Directed by:
Alec GillisScreenplay:
Alec GillisCinematography:
Benjamin L. BrownComposer:
Christopher DrakeCast:
Lance Henriksen, Matt Winston, Giovonnie Samuels, Winston James Francis, Camille Balsamo, Michel Estime, Milla BjornVOD (2)
Plots(1)
Stephen (Matt Winston) and Sadie (Camille Balsamo) are part of a group of students who hop on board a crabbing vessel hoping to research the effects of global warming on whales in the Bering Sea. When the crew, led by Graff (Lance Henriksen), dredges up a creepy ice block left over from a piece of old Russian space wreckage, they realise they have stumbled across strange new life forms that are not of this world. It turns out that the frozen mutants are the product of an abandoned Soviet experiment with space radiation and tiny sea creatures. With the ice thawing fast, the crew realise too late they've stumbled across a supernatural horror that should have been left in the deep. (Signature Entertainment)
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I’m especially sorry for the lower rating. I’ve been looking forward to Harbinger Down for about two years, I liked this Kickstarter-funded project from the beginning, mainly because of it’s honest approach to practical effects. The creators are obviously enthusiasts who want to pay tribute to Carpenter’s The Thing and I appreciate their intention, but unfortunately, they didn’t manage to turn that into a particularly good film. Surprisingly, the problems begin with the effects, in some scenes they look nice, but more often than not they look fake, almost digital sometimes (I’m suspicious to almost being certain that at least in some places they used CGI), and the impression from them is affected by a franticly shaky camera. But even worse is the direction, there isn’t a single interesting scene, the actors look confused and their characters go through the story with the same expression, so the unfortunate situations they face don’t have a chance to grip the viewer. The music is run-of-the-mill. The impression it leaves is similar as the experience from a more eager monster B-movie from the SyFy Channel.
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Lance Henriksen does his thing, as do the other actors, but it's not them who can impress you. In the end, it's really just the special effects that succeeded, but unfortunately, the rest was somewhat neglected. Harbinger Down is a B-movie, it's just a regular B-movie that has good special effects, but otherwise nothing. At least for me, it reached average. But that’s all, unfortunately.
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It's interesting how before the release there were rumours on the internet that it would be an homage to The Thing, but once the film came out and didn't do too well, it became an instant rip-off... That's just an aside. Harbinger Down is a bland average that has almost identical visual effects to The Thing from the 80s – I think that if the two films swapped the year they were made the ratings would look different. The lack of gore or scary atmosphere is disappointing, the film could have easily been spiced up with some scares, but just nothing, uninspired and not very compelling. A shame about the wasted potential that was a year in the making. Story 4/10, Atmosphere 5/10, Gore 1/10, Visuals 5/10, Action 3/10, Entertainment 5/10 .55%
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