A woman goes to help her friend suffering from terrible nightmares in The Harbinger. Monique (Gabby Beans) has been isolating in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic with her brother and father, but is forced to leave her bubble when she is called by her old friend Mavis (Emily Davis). Mavis has been suffering from horrible nightmares, which she is finding it increasingly difficult to wake up from. Monique goes to stay with Mavis at her apartment in Queens and soon learns that not only are the nightmares contagious, but they are brought about by a demonic figure in a plague doctor’s mask known as The Harbinger, who eventually erases every trace of their victim’s existence.
The Harbinger is a pandemic-set horror film written and directed by Andy Mitton (The Witch in the Window). The story of the film plays on the fears of the COVID-19 pandemic, with Monique’s dreams in particular featuring the ghost of a boy name Edward (Cody Braverman), who lived in Mavis’ building and succumbed to the virus shortly after Monique’s arrival. During a video call with a demonologist named Wendy (Laura Heisler), Monique and Mavis learns that The Harbinger preys on this fear and won’t stop tormenting their victims until they are erased from existence.
A somewhat simplified description of the horror of The Harbinger is that comes off as a combination of A Nightmare on Elm Street and Sinister. While The Harbinger isn’t the first horror film to be set during the COVID-19 pandemic, it is one that really dives into the fear and isolation people felt, particularly in the early days. The end result is a satisfying horror analogy for the uncertain times we live.
