gabby Beans in particular was very good as Monique, her acting helped to elevate the film.

Enjoyable.

7/10.

Desperate to leave her quarantined life, a woman jumps at the chance to visit a friend away from the safety of her family to help her deal with a series of troubling nightmares, but the longer they stay together the more she realizes her friend is haunted by an entity now targeting her.

This was a rather fun if somewhat problematic genre effort. One of the better elements here is the influx of topical material making for a strong commentary on the current climate. Focusing heavily on the various interactions some have way too many touches to real-life scenarios involving facial protection, social distancing, fear of germs permeating from the outside, and the general sense of loneliness that comes from being away from family and loved ones for extended periods, this part of the film is incredibly touching and rather enjoyable. It's quite intriguing to have this kind of setup that plays quite heavily on these topics while also building up this relationship between the two in this kind of environment which is a great touch with the overall setup present providing a great groundwork for the genre thrills to come later on. That becomes the other enjoyable facet of the film as the series of dreams and nightmares here becomes quite genuinely chilling. Employing a kind of nightmare logic to its scenes as the hypnotic nature of what's happening in concept plays out equally as adeptly as the visuals being created, the eeriness created here is enough to realistically drive the right person over the edge as it does here. Including a huge demonic figure in the shape of a deformed bird-like creature perfectly suited to this kind of environment helps to provide the last half with a solid mystery involving its origins and intentions of it. Sending them off on a quest to discover the truth behind what's happening to them and getting more than they bargained for, is all highly enjoyable and effective to provide quite a lot to like about it. There are some minor issues present but they're not big issues. The main issue here is that the films' topicality might not be the most immersive, which will get too many people involved. Rather than be something light and easy for people to get invested in, this one goes for a heavy-handed approach regarding how the pandemic is affecting people and the various subjects around the concepts at play here which leave this one to be at ease with something that others might not want to be reminded of. There's not a lot to like about the finale at play which is quite familiar and highly unoriginal since it's obvious to see where it's going from the very start. That it never really deviates from this setup and just plunges into that feels quite underwhelming being so predictable, which is what brings this down.

Rated Unrated/R: Violence and Language.

A real shame too... This movie honestly had really grabbed me right up until this certain point towards the end. It was a great story, very well acted, nicely paced, great suspense... and then it's like all the air went right out of it.

This to me is one of probably the most extreme cases where I guess the director/movie makers simply just did not know how to end it. I mean, EVERYTHING was super tight and effective, but then it just took this very odd turn, a very abrupt one, where you could tell the mood was completely different and to me anyway all that excellent tension and suspense that had been well crafted and built up to that point completely disappeared.

I don't know how else to describe it. Seriously... one of the most extreme cases of a movie totally taking a direction I feel completely losing everything it had up to that point. You see movies all the time that really aren't done that well and then if they get kind of stupid you're not really that surprised or disappointed.

But, the quality of the first 3/4 of the film was so well done, that really took me by surprise. I'm no professional movie maker (and I don't play one on television) but, I'm damn sure I could have come up with MANY better ways to end this story. IDK... Maybe they just ran out of time, that is the way it feels.

Again, a real shame since it had such an excellent start.

Can't really fully recommend this one, unless you can be prepared only to enjoy about the first 3/4 of it. Maybe next time the creator of the story will be able to have the time/resources/ideas in order to finish his well crafted story considerably better than this one...

FWIW, I gave it a very generous '6' just due to the excellent quality and premise that was there for most of it.

Covid wasn't a horror for the majority and this film tries to make lockdown seem like one. The actors do their best with what has become a boring subject and the two points are for their performances alone. But as an entertaining horror, it fails abysmally with all the cliches of a horror that relies solely upon atmosphere with a boring subject. There aren't many actors due to when it was made and rules. 2020-2022 will go down as filmmakers worst efforts for making films and this film is testament to that fact. I honestly cannot think of any film made during the covid period that is excellent. It's as if they continued making drivel throughout that period thinking lockdown would never end and the public would be grateful for anything. Yawn fest.