Here’s a side effect of COVID-19 that no one saw coming – the birth of a whole new subgenre of horror. Since the planet was stricken by the Coronavirus pandemic in early 2020, there came a rash of horror films attempting to make sense of this strange new world. Rob Savage’s Host, for example, used the now-omnipresent Zoom interface to make a new kind of found footage film; then, later, his Dashcam explored what it might look like to be an asshole in this new world of ours.
Andy Mitton’s The Harbinger forgoes the found footage in favour of a more traditional gothic horror approach. Set during the first months of COVID’s USA adventure, the film follows Monique (Gabby Beans) as she leaves her household bubble to care for an old college friend. Mavis (Emily Davis) is plagued by horrific dreams, haunted for days on end by a terrifying masked figure. Entering this household of waking nightmares and sinister dream demons, Monique is about to learn that Corona isn’t the only thing that’s contagious…
In The Harbinger, Mitton delivers a new Candyman/Freddy Krueger/Babadook myth for our time. A Pandemic on Elm Street, if you will. The parallels to each are clear, and Mitton uses his characters’ loneliness and increased fragility as a springboard to tell a story about Corona and its continued impact. Those who would prefer to keep the blinkers on may not appreciate the reminder, but it’s a story worth telling, especially given how well Mitton tells it.
At the same time, certain horror movie conventions transcend even Corona, and The Harbinger trades in timeless jump scares and unsettling nightmare sequences. Bedecked in a black cloak and wearing a 17th Century plague mask, its monster is instantly memorable; a modern Boogeyman for an age of lockdowns, surgical masks and raging pandemics.
FrightFest Presents and Signature Entertainment release The Harbinger on Digital Platforms January 23rd.
