The
term “practical effects” could soon become the equivalent of “shade-grown
organic” for genre film connoisseurs. It denotes authenticity in an era of CGI
fakeness. It usually also means a few cast-members got slimed for real. That
certainly seems to be the case in special effects artist Alec Gillis’s Harbinger Down (trailer here), which opens today in
Westchester.
To
stretch her pompous professor’s research budget, Sadie has booked their whale
tracking expedition passage on her grandfather’s crab trawler, the Harbinger.
Old Graff runs a tight ship, but Sadie comes from a long line of seafarers,
including her late parents. Therefore, the crew immediately takes a liking to
her and resents her prima donna professor. When she finds an old, hitherto unreported
Soviet space capsule through her whale scans, her prof. swoops in hoping to
claim the glory for himself.
Of
course, dredging the long frozen pod may not be the best of ideas. It is immediately
suspicious since it was apparently shot up at a time when the Soviets were supposedly
not launching Moon missions. It is also clear the Cosmonaut did not burn up. It
turns out he was killed by a lethal parasite that is now fully thawed and
mutating like mad. At least the Professor will be the first one infected.
When the slimy extraterrestrial entity starts
wreaking havoc on the icebound ship (which happens quickly), you can see the
delight Gillis and his special effects partner-producer Tom Woodruff, Jr take
in creating nasty, slithering things. Harbinger
is definitely an old school throwback to the 1980s creature horror of The Thing, Gremlins, and Aliens, with Lance Henriksen giving it
extra added legitimacy as salty old Graff. His genre movie authority remains undiminished.
If you were stranded on a rusted crabber with an alien parasite running amok,
you would want a skipper like him.
In fact, the supporting characters are
unusual well-drawn for a set-up-the-pins-and-knock-them-down horror film. Naturally,
Henriksen does his thing, but Winston James Francis and Milla Bjorn are
terrific playing off each other as the mismatched crew members, Big G and Svet,
respectively. As the professor, Matt Winston (son of special effects legend
Stan Winston) also makes a satisfying detestable villain, so his cosmic payback
is rather enjoyable to watch, even though it means big trouble for the rest of
the Harbinger crew.
