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On one level, this very well done movie might be compared to "A Nightmare on Elm Street." City denizen "Mavis" contacts her old friend "Monique," who lives in a semi-rural enclave upstate. Mavis requests that Mo travel to her apartment for undisclosed, but serious, reasons.

When Mo arrives at the apartment, she learns that Mavis has been plagued by bad dreams that are increasingly violent and threaten to literally erase her, as if she had never existed. Key to these dreams, we learn, is a dark figure that controls the direction of the dream-narrative, as it were. Mo tries to help. But in so doing, she falls prey to the very dream "disease" that Mavis fell prey to. Much of the movie's balance, then, is concerned with Mo's dream world and her ideations.

On the other hand, the deep structure of the film is actually close to something like "It's a Wonderful Life" (or, heck, "Wild Strawberries"). The questions at the heart of it all: What if I depart now? What if I had never been? Erasure. We learn that these questions were already pertinent to Monique's life prior to her own "infection" by these disturbing dreams. But these questions also inform the general direction of a film that uses the isolation, impersonality and fear of the COVID 19 crisis as its backdrop and sensibility. In short, The Harbinger has ambitions beyond "the creepy."

To the extent the film meets these ambitions, Gabby Beans (Monique) deserves a lot of credit for carrying the central role from stern to bow. She is excellent. (Frankly, each of the actors was, at worst, very good.)

Mitton's writing also deserves a lot of credit. There are a few slow moments in the middle of the film. But in general, the Harbinger features tight, economical dialogue between the actors. And while the script owes more than one debt to its predecessors, it also avoids most of the expected horror movie cliches for a film in this genre (dream horror?), while playing on some familiar tropes (key among them, the "is the character imagining this, or is she really experiencing it" plot device).

Anyway, definitely recommended. Oh, and the closing scene was very well done in my opinion. A fine closer right up there with "Kingdom of the Spiders" or "Hereditary."

Usually, I find the IMDb crowd-sourced ratings are pretty much on point. Even if I quibble at the margins, they are usually pretty close. Not here. There is no way this film deserves a 4.7.

Basically, this is a horror movie in the "Equinox," "The Axiom," "The Ritual," and (of course) "Blair Witch Project" vein. A group sets out into the forest of remote New Hampshire to solve a mystery: here, to find out what happened 70 years prior to an entire town of folk who simply walked up the "YellowBrickRoad" only to disappear or be found dead. Of course, the trick is that they themselves fall prey to the mysteries of the forest. (No spoilers, but the use of the "music" in the YBR is pretty neat . . . And mysterious.)

If there is a problem here (and I suspect it may be responsible for the low rating), it is that we have a cast of eight to keep track of. After all, the plot turns on how human beings negotiate both the increasingly strange occurrences in the woods and their relations with each other. That said, for the first hour or so of YBR we don't really get a good sense of who each of these people are (with a few exceptions). It is not until the last 30 minutes or so that we get to know each of the characters in some depth. For a film that trades on the audience's empathy for the characters, that is an odd choice.

However, the writing, direction, camera work and acting are top notch. And the forest is definitely as much a character in YBR as the humans. (Reminds me of Australian cinema in that regard.) I really enjoyed YBR one and recommend it to watchers who are interested in a slow burn that definitely does have a few well-placed (and unexpected) moments of horror. (No spoilers, but there is a nod to the Scarecrow from the "Wizard of Oz" that is pretty horrific. And the ending reminds this viewer of the general aesthetic of "The Shining.")

I really enjoyed this quirky microbudget offering. The writing is simply excellent and manages to avoid the usual cliches that tend to accompany American paranormal films. While not in the caliber of the Japanese Onryo films, there is enough content here - the theme of fear, loss and learning how to deal with that loss - to raise it above the usual James Wan-style "bump in the night" narratives.

The direction and camera work are also superior. And while I have a few quibbles with the acting, it is never a deal breaker (Everyone is quite good, but Anne O'Toole's part - the mother - is a tad too arch for my tastes. Her part, and the dialogue with Clark Freeman, is just a little to "Gilmore Girls" at times: cerebral, acerbic, slightly giddy short bursts of narrative, etc.)

If there is a hiccup here, it is the ending. Holland and Mitton made a decision that, while "audience friendly," does not track the mood and story-line up to that point.

I truly wish Holland and Mitton were still working as co-directors (Mitton has two somewhat recent films under his belt). I don't see any further offerings after this one, and that is a shame. This film is in the same league as the films of Benson and Moorehead or Perry Blackshear. It is different, but very engaging, for those of us who enjoy a slow burn with a few neat twists placed in its three part structure.