"Carriers"- An Apocolyptic Film ripped From Tomorrow's Headlines

Dir. Alex Pastor & David Pastor

Screenplay: Alex Pastor & David Pastor

If you’ve read this site from way way back when we started, you might remember a postwhere I asked why the viral outbreak film Carriers got stuck with such a limited release and no push whatsoever from Paramount studios. After coming off the two hundred million plus fan and critic love fest that was the Star Trek reboot, Chris Pine’s star power alone should have been enough to have gotten this long shelved title a couple thousand screen release. I worried that I must have been a stinker of epic proportions. The trailer offered potential, but seemed to veer away from the virus story line and morph into yet another “small band of friends try to escape zombies” film.

Luckily, I was wrong on both counts.

Carriers wound up being a sterling and unapologetically grim character driven film. Thankfully, it eschewed the flu victims reanimating as walking corpses in favor of threats coming from the yet to be affected survivors as well as the hopelessness of the situation. In many ways, the film mirrors Zombieland, except the comedic parts have been left out.

The film opens on a pair of couples joyriding towards the beach in what looks to be a getaway trip full of shenanigans. Brian (Chris Pine) and Danny (Lou Taylor Pucci) are brothers, though they couldn’t be more opposite, with the older Brian acting as the dominant, take charge if slightly dim witted sibling compared to the quiet and intellectual Danny. Tagging along are Brian’s special ladyfriend Bobby (Piper Perabo) and Danny’s friend Kate (Emily VanCamp). The group enjoys some loud tunes and a few brews along a deserted stretch of road, leading the viewer into think everything is hunky-dory and the outbreak hasn’t started yet. However, when the group encounters a broken down SUV blocking the road, things change in a hurry. The friends go into lockdown mode, eyeing a father (Law and Order SUV’s Christopher Meloni) with caution as he claims he’ and his not-sick daughter are simply out of gas. When the little girl pops her head up, wearing a blood stained gas mask, the friends know she’s infected, and hurriedly make haste, crippling the car in the process.

What follows gives a small hint as to the no-holds barred approach the rest of the film will take. The four friends commandeer the vehicle from the father, quarantining the pair into the back with a makeshift airtight plastic screen. They bleach the inside of the car, and then take off. The rules are simple-the disease is easily transmitted via air, blood or fluid; sterilize anything the infected have touched and most importantly: if you’re infected-you’re already dead.

From here the film takes the first of many turns, narrowly avoiding genre clichés and by swerving away at just the last moment. When the father claims they were on the way to makeshift hospital broadcasting they have a vaccine, I thought the film would focus on a race for a cure. Instead, we’re treated to a dark, hopeless scenario where the “cure” only prolonged the suffering for three whopping days. The image of an overwhelmed doctor, resigned to his fate, closing the curtain to a room with himself and group of children is chilling. The hopelessness of this situation is not lost on the group, and immediately following this scene, there’s a tense, heartbreaking moment where the father pleads to come along with the friends, knowing his plea will be in vain.

From here the film takes many turns, with nary an end goal in sight. I don’t mean this as a slight against the film. The only end goal of the group was to survive. Anything else would ring false. Even if they do reach the intended destination of the beach house, they all acknowledge that at best they can wait the virus out, at worst, they’ve postponed the inevitable. The film cares more for exploring the characters and their relationships with one another. As they struggle to stay ahead of the virus, it’s interesting to see the dynamic of the group break down and how cheap other the lives of others come when you only have your own to protect. Seriously, gun wielding church ladies are something every apocalyptic film needs.

Some people are sure to have sand in their vaginas over the PG-13 rating, but to do so would sell the movie short. While it may not be a gorehound’s delight, the utter bleakness of the picture will steer away the kiddies. While the infected don’t rise up, the few we see are grotesque. The skin of the infected is cracked with lesions, and has swollen with a sickly bluish purple hue. Veins have burst throughout thier body, leaving sickly spiderweb-like trails all over the body. The eyes are the worst, as they’ve pooled up with blood, giving off a truly horrible look. The worst villains in the film turn out to be other people, as survivors raid and ransack one another, all in a desperate attempt to survive one more day. In a moment reminiscent of 28 Days Later, a group of survivalists threaten to take the girls hostage for their own sick fulfillment, until one girl’s secret finally comes out, triggering the third act.

Surprisingly, the only quibble I had with the film was Chris Pine’s performance, as I had him pegged as the main selling point. While it’s not a bad performance, it’s a bit too much of a stereotypical of a Neanderthal jock d-bag. I’m not sure if the problem was him or the way the film was edited, as it’s a bit jarring to have him survive a harrowing sequence where he nearly falls into a pool infected by the disease, to moments later driving a golf cart around like an asshole and smashing windows with golf balls.

The timeliness of Carriers could not be better. As the decade draws to a close, fears of a viral outbreak or terrorist made biological weapon remain at an all time high. I’d imagine we’ll see a number of films over the next few years that prey on our fear of disease wiping out mankind. Carriers provides a great blueprint for this type of film, and is inherently a thousand times more interesting than a special effects extravaganza. While it may have been given a shoddy box office treatment, and a bare bones DVD with nary a special feature in site, don’t overlook this film. It will definitely find its way as a late entry into my best of year end list. If you can get by the awful intro, check out the trailer below