''Harbinger Down'' (also known as ''Inanimate'' in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

) is a 2015 American independent

science-fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, sp ...

monster A monster is a type of imaginary or fictional creature found in literature, folklore, mythology, fiction and religion. They are very often depicted as dangerous and aggressive, with a strange or grotesque appearance that causes Anxiety, terror ...

horror film written and directed by Alec Gillis and produced by Tom Woodruff Jr., the founders of the

special effects Special effects (often abbreviated as F/X or simply FX) are illusions or visual tricks used in the theatre, film, television, video game, amusement park and simulator industries to simulate the fictional events in a story or virtual world. ...

company StudioADI, and starring

Lance Henriksen Lance Henriksen (born May 5, 1940) is an American actor. He is known for his roles in various science fiction, action and horror genre productions, including Bishop in the ''Alien'' film franchise and Frank Black in the Fox television series ...

. The film follows a group of graduate students aboard the crabbing trawler ''Harbinger'' who are studying the

effects of global warming Effects of climate change are well documented and growing for Earth's natural environment and human societies. Changes to the climate system include an overall warming trend, changes to precipitation patterns, and more extreme weather. As ...

on a pod of Belugas in the

Bering Sea The Bering Sea ( , ; rus, Бе́рингово мо́ре, r=Béringovo móre, p=ˈbʲerʲɪnɡəvə ˈmorʲe) is a marginal sea of the Northern Pacific Ocean. It forms, along with the Bering Strait, the divide between the two largest landmasse ...

. They recover a crashed Soviet spacecraft encased in a block of ice that is apparently virulently infected with mutated

tardigrade Tardigrades (), known colloquially as water bears or moss piglets, are a phylum of eight-legged segmented micro-animals. They were first described by the German zoologist Johann August Ephraim Goeze in 1773, who called them . In 1776, th ...

s, and after thawing, they are attacked by the mutated creatures. Funded by fan donations through

Kickstarter Kickstarter, PBC is an American Benefit corporation, public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York City, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative project ...

, the film predominantly features practical creature effects created by ADI, including

animatronics An animatronic is a puppet controlled electronically to move in a fluent way. Animatronics are the modern adaptation of the automaton and are often used for the portrayal of characters in films, video games and in theme park attractions. Anim ...

prosthetic makeup Prosthetic makeup also known as special makeup effects or FX prosthesis, is the process of using prosthetic sculpting, molding and casting techniques to create advanced cosmetic special effects, effects. Prosthetics are used on stage and screen ...

stop motion Stop-motion (also known as stop frame animation) is an animated filmmaking and special effects technique in which objects are physically manipulated in small increments between individually photographed frames so that they will appear to exh ...

and

miniature effect A miniature effect is a special effect created for motion pictures and television programs using scale models. Scale models are often combined with high speed photography or matte shots to make gravitational and other effects appear convincing t ...

Computer generated imagery Computer-generated imagery (CGI) is a specific-technology or application of computer graphics for creating or improving images in art, printed media, simulators, videos and video games. These images are either static (i.e. still images) or d ...

was used only to enhance these effects (such as digitally erasing control wires and gimbals). Director Alec Gillis made the film in response to his special effects being replaced with CGI in '' The Thing'' (2011).

Plot

In 1982, a

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

moon lander crashes into the Bering Sea. In 2015, biology professor Stephen and graduate students Ronelle and Sadie go on an experimental tour to study the effects of global warming on whales. Sadie's grandfather, Graff, takes them to sea in his fishing trawler ''Harbinger'', crewed by Bowman, Roland, Big G, Dock, Svetlana and Atka. One night, Sadie is awakened by the crew working and their equipment detects whale activities in the area. After trying unsuccessfully to wake the others, Sadie investigates on her own. With Sadie operating the sonar equipment and the crew's help, they discover and retrieve the crashed lander, encased in ice. Ronelle and Stephen are awakened by the commotion. Stephen claims ownership of the lander, but Graff disputes this and declares it belongs to Sadie. Bowman encourages Sadie to investigate the lander before Stephen can claim it for himself. While Big G distracts Stephen, Sadie inspects the lander and discovers the Soviet cosmonaut died of an unknown infection, taking a skin sample to analyze. Learning Sadie had examined the lander before him, Stephen becomes frustrated and threatens to destroy her career unless she signs over the discovery to him. Graff threatens to take the issue to the courts, but Sadie gives in. Sadie later learns that the lander was carrying

s, a hardy terrestrial life-form that can survive in extreme conditions. However,

cosmic radiation Cosmic rays or astroparticles are high-energy particles or clusters of particles (primarily represented by protons or atomic nuclei) that move through space at nearly the speed of light. They originate from the Sun, from outside of the Sol ...

