Harbinger Down

Indie film directed by Alec Gillis, well-known special effects wizard with a penchant for sci-fi horror, who attempts to offer nostalgic moviegoers a taste of the cinematic ambiance typical of the 1980s, that magical decade when sci-fi and body horror spawned one of the most exciting and memorable mash-ups that genre movie fans had ever seen.

With that in mind, it’s not difficult to understand the repeated references to movies such as “The Thing” (it’s no coincidence the prologue is set in 1982, the same year Carpenter’s masterpiece was released), “Leviathan” (1989), and even “The Deadly Spawn” (1983); or the fact that the characters are inevitably decimated by a repulsive, polymorphic menace while the typical meteorological vagaries make any sort of escape impossible for the unfortunate victims.

As for the content, the film fails to raise the bar for the sci-fi horror genre, but fans will still find it enjoyable, particularly from the perspective of the visual effects, which demonstrate decent creativity and a hearty appetite for slime. That said, there’s no lack of shortcomings here, starting with direction that’s not always up to par (fortunately the idea of a mockumentary didn’t last long) and an inadequate/embarrassing cast, with the exception of Lance Henriksen, who can do no wrong. Awful dialogue bloated with nonsense along the lines of: ‘Eskimo pie. Yeah, I’m Inuit, by the way, asshole’ ‘Yeah, but Inuit pie isn’t as funny’ or ‘What do you call a frozen Communist?… Hammer and pop-sicle’.

Plenty of missed opportunity here.