The Harbinger 2022 Predicts Being Erased by Deadly Despair

Director and writer Andy Mitton’s best horror movie, The Harbinger takes a theme most of us are tired of. Fortunately, the COVID-19 premise not only shines as a backseat driver, but it hits differently this time around. I wasn’t overly excited about watching pandemic films after a while, but this one caught me off guard. Mitton’s previous horror movies “We Go On” and “The Witch in the Window” were well received. I must admit The Harbinger certainly didn’t end up being what I expected.

The Harbinger begins in a small, darkened apartment. Mavis and Jason both wear masks, caught in a severely nightmarish scenario. Blood drips down her arm as she screams and Jason tries to de-escalate the situation. In another part of town, Ronald, Moe, and Lyle live a closed life under strict isolation to keep their community safe. Mavis and Moe go way back; old friends bound by similar demons. So, when Mavis calls in her time of need, a deadly disease raging around them doesn’t stop Moe from getting in her car to help.

The story ties into the Harbinger Plague Doctor, a figure whose very presence spread the plagues he was called to heal. In this story, the demon takes on two personas: both a literal evil and a metaphoric entity representing the staggering weight of deaths around the world.

The Harbinger Wants to Plant an Idea… Of Your Impending Death

A slow-burn narrative, The Harbinger dwells in the nightmares of Moe and Mavis long enough that I lost focus. Thankfully the story had another gear. Those repetitive nightmare sequences did earn their place however, pulling off an extremely clever sleight-of-hand moment built around a pivotal early scene that passed completely unnoticed.

It also proved The Harbinger was more than just another trapped-in-a-dream story, a concept that is oversaturated and rarely executed well. Mitton not only gets it right, but he also elevates it with a romantic and genuinely beautiful sentiment about cherishing the people who come into our lives.

The performances across the board are seamless, and a quietly poetic score cements the film’s darkest moments. But what I loved most was how the demon concept won me over. The idea of something evil that takes you, steals your possessions, and erases you from the life you lived initially struck me as silly. By the end of the film, I was completely invested.

The Harbinger screened at 2022’s Fantasia Film Festival, which is where I was able to see it. It is well worth a rewatch if you’ve seen it already. The film was been picked up by XYZ Films and released to the public on December 1st, 2022.

Other titles with the pandemic at the center of the story are Keep You Distance | Stop and Go | Virus-32

For something with a psychological horror edge watch The Harbinger | House of Ashes or The Room next.

Directed and written by Andy Mitton.

The Harbinger cast

• Raymond Anthony Thomas
• Stephanie Roth Haberle
• Laura Heisler
• Emily Davis
• Gabby Beans

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Harbinger Streaming Options

Watch it on TUBI TV in most countries. For more ways to watch, check the link below.

The Harbinger was provided as a screener as part of the Fantasia Film Festival 2022.

Harbinger 2023 is streaming on:

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The Harbinger is rated

3.5 death bringers out of 5

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Watch the Trailer courtesy of IGN

Here are five films that share similar DNA with The Harbinger:

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1. The Witch in the Window (2018) Mitton’s own prior film is the most obvious recommendation. A slow-burn supernatural horror with genuine emotional weight beneath its scares.

2. His House (2020) A refugee couple settle into their new UK home only to discover a malevolent presence within its walls. Like The Harbinger, it uses horror as a lens for real-world trauma and grief.

3. It Follows (2014) A relentless, unnamed supernatural force that pursues its victims. Shares The Harbinger’s dreamlike dread and the feeling that something inevitable is always closing in.

4. The Night Eats the World (2018) A man survives a zombie outbreak by isolating himself in a Parisian apartment building. The pandemic-era loneliness and claustrophobia map closely onto The Harbinger’s themes.

5. Pontypool (2008) A virus spreads through language itself in a small Canadian town. Like The Harbinger it is low-budget, conceptually inventive, and more interested in psychological dread than cheap scares. One of the more underrated horror films of its era.