DVD Review: Carriers – Post Apocalyptic Horror with Heart
Carriers (2009)
Directed: by Alex and David Pastor
Reviewed by: Marc Patterson
You might not remember the drama of Labor Day weekend. It was right on the heels of opening weekend for H2 and The Final Destination. I had full intentions of catching an early matinee for Carriers when out of nowhere I find the film isn’t playing ANYWHERE. Well, to be honest it was playing. But late in the game it was thrown a measly 96-screen opening. This lax opening came on the heels of news of financial woes at Paramount, specifically for the Paramount Vantage label. Things weren’t looking good not just for Carriers, but for Paramount in general.
Well, it’s December and recession rumblings seem to have quieted down, at least for the time being, and I finally last night got to sit down to watch this slice of PG-13 post-apocalyptic horror that quite frankly blew away my preconceptions surrounding the limitations of the MPAA rating system.
The premise of the story hinges on a viral disease that is wiping out the population in fairly quick order. How it started, or what it even is goes un-explained and to the point of the story it isn’t important to the story. It’s simply a reality that must be dealt with. The true story is about four college-aged kids (two brothers and their respective significant others) who are doing their best to survive in this new reality. In their travels they come across a man and his infected daughter and given their situation have no choice but to collectively pool their resources, and risk infection, if they are to carry on.
Now in case you read the words “college-aged kids” and started to write this one off as typical, brainless, and cliché ridden PA horror film I’d beg you to reserve that fiery judgment (which is so often justified) and put the cynicism in check for a moment.
Never in my wildest imagination would I conceive that a PG-13 film could rattle my cage. I’m going to go out on a thin limb and declare that this film is as visceral and intense as good horror gets. Carriers is sickeningly depressing and bleak, just what a good post-apocalyptic horror film calls for. More than anything it remains an intense study of humanity and how we survive when rules are abolished and everything we know is turned upside down on us. We cease to trust our neighbor, and will kill without hesitation if it means saving our ass for just one more second. 28 Days Later explored this theme, as does the more recent PA film, The Road (another film that opened in more of a limited capacity than previously expected) Simply stated, Carriers packs a seriously powerful guttural punch that hasn’t affected me as much since I watched the ending of The Mist.
That’s not to say this film is perfect. During the second act of the film these kids hit a hotel/resort. When they head to the golf course to let off some steam and rip it up the pacing plummets and the incredible tension that had me gripping at my seat reduces to a mere simmer. There is such a thing as giving the audience too much breathing room. Amping the tension back up to the same level attained during the first act sadly proves too much for Carriers to handle. Don’t get me wrong. Carriers didn’t exactly fizzle into oblivion, but it sure felt like it could have been a lot more than a series of events pushing towards an inevitable, if not predictable conclusion.
The bulk of the acting falls on Chris Pine and Lou Taylor Pucci who do a great job carrying the much of the film on their shoulders. But it is Chistopher Meloni who brings home the MVP for me, portraying in excruciating pain a father on the brink of losing everything. It was his raw and unyielding acting that brought the film home. Not the jump scares, or moments of violent outbreak. And I think that’s a pretty thought-provoking statement to make, that our own humanity can be more frightening than the most grotesque of our twisted visions.
