America, the lockdown era. Monique (Gabby Beans) has been quarantining at home in a strict social bubble with her father and brother. Despite the natural stresses of the situation, they seem to have solid grip on things. The one day, her oldest friend, Mavis (Emily Davis), calls her up. She’s being terrorised by intense nightmares that she cannot break free from, nightmares that cause her to sleepwalk and that go on not for hours but for multiple days. But when Monique makes the tough decision to break her self-imposed quarantine to aid her friend, the situation is more terrifying than she could have imagined – because it’s not just Covid that’s contagious, but the dreams themselves… and the plague doctor figure that lives inside them.
Filmmaker polymath Andy Mitton (The Witch In The Window) returns with a film that’s by turns mournful, creepy, and quietly apocalyptic. Recommended for fans of somnambulant dread such as Come True and coming on like a more sombre A Nightmare on Elm Street, The Harbinger expertly disinters the collective trauma and anxiety that marked the Covid era. This is the pandemic dream-horror we didn’t know we needed. After all, a lockdown is pretty isolating… but you’re never more isolated than when you’re a little too much in your own head. Happy nightmares!
Whitlock&Pope 