The Harbinger (2022)

After a successful run playing at pretty much every UK horror festival last year, the latest film from writer-director Andy Mitton (THE WITCH IN THE WINDOW) gets a digital release on the Frightfest Presents label through Signature Entertainment.

At the height of the Covid pandemic lockdown, Monique (Gabby Beans) leaves her family in the suburbs to go to the aid of old friend Mavis (Emily Davis) in the city.. Mavis has been suffering from nightmares so extreme and so catatonia-inducing she's been unable to wake up from them. The dreams centre around a mysterious hooded and masked figure that resembles the plague doctors of old. 

Monique hasn't been in Mavis' apartment for long before she, too, begins to suffer reality-distorting nightmares and soon she's starting to see the same figure. Seeking advice online the two women eventually end up having a Zoom consultation with a demonologist who reveals the situation is much worse than either of them had feared.

A creative, thoughtful and above all scary treatment of the concept of the  'lethal nightmare', Andy Mitton was apparently inspired by the phenomenon of sleep paralysis. The isolation of the pandemic lockdown provides a discomforting backdrop to what is basically a lower budget, more arthouse, grownup version of Wes Craven's A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET. Performances are excellent across the board with Beans especially giving us an understated, sensible yet vulnerable lead in Monique. Mitton himself provides the effective music score and overall THE HARBINGER is an unmissable piece of subtle thought-provoking, contemplative horror. Highly recommended. Here's the trailer:

Andy Mitton's THE HARBINGER is out from Signature Entertainment under the Frightfest Presents banner on Digital Platforms on Monday, 23rd January 2023