Chad

Trevor

I'm pausing part way in to say that I bet this is going to be a love it or hate it film.

Gobear

Despite its amateurish acting and production values, The Carrier is a load of demented fun. You have to love a movie that dresses its actors like a community theater production of The Road Warrior and sends them to war over access to cats.

therja

"Know what I was thinking over there? That there must be angels, because there sure is shit like you!"

Come again??

therja

That hot skillet VAPORIZED that poor spider.

therja

A mascara disaster and now this tasty nugget: "I can't get near anyone without ruining everything... I've got to cut my mind out!"

This flick's off to a fun start!

therja

Hey, I know that book! It's Dr. Seuss' One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish!

therja

Still not finished, but I am really loving this. I especially enjoy the costumes once it's decided everyone needs to cover themselves up. A lot the people wrap their heads in plastic and one dude appears to have an executioner's mask on! And how cats become the most valuable thing in the world and people immediately start killing one another over them. Hilarious insanity. Tough watching something so good on youtube, though. I really hope Scream Factory or Synapse gives this a royal treatment blu ray disc soon!

Undeadcow

The Carrier is the most awesomely bad good movie I've seen in a long time; it's hard to imagine the silly dialogue was not intentional playing like a tongue in cheek comedy never taking itself seriously and forcing the cast into awkward situations to make fools of them ("trust me guys, running around in garbage bags will look really awesome in the film"). Where has The Carrier been all my life?

Did I miss something? It seemed like the whole town was really quick to jump to cat eatting and nomad savagry.

therja

Awful lot of leaves on the ground for our summer-themed movie. Probably watch The Burning or something tonight so as to feel better about completing the day's theme.

therja

Count me in the LOVE IT faction!

therja

Since this wasn't very summery I want to still watch one that is. Received Cabin Fever: Patient Zero from Netflix yesterday- can anybody speak to whether or not it's a summer timer?

jacob_b

I came on here to ask the same thing? What was up with the cats, the red, how did the lead get this disease (was it because the Lord granted him to get revenge), was there a religion vs atheist thing going on, and why did they kill the leads parents? Something about the tunnels or another? Too many questions that just were random in the film and threw me off. Good one liners, though.

3onameathook

I should have followed the example given by the spider as to where this movie was going. I can't imagine this as anything but intentionally bad. Still need to take lessons from Troma or Full Moon to make em good to be bad films. Probably a bit of a stretch, but the guy kind of reminded me a bit of James Dean and Rebel Without a Cause with wearing the red jacket not sure if that was intentional or not. Probably my brain going off the deep end.

Undeadcow

The ending seemed too abrupt and the last dialogue "this happened to me 25 years ago" seemed out of place.
I thought the exact same thing; that the director was intentionally referencing James Dean. Although it's usually obnoxious when a film is intentionally campy I thought The Carrier was handled in a serious enough manner that it worked.It felt like some of this was social commentary; that the rebel outsider was cast out as if he was infectious only to find he really was. Also there was a lot of science versus religion subtext (much of which struck me as anti-religious). Maybe The Carrier has more to analyze under the surface. The Code Red DVD, which I own, has a commentary track I'll have to listen if I can find the time/motivation.

jacob_b

I agree the last line was kind of out there and didn't fit into the story. I was thinking John Cusack in his 80's films, but then again, I was watching on my iPhone so it was hard to see everything clearly.

ntnon

I could hardly have put it better.

The acting is horrible, the script poor, but the constant mention of - outrage over; plead about - cats adds a surreal level of humour and fun that elevates it considerably.

That half the time you can barely tell who's who under their costumes, the bizarre (to me) final religious imagery, the crazy-ish and irresponsible doctor (and the casual way EVERYONE ignores his occasional bursts of sane advice)... I was expecting to hate it after the first few minutes of abysmal pronouncing, but it turned it around with cats. "Hundreds of cats," no less.

ntnon

Eh. I searched Amazon Prime for "Summer Horror" and turned up Madman. Wikipedia says they were painting trees green to make sure it looked like summer, and within the first ten minutes one of the characters talks about how near Thanksgiving it is.... I think seasonal horror films are doomed to confusion!

Spiderbite

I agree. I really wish the dvd was more available but it appears OOP and very expensive if you can find it.

Damn, this movie is so batshit crazy that I honestly didn't know what to think of it. It's pretty boring at first but once the community dresses up in trash bags and start hording cats, it becomes a true gem. Just so fucking crazy. And some of the lines in the movie are outstandingly bad but delicious.

And what was the deal with "red objects?" Some great, funny lines regarding those but I must have missed it when they explained the significance of "red objects."

My rating: *** out of *****

Here are some of the best lines and scenes:

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/RLCWxraAuRI" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Undeadcow

The "red object" bit is really genius. I started marking objectives I dislike or consider aversive around my office in red and it sure does make everything seem so much more adventurous even if my co-workers don't understand.

DaveyJoe

Kurt D

I reviewed this for the 'Talk a couple years ago. The movie is sheer genius! "They sure as hell ain't offering us any cats!"

Trevor

Yeah, I'd love to find the DVD someday, but $10 is my limit and that doesn't look possible unless it gets rereleased in a compilation pack someday.

DaveyJoe

Yeah, this movie was simply epic in its absurdity. I was not digging it initially, but it quickly won me over after the man melted in his outhouse and the town started bartering for cats. I would love to see a company like Scream Factory remaster this for BluRay.

Chad

Wow, for a micro budget flick with people wearing Hefty bags this had oodles of social commentary, symbolism, and could even be seen as an allegory for AIDS considering the time. And I know I'm not the only one who got a Street Trash vibe when the guy melted on the toilet in the outhouse. I just love how James Dean there was too busy brooding to inform the doctor that the "black thing" bit him and was the source of all this; seemed like relevant information.