This movie is about the small town of Sleepy Rock, which has been falling to victim to attacks of a monster that the locals refer to as the "black thing". One night the main character Jake Spear is attacked by the black thing, however he fights it off, kills it and is left with only a scratch. However Jake later discovers he is now a carrier of a dangerous disease that spreads to every inanimate object he touches. In a frenzy of fear the town of Sleepy Rock goes on a comical witch hunt to find out who among them is the carrier.
The Carrier is an original movie that delivers some great laughs. The movie is incredibly campy which is what makes some parts of this movie so funny. The ridiculous actions of the of the townspeople is satire gold and reminds me of Monty Python on some level. However where the movie goes wrong is when it strays from the campiness that made it great and tries to be serious, especially in the beginning. I have trouble telling if the actors are just really bad actors or just masters of satire which made it hard to tell when the comedy ends and when the seriousness begins. This problem isn't helped much by the fact that the pacing in this movie is all over the place.
Jake's love interest in this movie is completely unnecessary, has some terrible dialogue, never does anything that makes sense and is probably the worst actor in the movie. This movie had spectacular potential which ended up being somewhat squandered. Also the outro to this movie is absolutely terrible
The costumes in this movie crack me up, they're just hilarious feats of satire. However the downfall of this is I can't keep straight who is who and what characters are important. Besides three of the central characters it's really hard to follow the story of any of the other characters, but then again I don't think you're really supposed to be able too. The one big plot hole I just couldn't get myself to ignore was the fact that it was the 1980's and people running were around with axes and pitchfork as weapon's. None of the character's end up breaking out a gun until then end, I was sitting there thinking to myself; well where the fuck was that the entire time?
In early parts of the movie there are some great use of foreshadowing through imagery. However the director seems to make it his goal to name drop the title of the movie whenever he can. With Jake at one point even complaining about all the things he's had to "carry" throughout his life. But the most surprising part of watching this movie to me was the social commentary. This movie was made in the late 1980's right around the same time people started freaking out about AIDS. It's very easy to see how the disease of Jake Spear's character was very much a commentary on the fear and frenzy surrounding AIDS during this time in our history. There is also a noticeable commentary on religion in this movie while not as strong as the AIDS commentary it is still ever present. The second to last scene in this movie in fact without giving to much away about the movie, depicts an upside down cross, a symbol of the anti-christ. Not only that this movie bits science against religion through the two opposing viewpoints of how to deal with the disease between the preacher and the doctor
So in conclusion this is a campy movie with great entertainment value that has problems when it tries to take itself seriously and the bad acting doesn't do it any favors. However the comedy is done so well at times you almost forgive the plot holes and unnecessary bits of this movie...... almost.
My final rating: 58/100
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