(2009, Dir. by Alex & David Pastor.)
Carriers, a 2009 horror film starring Chris Pine, Lou Taylor Pucci, Piper Perabo, and Emily VanCamp, can best be described as a zombie movie without the zombies. It takes us to a post-apocalyptic world where the majority of the population has been wiped out by a mysterious plague that's still a very real threat. Like all apocalypse movies, the people that are left and surviving for the sake of surviving. There's little hope of the world ever thriving like it once was, but they cling to that hope regardless, simply because it's against human nature to lie down and die.
The movie centers on a small group of four. Brian Green (Pine; Star Trek, Unstoppable) seems to be the self-appointed leader of the group. His brother Danny (Pucci; The Informers, Horsemen) is the smart one, and yet lacks the ambition of his brother, which leads to him getting bossed around. Bobby (Perabo; The Prestige, Cheaper by the Dozen) is Brian's girlfriend and their affection towards each other is the other thing that seems normal, which of course makes it feel completely out of place. And Kate (VanCamp; The Ring Two, Black Irish) is, in a way, the outcast of the group. She's Danny's friend, although it's clear that he'd rather be more. She's not very social and doesn't seem to have a lot of compassion for others.
These four are on their way to Turtle Beach, an old childhood haunt of Danny and Brian's. The place had been abandoned before the epidemic hit and they figure it's a good a place as any to ride out the aftermath. Along the way they meet various people and the encounters rarely turn out for the better. There are multiple times when we question the actions of the group, Brian in particular. He's not a very hospitable person, but we don't know if he was always like that or if his current situation is dictating his actions. If it's the latter, it's understandable. They can't venture into unknown places without health masks. The people they run into often want to take advantage of them. Everything is looking for a way to hurt them, so being on guard is the only way you can be.
The greatest thing about Carriers is the absolute lack of resolution. In another review, that could be seen as a huge negative. But here, the unknown lends to the hopelessness of it all. Numerous times in the movie, characters come and go, and we never find out what happens to them. We're experiencing this world through the eyes of our lead characters, and it's a bleak, depressing view. It's a world full of uncertainty and we definitely feel the impact of that.
Carriers is not a happy film. Like I said, there's few resolutions, and it's doubtful the movie will ever put a smile on your face, even when the characters are smiling. But that's ok, because movies don't have to make us smile, they just have to affect us, and in that respect, Carriers hits a home run.
"Our guest writer, Dylan Duarte, is a horror buff and writer who writes about Halloween costumes for StarCostumes.com. He can be reached at dylnduarte at gmail.com."
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