To all intents and purposes, Carriers really isn't that much of a horror film, it's more a survivalist, character based, road movie. After an infectious virus has decimated the Earth, two brothers (Chris Pine/Lou Taylor Pucci) and their two lady companions (Piper Perabo/Emily VanCamp) are heading to Turtle Beach in the hope that in isolation there they can ride out the epidemic and start afresh.
What follows is that they encounter a man on the road with his sick daughter, and their plans then go astray. The moral dilemmas build up, the character dynamics unfurling in a whirl of human emotions, disappointments and heart aching decisions are evident as the search for sanity and gasoline goes on. Naturally the virus isn't the only thing to be fearful of, there's the other virus, that of the human condition in survival situations...
Having sat on the shelf for three years, Carriers came a bit late in the day to make a telling mark in a sub-genre of horror that has tapped into our new age fear of the virus. In a way that is a shame, because David and Alex Pastor's (writers/directors) film is very well made. With good performances, astute photography and a humanistic narrative that is not without merit. Yet even for 2009 it feels old hat, like a lukewarm sci-fi schlocker without the monsters or apocalyptic peril.
It's well worth a watch because there is nothing irritating here, but anyone expecting some infected/zombie infused apocalypto will be very disappointed. 6/10
What follows is that they encounter a man on the road with his sick daughter, and their plans then go astray. The moral dilemmas build up, the character dynamics unfurling in a whirl of human emotions, disappointments and heart aching decisions are evident as the search for sanity and gasoline goes on. Naturally the virus isn't the only thing to be fearful of, there's the other virus, that of the human condition in survival situations...
Having sat on the shelf for three years, Carriers came a bit late in the day to make a telling mark in a sub-genre of horror that has tapped into our new age fear of the virus. In a way that is a shame, because David and Alex Pastor's (writers/directors) film is very well made. With good performances, astute photography and a humanistic narrative that is not without merit. Yet even for 2009 it feels old hat, like a lukewarm sci-fi schlocker without the monsters or apocalyptic peril.
It's well worth a watch because there is nothing irritating here, but anyone expecting some infected/zombie infused apocalypto will be very disappointed. 6/10