Review of The Carrier

It's quite amazing that this movie released only very recently -- just 6 years ago. The style of filming, production design, characters, dialog -- nearly everything is subtly reminiscent of George A. Romero's 80s horror films, the only difference being that Romero's works were original while this one is not -- not one bit. All the regular tropes are there -- band of survivors fleeing an infection, groupism, one pain-in-the-ass guy who wants to do things only his way, characters endangering the whole group by prioritizing their emotional needs above the safety of others, search for supplies leading to run-ins with the infected, and so on. Have you seen all these sub-themes before? I bet. So have I. So, be assured that there's nothing new here.

I appreciate that the director had no aspirations to make a film that could compete with the likes of World War Z and 28 Days Later. Those projects were a class and many million dollars apart. He knew his talent and financial limitations and perhaps did the best he could with the resources he could afford. With more original and better writing, this movie could have raised its entertainment factor a notch but unfortunately, the writing is insipid at best, even if plot moves at a fair pace.

I didn't dislike this movie too much. It is what it is -- a low-budget production in the apocalyptic thriller genre that's just out there. You can AVOID it.