The Harbinger

The movie does an artful job of playing on common C0V1D fears, then goes a little deeper with some fairly creepy nightmare sequences. What could be scarier than a global pandemic, you say? How about a demonic "plague doctor" who thrives on the illness, fear, and isolation of regular folks, and has the power to cancel people like they never existed, carelessly rewriting history on a whim? A "harbinger" of worse things to come? Yikes! Good thing there's no one like that in government, industry, or the media these days. The acting was a little better than expected for a horror movie, and the blending of supernatural elements with fears ripped from the headlines was moderately interesting.

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.

One plot is the horror part, which is fairly interesting. The Harbinger is an interesting enemy, and the parts dealing with this were pretty well done. It wasn't particularly scary though, which might be because of the second plot in this movie. It's essentially rubbing in the Covid-19 pandemic scare tactics that we were all subjected to back in 2020. That heavily rubbed in your face sub-plot just ruined it for me. Most of us know better than to believe the propaganda, so now it just seems absurd how horrified these people were of this virus. I finally just fast forwarded to see the ending, because I just couldn't put up with it anymore. I figure that the main characters are mentally the same type of people that wear masks diligently to this day, and even when they are alone in their vehicles. Absolutely hilarious.

I was hoping for a good horror, instead I was presented with a rehash of the COVID pandemic. The movie cinematically looked good, the acting was decent (at least between the two main characters). The storyline was awful. The focus on COVID overshadowed the horror elements of the movie and after living through the pandemic for several years felt like a subject that we are all tired of hearing about. The story failed to explain the origins of the harbinger and didn't do a good job explaining its motivation or the purpose of the dreams. The demonologist felt like a last minute add in to provide some background, but it was poorly executed and a bit "goofy". Bottom line, don't waste your money on this movie, unless you want to watch folks talking about COVID, masking, quarantines and social distancing.

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.