i saw this film a few days back. I enjoyed it a lot. Glad it didn't turn into your average zombie movie flick

It was one of the most falsely marketed films of the year. I bet 98% of folks who saw the trailer thought it would be 28 Years Later or whatnot.

completely agree. i can see why the studio ended up only going Direct to DVD. There was no way this film was going to be liked by mainstream audiences.

Yeah...there are not big action setpieces, no climax and it's a downer afterall.

yep, hell i dont know why it got an R rating.

I don't think it would have been hated by mainstream audiences. It may not have been loved, but I doubt it would have been totally trashed. My co-workers all really liked it, and the customers I've been recommending it to have liked it as well. Of course, I make sure to tell them it's more of a drama than a horror movie so they know what to expect.


Anyway, I thought it was great. 8/10 (A-) from me. I just wish the trailer didn't show every major thing that was going to happen.

Having been released in only 100 or so theaters with a PG-13 rating back in September clearly killed the buzz for this movie.

The film, itself, was GOOD, not great, as it featured some originality in it, and the acting was not awful like in most horror/thriller films; however, the film starting going downhill when After that scene, it got progressively worse. Still a decent flick, though.

B-

Carriers has a very simple premise to it, don't break any of the rules or you will die. A deadly disease has spreadly rapidly across the nation and now two brothers (Lou Taylor Pucci and Chris Pine) and their girlfriends (Piper Perabo and Emily VanCamp) are now going corss country trying to avoid getting hit at all. They run into some setbacks however with a father who has a daughter with the disease and a golf club that has recently been hit. The film is filled with much wonder though not much action or anything too intense occurs. Carriers also turns too much into a fight fest with many arguments especially headed by Pine. The only character to root for throughout the film however is Pucci as he deosn't try to outdo everyone else. It's a decent horror piece that is different from others around it. **

I liked it.

I thought this was great. An atmospheric, character-driven, disturbing suspense film with strong performances. Christopher Meloni's small arc during the first half of the film is simply devastating. I admired how the film never slipped into clichéd horror territory. It respected its characters and stayed true to its concept and themes (disease paranoia, the heights of human compassion and depths of human depravity in extreme situations).

It falls short of The Road (last year's second best film, in my opinion), but is still an above average end-of-the-world film and definitely deserved a proper release. It's a crime a dud such as Legion plays nationwide while a fine film such as Carriers languishes in obscurity. Sigh. Forget it, Jake. It's Hollywood.

A-

Though, let's face it, not many people saw the trailer. If they were going to falsely advertise it, they could have gone the extra mile and falsely advertised it A LOT and given it 1,500 theatres to hoodwink people in.

B



I think the biggest flaw of this film and its major downfall is its marketing campaign. If you go in expecting a variation of 28 Days Later or I Am Legend...you'll be disappointed, big time. Despite what the trailer is suggesting, there are no sick people running around attacking other people. There are no zombies, no monsters and the infected simply die a slowly and unpleasant death. The biggest threat here comes from regular humans. Unlike the two films mentioned before, Carriers doesn't bother with explaining the nature of the disease, the time of the outbreak or any circumstances at all actually. It simply focuses on the four main characters on their way to a beach who have some delusional idea that it'd be a safe haven for them (mainly because two of them, two brothers, went there each years when they were kids). very little of the remains of the real world is shown as the characters mostly travel through wastelands. Unlike the aforementioned flicks, this one has barely any action and its nature is much more philosophical. Basically it is about what humans become in extreme situations like these (as if we haven't seen that often enough before), but also about if it's really worth to go on living in a world where no one else is left that you know/love. It is about the cost of survival and its worth. Frankly that not only does sound good on paper, but in several scenes the film is actually successful in its intentions.

The problem is the out of the four leading actors, only Chris Pine is actually convincing enough to carry his role. Since this film doesn't rely on either action or suspense (really there are only a few suspenseful scenes), the performances becoming even moreso important and those mostly don't deliver. I still have to commend the directors for being able to instill the feeling of hopelessness in the viewer throughout the film and while the film is quite and slow, it was at no point boring to me. It's simply that it wears its message very much on its sleeve and doesn't get the full meat out of its potential. The couple of times it tries being suspenseful it actually works which makes me think that this movie could have used more scenes like that. As we have seen with 28 Weeks/Days Later such a film can be smart and suspenseful.

Another thing that bugged me a bit are some of the inconsistencies in the characters' actions. At the beginning they are shown to be very pre-cautious and doing anything to avoid any possible contact with the virus. It is stressed numerous times how contagious it is. Later on in the film the makers seem to have forgotten that little fact.

All in all it definitely wasn't the best opening night film I have ever seen at the Fantasy Film Festival, but it was also not the worst. If you go in knowing that it's a slow post-apocalyptic drama, much rather than horror or sci-fi (I knew that) you'll be less likely to be disappointed. I also completely realize why the release has changed from wide to limited - this film is certainly not for mass audiences.