Carriers (film)
| Carriers | |
|---|---|
 Promotional film poster | |
| Directed by | Àlex Pastor David Pastor |
| Written by | Àlex Pastor David Pastor |
| Produced by | Ray Angelic Anthony Bregman Robert Velo |
| Starring | Piper Perabo Chris Pine Lou Taylor Pucci Emily VanCamp |
| Cinematography | Benoît Debie |
| Edited by | Craig McKay |
| Music by | Peter Nashel |
Production companies | |
| Distributed by | Paramount Vantage |
Release date |
|
Running time | 84 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $5,802,422[1] |
Carriers is a 2009 American horror film about four people fleeing a viral pandemic. It was written and directed by Àlex Pastor and David Pastor and stars Lou Taylor Pucci, Chris Pine, Piper Perabo and Emily VanCamp.
Plot
An infectious virus has spread worldwide, killing almost everyone. Two brothers, Brian (Chris Pine) and Danny (Lou Taylor Pucci), along with Brian's girlfriend, Bobby (Piper Perabo), and Danny's school friend, Kate (Emily VanCamp), are heading to Turtle Beach in the southwestern United States, a secluded beach motel where they believe they can wait for the viral pandemic to die out and so they can start a new life.
On their way there, they meet a man, Frank (Christopher Meloni), and his infected young daughter Jodie (Kiernan Shipka). After attempting to drive away from them, their car breaks down. The four end up returning to Frank in order to acquire his jeep, and are forced to take Frank and Jodie to a nearby high school where a serum for the pandemic is rumored to have been developed. Upon arrival they discover that the serum does not work, and the only doctor (Mark Moses) still alive is about to commit suicide with a remaining group of infected children (whom he plans to kill through non-voluntary euthanasia). Meanwhile, Bobby is accidentally infected by Jodie while trying to help her when she coughs blood on her. She hides her infection from the others. Brian leaves Frank and Jodie behind and takes their car.
After this, they stop at a golf course hotel. Despite Bobby's efforts to prevent it, Brian kisses her and inadvertently infects himself. The golf course is being used as a base by a small group of armed survivalists who ambush and capture the group. After a tense Mexican standoff, they declare their intent to keep the girls. As they force the girls to disrobe to check them for infection, they discover Bobby's rashes and bruises and force them away at gunpoint. Kate stresses that they will end up dead if Bobby continues to travel with them, and Brian ends up leaving a weeping Bobby behind at a deserted gas station.
They almost run out of fuel but encounter two women heading in the opposite direction to them. Danny asks for help, but they refuse. A desperate Brian shoots them for their fuel when they try to drive away. Brian later breaks down under the pressure of having to make all of the difficult decisions in order to keep everyone alive, and Danny discovers that his brother is also infected. At Brian's urging, Danny shoots Brian and burns his mask and infected body. Afterward, Danny and Kate reach Turtle Beach, but Danny realizes that without his brother the place that had seemed so special to them as kids is now empty.
Production
Filmed in New Mexico in late 2006, Carriers was not released by Paramount Vantage until September 2009.[2][3]
Release
Carriers was released on 4 September 2009 in US cinemas,[4] while the DVD followed on 29 December 2009.[5] It grossed $90.8k in US and $5,802,422 worldwide.[1]
Awards and nominations
Kiernan Shipka was nominated for 'Best Performance in a Feature Film – Supporting Young Actress' at the Young Artist Awards (2010).[6]
Reception
As of December 2011, Carriers received mixed reviews with a 61% 'Fresh' rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 31 reviews. Rob Nelson, a top critic from Variety said: "Put into extremely limited release by Paramount Vantage after spending years in studio lockdown, Carriers has moments of genuinely communicable horror and thus deserves better than a de facto theatrical quarantine". Paul Chambers from CNN Radio said: "A little more realistic than a zombie flick. Some renegade virus could make the world a "survival of the fittest" ordeal. A very interesting story with some nice reveals". Charles Cassady from Common Sense Media said: "Gloom, not thrills, in sci-fi drama of worldwide plague".[7]
References
- ^ a b Carriers at Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2011-12-12.
- ^ Chrissinger, Craig W. (September 2009). "Carriers of the wasteland". Fangoria. No. 286. New York. p. 32.
- ^ Carriers at HorrorMovies.ca
- ^ Exclusive Clip: Carriers
- ^ Carriers Carried to DVD this December
- ^ ^ 31st Annual Young Artist Awards, retrieved May 1, 2012
- ^ Carriers on Rotten Tomatoes, Rotten Tomatoes, retrieved 2011-09-16
External links
- Official website
- Carriers at IMDb
- Carriers at Rotten Tomatoes
- Carriers at Yahoo! Movies
- Interview with David and Alex Pastor at Twitchfilm
