The Carrier

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.

Filmed in upstate Michigan by writer / director / executive producer Nathan J. White and company, the interesting, symbolic "The Carrier" is a regional, independent horror film worth checking out. While undeniably very low budget and fairly crude, it does live up to the word "horror". It shows just how ugly things can get in times of crisis when there are no real leaders. It has a certain intensity, fueled by a sense of paranoia. In that sense, it's reminiscent of "The Thing" as well as George Romeros' "The Crazies", with its plot of a biological terror striking fear into the hearts of God fearing small town Americans.

Gregory Fortescue stars as Jake Spear, a young man who lives on the fringes of the small town of Sleepy Rock. Most other people there treat him like crap, because they 100% believe him guilty of the long ago deaths of his parents. One of a select few who will actually talk to him is Treva (Stevie Lee). One night, Jake is attacked by a fabled "black thing" which badly scratches him. Unbeknownst to Jake, this has now caused him to be infected with a truly hideous disease, making him "the carrier" of the title. And this disease has a quick acting, frightening ability to dissolve its victims. The local doctor (Steve Dixon, "Mosquito") urges calm and reason, but to little avail.

The acting is largely negligible, but there's no denying the sincerity of the cast. Fortescue and Lee are reasonably appealing, Dixon is fine as the doctor, and Paul Urbanski and Patrick Butler come off fairly well as the guys in charge of two warring factions. Die hard genre fans will recognize the names of some of the crew, like composer Joseph LoDuca, who contributes a very fine score, and cinematographer Peter Deming. B movie icon Bruce Campbell is credited as a sound effects recordist. The scenery & atmosphere are nice, the visuals striking (citizens must wrap themselves in whatever material they can find), and the special effects passable for whatever they cost to make. The subject matter has some poignancy and will undoubtedly make its viewers think of things like AIDS, which was very much on peoples' minds during this decade.

"The Carrier" is somewhat obscure now, but it definitely merits a look from horror enthusiasts.

Seven out of 10.

My review was written in December 1988 after watching the movie on Magnum video cassette.

Shot about four years ago in Michigan, "The Carrier" is an amateurish horror film that treats a serious subject -contagion - in ludicrous fashion.

Yet another of the recent horror allegories about the AIDS epidemic, Nathan J. White's indie feature, unconvincingly posits the spread of an unknown, fatal disease in a small community, just when it's been cut off from civilization by a rainstorm flooding a nearby gorge.

One touch of a contaminated object or by a person carrying the disease causes the victim to sizzle away as if by acid (though special effects here are chintzy, lacking the goopiness of "The Devil's Rain"). Paranoia quickly takes hold on the community, as a single human carrier (who survives without being consumed) is sought for extermination.

Young hero Jake (Gregory Fortescue) is early on shown to be the carrier, robbing the film of much suspense. The whole farrago turns self-destructively into low camp when everyone in town wraps himself up in plastic (as if artist Christo had visited the set) to prevent accidental contamination. A wise guy yells "Go out there and get me cats! And everyone scurries around trying to catch the crittrs to be used (rather distastefully) to test objects.

Veneer of civilization wears off fast; with film aping horror expert George A. Romero in a showdown between two rival groups at a barricaded house. A subplot attempting to link the murder of Jake's parents to some of the rowdies is extraneous.

Silly treatment submerges some okay ideas in a backyard film. Acting is weak, with poorest performance by heroine Stevie Lee as Treva.

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.

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.