The Harbinger (2022) Review

In light of recent world events, it’s understandable that there has been a huge surge in pandemic themed horror. From directors utilising different approaches to filmmaking during quarantine (Rob Savage’s ‘Host’ for example) to features looking at different aspects of the pandemic (Like anthology feature Isolation), we have quite quickly went from a non-existent to heavily saturated sub-genre within the horror sphere.

In many ways, the Covid-19 pandemic was the first genuinely new fear to land globally, inspiring a huge range of outlets of artistic expression.

With little else to do in lockdown, for a while it did feel like we were saturated with ‘Covid horror’ and what was once novel, became overdone alarmingly quickly.

Given the abundance of isolation themed pieces we’ve experienced in the past few years, its quite a feat to find something that still manages to feel original – yet this is exactly what director Andy Mitton has done with his latest feature ‘The Harbinger’.

The limited cast and locale work in the circumstances and whilst the film begins by treading familiar ground, it grows in its own unique direction.

Whilst arguably we may never be truly ‘over’ Coronavirus and its devastating impact, being able to reflect on the pandemic from a position of relative safety allows us to begin to process the truly distressing and unprecedented world events we have lived through. It’s something that is subtly explored in the beginning of the film, as the characters sanitise their shopping delivery with no comment – highlighting how quickly we normalised the alterations and adaptions to everyday life. Under this sense of acceptance lingers the ever present fear of the virus and it is in this dark place that this terror begins to grow.

Whilst in quarantine with her family, Monique (Gabby Beans) receives a distressed call from an old friend Mavis (Emily Davis) and takes the difficult decision to visit. The women take the appropriate precautions but as they remove their masks and their guards begin to slip, we find that there is another threat growing under the surface.

Given the context, it seems a little obvious that the threat presents itself in the form of a medieval plague doctor, but as the feature develops we begin to dig deeper as The Harbinger explores the often forgotten or under-represented trauma that we are in many ways still trying to get over.

As difficult as quarantine has been for Mo, Mavis has been living alone, and whilst we can rationalise the threat as ‘just a dream’ (or to get a bit more meta, just a movie), The Harbinger shines a light on a very real, yet rarely discussed, horror – something that exists beyond the realms of the feature itself.

The Harbinger manages to build tension with the contagious element of the debilitating night terrors the women experience and the creatures lurking within, whilst simultaneously sending a shiver down your spine with its allegory of the loneliness and impact on individuals mental health as a result of the pandemic.

Though it has all the ‘tickboxes’ of a Covid era horror (zoom call, masks), the result doesn’t feel tacky or pandering, instead, it feels alarmingly real. This bleed between fiction and reality allows the fear to grow and this is helped by the fantastic dialogue and strong performances, particularly from the leading ladies. Visually, the minimalism doesn’t detract and the grungey tone helps to elicit the sense of threat in the dingey, virus infested world.

As things have for the most part returned to some sense of normality, it would be easy to write off The Harbinger as a product of its time and avoid dwelling on the pandemic, but overall it feels like an important step in processing collective trauma whilst also standing strong as an impactful piece of filmmaking.

FrightFest Presents and Signature Entertainment releases The Harbinger on Digital Platforms 23rd January

Movie Rating:

Trailer: