[REVIEW] Brooklyn Horror Film Festival: The Harbinger (2022)
Writer-director Andy Mitton’s The Harbinger, which had its East Coast Premiere at Brooklyn Horror Festival this year, is now available on VOD. A rare look at an accurate yet sincere experience of early COVID-19, The Harbinger is a surprise hit among a sea of not so successful pandemic art.
The topic of COVID-19 is a contested one for the current moment, especially given that the pandemic is still ongoing. To tackle the subject at all, let alone well, is a great artistic risk, and while the majority of COVID related art has failed to be anything other than cringe-y, The Harbinger manages to capture the dread and fear of early quarantine in a way that is relatable without being so on the nose that it detracts from other overarching themes.
The film focuses on millennial woman Monique (Gabby Beans), along with her brother Lyle (Myles Walker) and father Ronald (Raymond Anthony Thomas), who are living through the early stages of March 2020. We see Monique and Lyle carefully walk in their front door with groceries that they then disinfect, careful not to spread the new mystery illness of COVID to their aging father. This scene sets up where we are in the midst of the pandemic, the famously most difficult portion.
The family have been quarantined in their home for quite some time when Monique receives a disturbing call from her friend Mavis (Emily Davis) who lives in the city (presumably New York City). Mavis describes a sleep paralysis demon she is seeing, which the audience can see is depicted as resembling a plague doctor. Mavis is currently living alone, so Monique makes the decision to travel and stay with Mavis for a bit.
When Monique arrives, she discovers that this sleep demon must be hopping between hosts, erasing all memory of the previous person in a matter of days. By use of photographic evidence, it is clear that Mavis was living with a partner who the demon has wiped from existence. After the first night, the demon begins to appear in Monique’s dreams and though we know she is doomed; the suspense keeps us hoping that she can escape her fate.
The Harbinger is genuinely frightening, reminding us of the worst parts of early quarantine that were literally plagued with mass death. The victims in the film are forgotten, just as people continue to be as they die from COVID-19. With such huge numbers of COVID victims, their lives became a mass of unacknowledged human beings whose identities and lives were directly ignored by governing forces who had all the sources to save them and still chose not to intervene. This is still the reality of our world three years later, and The Harbinger does not shy away from the collective mourning and fear that has accompanied this time in history.
Along with its powerful use of the horror genre, The Harbinger is brilliantly directed with a horrific monster design that continues to scare, despite the familiarity of its appearance. Gabby Beans is a knock-out star who has already made her mark in live theater, and her performance in The Harbinger continues to solidify her as a powerhouse.
Check out The Harbinger now wherever you prefer to watch your videos on demand!