Harbinger

This low-budget horror, produced by Jonathan Sothcott (who also created the concept), stars his missus Jeanine Nerissa Sothcott as Julia, the sole survivor of a misogynist serial killer. When she stupidly agrees to return to the house where she was savagely attacked five years earlier, the past comes to haunt her, and that’s an understatement.

In a brief prelude sequence, we witness Julia, who happens to be in a remote house with Henry Decker (Peter Woodward), who happens to be her hubby though shock of all shocks - not only has Julia found out that Decker is a vile serial killer who has already slaughtered several unfortunate women but - their marriage now over for the obvious reason - Decker has decided to add his wife to his list of victims. First he stabs her, then he drags her into another room and bounds and gags her but somehow, she manages to fight him off while alarming the police. When two officers arrive at the house, their encounter with an unhinged Decker proves fatal for them, alas, snipers turn up seemingly out of nowhere and kill Decker before he manages to kill Julia who, badly wounded, has managed to escape from the house.

It’s a promising start alright though sadly, what follows isn’t quite up to expectations. Forward five years and Julia still suffers from nightmares, paranoia and trauma, understandably perhaps. One day, she’s approached by Mike (Gary Webster), who is interested in luring her back to the scene of the crime because, so he tells her, he’s hosting ‘Spectre Investigates’ - a ghost hunter TV-Show and the episode with Julia is meant to be the first one of the series. What’s more, he’s apparently signed to a streaming service though as we find out later, that’s not quite the truth. Anyway, instead of doing the clever thing and checking Mike’s credentials and those of the apparent streaming service, Julia allows herself to be bamboozled into returning to the old house together with Mike and his film crew for an amount not to be sniffed at. The crew are cameraman Barney (Joseph Emms), make-up artist Kathryn (Anna Arthur), supernatural investigator Chris (Johnny Palmiero), sound engineer April (Maisie Gee) and last but not least, resident psychic Neal (Tony Sands).

At first, things seem to go smoothly, what with Mike interviewing a rather uncomfortable Julia in front of the rolling camera, even prompting her to reveal her huge abdominal scar which she did receive from Decker’s knife. But then, Neal introduces Julia and the crew to the Harbinger of the title, a strange looking fortune telling machine with a bizarre mask slightly reminiscent of the Clockwork Droids in the 2006 Doctor Who episode ‘The Girl in the Fireplace’. Speaking of Doctor Who: Carol Anne Ford, who played First Doctor William Hartnell’s first-ever companion Susan Foreman from 1963-64, makes a brief appearance as Julia’s mother Sue.
What neither Julia nor the film crew know (though Neal might…) is that the Harbinger contains the spirit of serial killer Decker and well, now it is lusting for murder once again…

And that’s when it becomes painfully evident that this is a low budget production, for not only does the action take place in said sinister house, but between some scares and bloody mayhem (courtesy of the Harbinger in various disguises), the story rarely rises above average, with too much time wasted on domestic twaddle between some of the crew members, making endless cups of tea (in true British fashion) and other insignificant waffle. There’s certainly never any nail-biting moment (apart from the opening prelude scene) and somehow, the entire affair is a bit of a missed opportunity. Some may argue that Jeanine Nerissa Sothcott’s ‘plastic fantastic’ looking face is almost as scary as the Harbinger mask, but nasty tongues aside - Jeanine does her best with a script that lacks edge from the outset. It’s probably Tony Sands who has the best part, as he can over-act whenever in full-on psychic mode and gets away with it! Of course, the Harbinger (voiced by Nick Nevern) would make for a scary Halloween doll!

HARBINGER has recently been released on digital but also on Blu-ray, with the following Extras: ‘Making of’ featurette / Commentary with the filmmakers / Deleted scenes / Trailer.