Carriers

jaykhunter

Carriers (2009) Review



Decided to post here rather than in the review forum, so people can reply more freely.

Vital Stats:

• Indy film (Completed/Screened 2 years ago, just released in September)
• No big-time actors
• Written and directed by Àlex and David Pastor
• Genre : Epidemic/Survival Film
• Runtime : 1hr 24 minutes
• IMDB Link : http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0806203/

Trailer :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7aiKLALlXG4

Overview :

Two brothers, Brian and Danny, along with Brian's girlfriend Bobby and Danny's friend Kate, are heading to a place where they believe they can wait for the viral pandemic to die out, along with the infected-- namely a place called Turtle Beach, where Brian and Danny used to spend their holidays as children.
-- Thanks, Wikipedia!

Carriers is a story about 4 20-odd year old Americans who are fleeing the city, after a world-wide epidemic has wiped out the majority of the population. The highly contagious virus is transmitted through contact with infected particles, whether blood, saliva or even airborne, which kills within a few days. Symptoms are ominous-looking bruising, coughing/bleeding from the mouth/ears, and gross dessication.

Style :
Imagine Zombieland, but with less likeable characters, and isn't funny. (It's not supposed to be!) It's a typical horror film. There's no sweeping camera angles but two nice ones I can remember off-hand,

the one showing the sky 'as the water' that pans upside down to right itself, as the car drives past, and when the gym is turned into a hospital, with plastic coverings suspended by lights. That was pretty cool looking.

Throughout the film you'll notice how cheap this film must've been to make. There's little special effects and set-pieces, but they are present, and don't constrain the story.

Plot Progression :
The plot is similar to 28 Days Later (survivors looking for a safeplace) but without the ravenous zombies. You should know that this is a lethal virus, not a "zombifying" virus - so it just kills people, it doesn't turn people into anything dangerous (besides contagious). There's a scene that I won't spoil that is very similar to what happens to Cilian Murphy in 28 Days Later, which made me allude to the movie.

Characters :
The protagonist isn't that big of a douche (there are far bigger stereotypical jock douchebags in, say, Road Trip : Beer Pong, Sex Drive etc etc) and the rest of them are normal people, edging towards different outlooks on life. So you have one douchey guy, one quiet but more diplomatic guy, one caring but flippant girl, and one straight-laced christian girl.

General Thoughts on the movie :

• If watching with others, you should wager which ones will survive by the end of the film
• I kept thinking 'how wreckless are these kids?' They're still alive, with these "rules", but they aren't cautious. They don't take due care with having their masks on, they don't properly clear a room, they don't scavenge for food/supplies etc...
• I did appreciate the scene where they're looking for gas. I think it's supposed to be great social commentary or whatever about humanity but I don't care to entertain that douchebag approach in a horror film (lol), but seeing someone's true colours or a damning speech laying out another's faults is great to see.
• I think some parts of the movie were so contrived; i.e. just to make the story more interesting, rather than what would happen in real life. But maybe that's a good thing! I guess it harks back to 'you should be more careful!'

Overall :
There is nothing special about this movie. It's fine to watch, it's not bad, but there's not much 'good' in it. So I wouldn't go out of my way to see it, but I'd watch it if it's on. I definitely wouldn't pay to watch it...It's not scary by any stretch - my gf is very jumpy and she was only 'worried' for about 10 seconds...lol, so. As long as you don't pay for it, Carriers is an easygoing horror film.