Review of Harbinger Down (2015) by Mike M — 12 Nov 2015

There is a lot to admire about this movie. It follows the spirit of creature features from the 70s and 80s, and even makes exclusive use of practical effects for it's creatures. The environment is cold, barren, and clausterphobic, and you get a good sense of what the crew of this ship is probably feeling. It has that beautiful ugliness I love to see in film, and while not much happens for the first half of the movie, I still enjoyed the environment and feeling enough.

The problem is there just isn't that much to this movie. I never really grew too attached to any of the characters. There were characters I enjoyed, but I was never really that broken up when any of them died. It moves at a leisurely pace for the most part, and when the monster action goes down it frequently happens so fast or is so dark there's no way to really enjoy it. When we can see the monster, it looks stellar, but we so seldom get a chance to really look at it. The plot is also lacking, in that it's barely there. Stuff just sort of happens, and the movie ends on such a nihilistic tone it sort of leaves you feeling gloomy and hopeless.

Harbinger Down will probably go down as an interesting novelty of a film. If you have the time to kill and you enjoy this sort of thing, you'll find some enjoyment in it. There were things about it I liked, but you really have to be into this sort of thing. I don't know if it's a movie I'll be revisiting, but I'm glad I saw it for the sake of the stuff that worked.