caused them to mutate and become capable of

shapeshifting In mythology, folklore and speculative fiction, shapeshifting is the ability to physically transform oneself through unnatural means. The idea of shapeshifting is found in the oldest forms of totemism and shamanism, as well as the oldest existen ...

. After the cosmonaut's body goes missing, Stephen examines the lander and becomes contaminated with the tardigrades, and the reanimated cosmonaut's body kills Roland. Stephen begins stripping on deck despite the sub-zero temperatures. As the others drag him back in, stalks sprout from his back and spray a dark liquid over everyone. Sadie confirms that they are all potentially contaminated. The group use liquid nitrogen to freeze Stephen's body and the lander. When Dock begins to show signs of infection, Svetlana locks him in a cage and prepares to incinerate him. The others object to the plan until Dock also sprouts tentacle-like growths. The ship's power gets cut, and the backup battery kicks in. As they work to restore it, the organism kills Atka, during which Svetlana is revealed to be a Russian spy. Holding Sadie, Bowman, Big G, Ronelle and Graff at gunpoint, she explains that the tardigrades were part of a Soviet experiment to create radiation-resistant cosmonauts. She intends to sink the boat after boarding a nearby Russian submarine. Before she can kill everyone, however, the organism attacks, dragging off Ronelle and Svetlana. Survivors Graff, Sadie, Bowman and Big G search for explosive charges that Svetlana has hidden throughout the boat. The last four charges are hidden in the

bilge The bilge of a ship or boat is the part of the hull that would rest on the ground if the vessel were unsupported by water. The "turn of the bilge" is the transition from the bottom of a hull to the sides of a hull. Internally, the bilges (us ...

, a tight area which only Sadie has access to. As she collects the explosives, the others discover that the tardigrades consumed and absorbed their latest catch, two tons of crab. They call down to warn Sadie, who realizes she is standing amid the tardigrades and escapes in time, but Graff is infected. He instructs Big G to restart the boat and Sadie to pilot it before asking Bowman to kill him. Big G restarts the ship but is killed by the mutated Svetlana. Before Bowman can freeze Graff with the liquid nitrogen, the creature impales him. Graff instructs Sadie to scuttle the boat and save herself. She steers it toward an iceberg and escapes while the creature bursts through the deck. Via the portable radio, the US Coast Guard alerts her that a rescue helicopter is in her vicinity. The helicopter approaches as Sadie passes out and lies motionless on the ice.

Cast

as Graff *

Giovonnie Samuels Giovonnie Lavette Samuels (born November 13, 1985) is an American actress and voice artist best known for her role as Nia Moseby in '' The Suite Life of Zack & Cody'' and for being a series regular on '' All That'' from seasons 7–9. Life and ...

as Ronelle * Matt Winston as Stephen * Camille Balsamo as Sadie * Reid Collums as Bowman * Mike Estime as Dock * Milla Bjorn as Svetlana * Winston James Francis as "Big G" * Jason Speer as Sergei * Edwin H. Bravo as Atka * Sean Serino as Tamara * Morgana Ignis as Tardigrade * Kraig W. Sturtz as Roland

Production

Background

In 2010, Amalgamated Dynamics was hired by

Universal Studios Universal Studios may refer to: * Universal Studios, Inc., an American media and entertainment conglomerate ** Universal Pictures, an American film studio ** Universal Studios Lot, a film and television studio complex * Various theme parks operat ...

to create the practical special effects for the 2011 ''The Thing'' prequel. However, before the film was released, the majority of ADI's effects work on the film was digitally replaced in post production by

computer-generated imagery Computer-generated imagery (CGI) is a specific-technology or application of computer graphics for creating or improving images in Digital art, art, Publishing, printed media, Training simulation, simulators, videos and video games. These images ...

