Review: Carriers

The world has been overrun with a plague. Most of the human population is either dead or dying. A group of 4 are trying to make it to their childhood vacation spot for solace, but their cross country trek does not turn out to be easy. Finding gas, shelter, and protection from the sick and the paranoid proves much harder than they expected.

Carriers is another in a long line of mis-marketed movies. I feel like that is a sentence used far too often nowadays. Carriers promised to be a quick-paced thriller implying that their would actually be "carriers," as in a minority group of infected showing other signs other than death. Instead it is very much a psychological drama. Much of the fear stems from feelings of isolation, desperation, paranoia, and expendability (even in the eyes of your loved ones). These elements work effectively, but make for a much slower movie than expected. It is a bit of a chore to sit through the movie, which is not even that long. The gore factor is also very low; a few blood splattered face masks and rashes.

The acting is top notch though making for a more pleasurable viewing experience. Chris Pine continues being great after his breakout role in Star Trek, and Lou Taylor Pucci is a very promising up and comer. Piper Perabo and Christopher Meloni also give very memorable performances, maybe more so than the two male leads. There were also a few moments of humor, mainly from Pine's character trying to lighten the mood. These light scenes are unfortunately fleeting and lead to stryfe among the survivors.

The movie is very minimalist, relying on atmosphere and key performances all of which just fall short of par. The film is in no way poorly constructed, but the quality of storytelling is just not as high as one would hope.

6/10

My Favorite Horror Films

10. Feast

Brain-child from Ben Affleck and Matt Damon's second Project: Greenlight, Feast is a funny, gorey, violent delight. A monster movie with Die Hard intensity, Evil Dead laughs and gore, and Pulp Fiction dialog and characters. Starring a very underrated Balthazar Getty, a group of strangers fend off a family of incredibly strong and hungry beasts while trapped in a bar.

9. The Devil's Rejects

Rob Zombie's follow up to the very weird but dissapointing House of 1,000 Corpses takes his murderous Firefly family on the road flipping the killer/killee dynamic with the sheriff finding them. I always appreciate a horror movie that can use comedy and not kill the entire pace and tone.

8. 28 Days Later

The incredible Danny Boyle creates a truly scaring depiction of a post-apocalyptic London devoid of most life. A new twist on the zombie genre turning the normally undead flesh-eaters into rabid, rage-infected violent people.

7. Evil Dead 2

Sam Raimi's middle installment of the Evil Dead series has the perfect combo between Evil Dead's thrills and Army of Darkness's laughs, starring Bruce Campbell as Ash sky-rocketing him to A-Number-1 fanboy cult favorite actor OF ALL TIME!!!!!!! (Yes, it's that dramatic)

6. The Mist

One of the more chilling horror flicks in years, Frank Darabont may in fact be the only person who should be allowed to adapt Stephen King novels anymore. First Shawshank Redemption, than Green Mile, and now The Mist. He captured the feel of each individual book and added upon what King already started.

5. The Dead Zone

And than of course there is this Stephen King adaptation that isn't made by Frank Darabont. It is more of a thriller than a horror, but Christopher Walken is great in it. Much better than Anthony Michael Hall during the tv series based on the same material.

4. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre

This is one of the first truly disgusting, graphic, and controversial horror movies. Based loosely on real life serial killer, Ed Gein, and then further warped to the 1,000th degree. 10x better than the remake just because of the nuanced performance of Gunnar Hansen.

3. Halloween

The beginning of the modern slasher flick. It single-handedly made John Carpenter one the greatest masters of horror, and created a cinema icon out of a white William Shatner mask.

2. Jaws

Scared everyone out of the water. Seriously. One of Spielberg's earliest efforts, even then he seemed like he'd be one of the greatest directors of all time.

1. Dawn of the Dead

Greatest zombie movie ever! Actually characterized the victims instead of root for the bad guy slasher flicks that the genre has become desensitized by.

Top 10 Horror Heroes

When it comes to horror flicks, the villains take center stage. Jason, Freddy, Pinhead, Myers, Leatherface. There are so many cool slashers that you could probably do the top 100 slashers (I may even attempt it). But I have always been more of a hero guy. As much as the "root for the bad guy" flicks are cool, badass horror heroes will always be more memorable to me. So here are my top 10 horror heroes.


10. Sheriff Wydell, The Devil's Rejects
Wydell is a common case of the hero as the antagonist, as he went out of his way to stop the travellin' killin' family with catchy Marx Brothers pseudonyms. I'm sure plenty of fans were rooting for these villains to make it to the end, but I was rooting for Wydell. He was like a Great White tracking his own kind. A man pushed to the edge by a trio of people dangling from the edge.


9. Jack Brooks, Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer
A fairly low-budget romp about a 20-something rageaholic orphaned by a monster facing off against a whole new breed armed only with his pumbing tools. Old fashioned man who stood up to finally do the right thing. I would go as far as to say he's an Ash for the 21st Century.


8. Jack Crow, John Carpenter's Vampires
A movie almost universally panned except for a few people ranking it in their guilty pleasures, this flick is obviously not Carpenter's strongest attempt, but Jack Crow, head vamp killer played by James Woods, oozes cool. Calm and collected with a serious pet peeve for vampires.


7. Bozo, Feast
Bozo is a surprising choice for hero. He is selfish and douchebag-esque, but when push came to shove, Bozo, albeit reluctantly, pulled through and did more than his share of monster killing in this gross out flick. He was easily the most likeable and best performed character in a cast full of relative unknowns and character actors.


6. Sheriff Bill Pardy, Slither
Maybe just because of my fanboy love of Nathan Fillion, but Pardy was sarcastic and capable in the face of alien invasion in Smalltown, USA. His John McLane-esque demeanor and wit justified the "why me?" aspect of the character.


5. Frank Bannister, The Frighteners
Remember when Peter Jackson made movies without giant CGI animals in period pieces, because I do. Michael J. Fox, nearing the end of his lucrative era and secretly living with his dibillitating disease, gives an exceptionally likeable broken contractor turned con man who can actually sees ghosts.


4. Ben, Night of The Living Dead
The longest running joke in horror is the black guy always dies first. Ben on the other hand his the powerhouse of this group being the most effective in terms of keeping the zombies at bay and this was in the 1968 where many of these trends were just taking off.


3. Shaun, Shaun of the Dead
Everyone thought it was a spoof but it wasn't. It was a romantic comedy and a zombie horror smushed into one, and it was effective as both. Shaun was witty and endearing, likeable and empathetic. It is the brilliance in Simon Pegg and Co.'s success to balance humor, drama, and the love for the particular genre they are playing with.


2. Ellen Ripley, Alien series
Slashers love picking off chicks, usually schoolgirls, who are completely cluttered with cliches and whining. But Ripley on the other hand is as tough if not tougher than most action heroes, and definitely braver than most.


1. Ash, Evil Dead series
Was their anyother choice for best horror hero than Ash from Evil Dead series. He is really one of the only heroes to earn the same iconicism level of Freddy, Jason, and the other slashers.