i had very different expectations for this film, but the actual product was a lot better than what i imagined.
this is a great psychological horror film set within quarantine - this demonic entity called ‘the harbinger’ feeds off terror, fear, anxiety and trauma and seeps into dreams, as the dreams gradually get longer and longer until the point where the victim loses all sanity, and eventually their life. slow burn horrors are very hit or miss - the slow pacing either really works and goes against its favour, the harbinger perfectly fits a sort of slower start, not only does it build characters but it also introduces you to a key motif of the film - the pandemic. i think this just represents confinement and a sort of caging, as those infected with both the coronavirus and this demonic entity both feel trapped in a cycle of death. i love almost everything about this : i love all the characters a considerable amount - both the lead girls are really nice and you seem to root for them a lot, and then the family is also really wholesome and almost vulnerable. as monique sleeps with mavis, she’s contaminated with this mental disease. there comes a moment in this film where everything just completely goes down hill, any happiness that was once there is completely void. both girls are basically given a death wish and there’s just nothing they can do about it, the atmosphere of the last 20 minutes was great. the dead boy guided monique, but of course in these dreams nothing is what it seems (i really thought of freddy krueger whenever they start dreaming) and the sick boy is actually the demon in disguise, the ending is so bleak and nothingness, which works in its favour being a really heartbreaking end to a tragic story.
i had very different expectations for this film, but the actual product was a lot better than what i imagined.
this is a great psychological horror film set within quarantine - this demonic entity called ‘the harbinger’ feeds off terror, fear, anxiety and trauma and seeps into dreams, as the dreams gradually get longer and longer until the point where the victim loses all sanity, and eventually their life. slow burn horrors are very hit or miss - the slow pacing either really works and goes against its favour, the harbinger perfectly fits a sort of slower start, not only does it build characters but it also introduces you to a key motif of the film - the pandemic. i think this just represents confinement and a sort of caging, as those infected with both the coronavirus and this demonic entity both feel trapped in a cycle of death. i love almost everything about this : i love all the characters a considerable amount - both the lead girls are really nice and you seem to root for them a lot, and then the family is also really wholesome and almost vulnerable. as monique sleeps with mavis, she’s contaminated with this mental disease. there comes a moment in this film where everything just completely goes down hill, any happiness that was once there is completely void. both girls are basically given a death wish and there’s just nothing they can do about it, the atmosphere of the last 20 minutes was great. the dead boy guided monique, but of course in these dreams nothing is what it seems (i really thought of freddy krueger whenever they start dreaming) and the sick boy is actually the demon in disguise, the ending is so bleak and nothingness, which works in its favour being a really heartbreaking end to a tragic story.
