The Harrowing

Directed by Brendan O'Neill

2022

An entry into the London Sci-Fi Society 48-hour filmmaking competition, The Harrowing is a new sci-fi short from Birmingham-based Brendan O’Neill.

We open with a definition of a ‘harrow’ (a farm tool dragged over ploughed land to break up clods and cover seed) which sets the cryptic stage before we cut to a family home.

Sitting at a table is a mother (Gem Durham) listening to a radio newsreader who describes spacecraft appearing over the world before she watches further news updates on a laptop.

Her son and daughter (Arthur Benson and Honey Harris) play in the garden but another newsreader explains children are also mysteriously going missing. This all provides an intriguing opening to the short, drawing in the viewer to an unexplained situation.

The family then run from their house and enter a car in a rush, hoping to escape whatever impending day of reckoning may be coming. But the family’s story is cross-cut with a man who walks into the street, looks up and declares “this is fantastic” in a quasi-worshipping stance.

Here we get to see our first glimpse of the alien spacecraft hovering over the suburban area in some well-handled VFX. The director cleverly hides this reveal until late into the story, adding to the short’s sense of anticipation of what may come.

Without giving too much away, the final moments see the mum hit by a devastating situation which still affects her weeks later. But a strange noise perhaps gives her hope for a more positive future. But soon a hidden symbol and some undetermined powers suggest a far darker outcome.

Acting as a proof-of-concept for a larger project, the film is a neat twist on situations we’ve seen elsewhere. The VFX by Mark Lunn are short, sharp and effective – utilising a low budget without ever seeming cheap or tacky. And Matt Hickinbottom provides a soundtrack which gives the film an emotional core.

Combining some folky-horror tropes with sci-fi genre beats, The Harrowing is a successful, if slightly unoriginal, short of aliens and abduction. But given its time-constrained production, it still delivers a lot of well-crafted mystery within its 4 short minutes with cliff-hanger elements that suggest much more to come in this story.

★★★½

3.5 / 5

Michael Sales