Macabre...ish Horror Review: Carriers

Carriers, 2009/ 1 hr 25 min.

The virus has taken over but two brothers, Brian and Danny (Lou Taylor Pucci) and one of their girlfriends, Bobby (Piper Perabo) and a stranger, Kate. They haven’t contracted it or are immune and they are on a road trip back to a family vacation spot. But then they run into a desperate Dad, Frank (Christopher Meloni) with an infected child, blocking their road. When they try to go around, he damages their vehicle. So the go back and commandeer theirs.

The older brother, Brian (Chris Pine) has 3 rules. 1. Stay away from the infected at all cost, their breath is highly contagious. 2. Disinfect everything they’ve touched within the last 24 hours. 3. The sick are already dead. You break the rules you die. If not, maybe you’ll live.

The virus is spreads fast. It begins with a rash, then coughing up blood and in the end the skin is blackened in decomposition. The person looks like a zombie and death is imminent.

With masks on they cover the inside of their vehicle with bleach. Put dad and daughter in the back and separate the vehicle with heavy plastic. Frank was on his way to a school which is turned into a hospital by the CDC, they’re working on a serum, he’s hoping to get help for his daughter.

They arrive to dump trucks filled with bodies, a hopeless doctor and a few children left alive. There is no help to be had, a tough choice is made and Brian, Danny and Bobby continue on their destination. But Bobby has a secret. And the rules still apply to her.

Other than the virus, the other dangers are survivors looking for resources and vigilantes, bigots preying on anyone different. Some one to blame for the virus.

Most of them arrive at their destination but it’s just not the happy homecoming they expected. None of it is as expected.

I enjoyed this apocalyptic story. It’s heavy and horrific without being scary. The cast was perfect, though it was a small cast. It is somewhat bloody and graphic and becomes bleak, helped by the flashback clips.