. This decision was upsetting to the crew of Amalgamated Dynamics, as this was not the first film of theirs where they later found their work replaced. After the release of ''The Thing'', in response to fan queries about what became of ADI's effects for the film, Alec Gillis and Tom Woodruff Jr. uploaded a behind-the-scenes video to

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

which showcased their original practical effects prior to their replacement. According to Gillis and Woodruff, the video received such an overwhelmingly positive response that it inspired them to use their official YouTube Channel to feature their archived videos of creature effects from throughout their career. Gillis said that it was the tipping point that prompted them to go ahead with their dream of producing their own film. "Honestly, we were resistant to it at first, so it wasn't until I looked around my shop and saw an empty facility that I realized we were actually at the mercy of studios that didn't actually care about our techniques anymore. They view it as a commodity and a product, and they've corporatized the structure of creating art and in the end it all becomes disposable. That's not how the fans see our work." The film's in-story events open on June 25, 1982, a tribute to the release date of John Carpenter's ''The Thing''.

Kickstarter campaign

On May 8, 2013, Alec Gillis began a Kickstarter drive for ''Harbinger Down'', advertising the film as being a monster horror film that was, "in the spirit of two of the greatest sci-fi/horror films of all time, '' ALIEN'' and '' THE THING''", and that would feature only practical techniques to create the film's monsters, including the use of

and

s, with the film's creatures featuring no digital animation outside of rod/rig removal and

digital compositing Digital compositing is the process of digitally assembling multiple images to make a final image, typically for print, motion pictures or screen display. It is the digital analogue of optical film compositing. It's part of VFX processing. Ma ...

. With a budget goal of $350,000, the film would have

attached to star, composers

Joel McNeely Joel McNeely (born March 28, 1959) is an American composer, conductor, arranger, musician, lyricist, and record producer. A protégé of composer Jerry Goldsmith, he is best known for his film and television scores. He won the Primetime Emmy Aw ...

and Michael Larrabee creating the musical score, and would also feature the efforts of

Oscar Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to: People and fictional and mythical characters * Oscar (given name), including lists of people and fictional characters named Oscar, Óscar or Oskar * Oscar (footballer, born 1954), Brazilian footballer ...

-nominated model builders Pat McClung, Robert Skotak and Dennis Skotak. By 7 June 2013, Amalgamated Dynamics funded ''Harbinger Down'', making it the most successfully funded sci-fi/horror project in Kickstarter history, at $384,181. Gillis stated that while the money raised by the campaign would be sufficient to fund the "nuts and bolts" of the film, the film's special effects would have to be created at Gillis and Woodruff's own expense due to the film's low budget. The success of the Kickstarter campaign went on to draw the attention of producer Sultan Saeed Al Darmaki, who provided additional funding for the film through his company Dark Dunes Productions.

Principal photography

Principal photography began on January 27, 2014. The cast includes

, Camille Balsamo, Reid Collums, and Matt Winston.

Reception

''Harbinger Down'' was poorly received by critics. The review aggregator website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

reported that 38% of critics have given the film a positive review based on 8 reviews, with an average rating of 3.80 out of 10. Joe Leydon of '' Variety'' gave the film moderate praise, writing, "Made by and for aficionados of '80s-era sci-fi/horror thrillers, 'Harbinger Down' ranks somewhere between self-consciously cheesy SyFy Channel fare and better-than-average direct-to-video product in terms of production values, performance levels and overall ability to sustain interest while generating suspense. Theatrical exposure will be fleeting, but this small-budget, high-concept trifle could attract home-screen traffic if favorable word of mouth is sparked by the enthusiasm of genre-friendly websites and bloggers." Biologists Mark Blaxter and Arakawa Kazuharu note the film as an example of tardigrades having "rare but entertaining walk-on parts" in science fiction and fantasy.

References

External links

* *
HARBINGER DOWN : A Practical Creature FX Film
Kickstarter page. * 09-06-2014 {{DEFAULTSORT:Harbinger 2015 films 2015 horror films American monster movies American science fiction horror films 2015 science fiction horror films American action horror films 2010s English-language films Films about shapeshifting American independent films 2010s monster movies Films set in 1982 Films set in 2015 Kickstarter-funded films 2010s American films English-language action horror films English-language science fiction horror films Films set in the 1980s Films set in the 2010s The Thing (franchise)