The Carrier

In defense of this movie, it is completely original. But don't you have questions about who and how it was produced? It seems like a whole town got together and pooled their limited resources to produce this film that must have been written by a local who had waaay too much acid in the 70's. But for some reason I find this movie affecting. Who can't relate to the main characters loneliness and isolation? But to all those complainers out there: People are always criticizing movies for being the same bland formula over and over-now here's one that's way different than most without being totally incomprehensible. My hat goes off to the people who made this movie. You tried, and sometimes that's enough.

The Carrier (1988)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Jake (Gregory Fortescue) lives in a small mountain town where he's pretty much an outcast due to people believing that he murdered his parents. One day this small town because victim to some sort of disease or virus that is spreading around and will burn a person to death if they catch it. What people don't know is that it's Jake who is the carrier.

If you grew up watching horror films in the 1980s then you know there were dozens if not hundreds of low-budget films that lacked any sort of creativity so usually those films just gave us mindless killings, gore or a bunch of sex and nudity. THE CARRIER is a film that has a small cult following to it and after watching the film it's easy to see why. If you're looking for some sort of violent or gory movie then this certainly isn't for you. While there are certainly some flaws here there's no question that the film at least has some creative moments.

What impressed me the most about THE CARRIER is the fact that it had a very small budget yet it uses the lack of money to build something creative and original. The idea of a virus going around and killing people is an interesting thing to do but having one carrier just added to the entertainment. What I loved about the film is that it had no money but it was creative in the way this small town had to fight against the disease. The costumes look very cheap and that's a plus because it's exactly what you'd expect a homemade costume to look like if these events were really happening.

The look of the small town was wonderful and I was also impressed with the majority of the performances. I thought they were all quite natural and best of all is that they were at least believable for the type of film that you were watching. There are two versions of this movie available, the original 98-minute cut and a Director's Cut that clocks in at 108-minutes. I watched the Director's Cut and honestly felt that the film went on too long so perhaps the shorter version should have been the better one to watch.

As I said, there are certainly some flaws found in THE CARRIER but there's no question that it's an entertaining movie and one that doesn't allow its small budget to ruin it. Instead, the film took the lack of money and did something creative with it.

Was mainly only enjoyable because I was an extra on this film. Not very glamorous to have your wardrobe be a Hefty bag. Plus it shot in the middle of the summer and with the lights on the set and the heat and then being wardrobed in a Hefty bag...quite the challenge. I thought the main actors did a passable job and because of the timing of when it was filmed it definitely was an allegory of the AIDS epidemic at the time. Now in today's times it would be more of an H1N1 allegory. Some of the dialog taken out of context can still bring my friends and I to tears of laughter. Wish I could find a copy of the movie to see how it "holds up" today.

Although this film is ineptly-made and totally ridiculous, it should at least receive kudos for being completely original. It reminded me of another obscure 80's film called The Pit. Like that earlier movie the filmmakers actually tried to do something different than a. have a psychopath carve up a bunch of nubile, underdressed teenagers; b. have a bunch of untalented "scream queens" bounce around a haunted house fleeing something or another; or c. shamelessly rip-off or "remake" some horror classic from the past. Most low-budget horror product from the late 80's unfortunately falls into one of these categories. Of course, the plot is jaw-droppingly ludicrous. What kind of virus spreads via inanimate objects and causes people to instantly melt? It does, however, make for some good black comedy and satirical commentary on small-town folk. Norman Rockwell must be spinning in his grave! Like The Pit it's also incredibly misanthropic--even the hero is incredibly selfish and unsympathetic--yet it's just too off-the-wall to be taken too seriously. Pretty alright overall.

I first saw this in the late 80s on a vhs n found it to be boring but aft revisiting the extended cut recently, i am surprised. This is indeed a very different horror film n a very creative one too.

They say this movie was an allegory for the 80s AIDS epidemic but this movie is still relevant with todays pandemic and paranoia.

It explores the themes of mob mentality n helplessness.

It doesn't fall into the virus, zombie or crazies category n it doesnt have any scary stuff but the scenes of human flesh being consumed by poles, trees, mirrors, books, etc is creepy n very well done.

The poster is misleading though.