The Carrier (1988)

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

The Carrier has an interesting premise but suffers from bad dialogue and imagery that at times borders on the narmish. After a young man is attacked by a strange beast in the woods, he is contaminated with a bizarre illness. Anyone who touches something he has touched dissolves into smoke. For a low budget film, this has some very interesting ideas. It paints a compelling portrait of a town tearing itself apart and gives interesting consideration to religion as a divisive force. However, these ideas need further development and are overwhelmed by the film's flaws.The dialogue is terrible to the point of unintentional comedy. This starts from the beginning of the film, but enters the genuinely absurd when the outbreak begins. At one point, a supporting character yells "Bring me cats!" in order to test for the disease. Furthermore, as people dress up in plastic bags to protect themselves, the overall effect is comic.This film is worth a rent or YouTube watch, but wastes a lot of potential.

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.

I'm a movie buff. I've seen thousands of films, ranging from superb to utter trash, but "The Carrier" was.... umm... something else entirely. I was making my way through an outdoor market, when I came upon a booth filled with VHS tapes from a recently closed Rental store. I found a bundle of gems, z-grade horror movies that even in the depth of my searches had never seen or even heard about. Innitially, "The Carrier" seemed the most tame of the bunch, but I was quite wrong. I expected a cheesy 80's creature feature, but instead, I got a religious, political, medical thriller with the most bizarre imagery, acting, and storyline I think I have ever been witness to. The story is basically about a despised social outcast, who is attacked by a monster/mutant/alien/metaphor/ thing(?) who passes on a deadly disease. The box informed me of that much. What it failed to mention is that the entire film is a surrealist nightmare. It's like watching a twisted medical epidemic version of Leave it to Beaver, but with violent gangs wrapped in plastic, disturbed fundamentalist religious cults and 1950's social satire. I watched the first half trying in vain to figure out what was going on and the second half wondering how on earth this thing could end. The film was not bad, it never reached a state of being boring, but it was so confusing. Part of me would really like to hear a director's commentary on this movie, maybe they would be able to explain all the metaphors and allegories that no doubt existed but just didn't shine through all of the madness. When the credits rolled, i was literally left speechless and I had to take a nap. Yes... thats the kind of movie this was. I don't know who i should recommend this to, horror fans will be left dumbfounded, Indy film lovers will lash out at the effects and muddled ideas throughout. If you get the opportunity to watch this, I would suggest a trial run. You'll be left with a head full of questions but you will be thought provoked.

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.