Just Another 3-Letter Torture Film About Unhappy People

As Halloween bred its share of Intruders and Prowlers and Bloody Valentines, thus has Saw seen its children reproduce their own Hostels into Nine Deads into Hunger and so on. The rule is simple: assemble a group of strangers who are either miserable human beings, miserable in their current life choices, or a glorious combination of both. Have a somewhat less miserable morally compromised (though not in his own eyes) ringmaster assemble them into a dank and abandoned location in the name of teaching a lesson. Brainstorm a few cool ways to kill someone. Keep a cute final girl around until or after the final reel. Apply generic title (bonus points for it having multiple meanings) and BAM.

You will most likely end up on Instant Watch.

I have an odd affinity for these kinds of second generation wannabe Saws. There's something amusing about how obvious the ploy is, yet young filmmakers continue to get plenty of exposure by following these new rules of straight-to-DVD horror. It's the possession movie of the '70s, the slasher of the '80s, and talky serial killer stalking WB stars of the '90s. In twenty years, we may even find it cute.

Until then, we'll take whatever joy we can get. In this case, it's the fact that Casey Jones looks really tired.

Quick Plot: A sextet of unhappy, formerly or currently suicidal strangers awaken in empty cells under the watch of an angry man with bad hair and a gun. A few non-linear segments introduce us to our victims: a grieving mother, gambling addict, disgruntled cop, disturbed billionaire, guilty doctor, and heroin addled prostitute. Our Jigsaw stand-in's plan is simple: one player rolls a die while another is tied down to something ominous with the number rolled determining how extreme their physical test will be. Example: Russian roulette with the number of bullets based on the roll, or a man submerged in water for a matter of die-rolled-determined minutes. 

Sadly none are treated to a complimentary buffet trip or showgirls performance.

Die is not a special movie, although that doesn't make it incompetent. Director Dominic James achieves a very specific (albeit incredibly ugly) color palette and visual style for his film, from the dingy sweatsuits worn by most of the cast to the brown overcast that seems to emit from every light source. Likewise, the performances are all completely believable. While the characters themselves are fairly one-note, the actors are strong enough to leave convincing impressions that all have more layers underneath.

But you know, I--and I'm sure most of you--have also seen this film before. Maybe even seven times before, and one might have even been in 3D. Our creative killer's mission statement is all about rebirth through trial, but what's new about that? Didn't Shawnee Smith do it with a reverse bear trap to spare?

Die has no reverse bear trap, although it does prove that Elias Koteas is growing more and more into the world wearier form of Chris Meloni.

Now I'm sad that Koteas never guest starred on Law & Order: SVU. 

Such a tragedy has already made me forget what Saw ripoff I was talking about here.

I need to drink less. Or learn how to videoshop Elias Koteas into a scene with Chris Meloni.

Look! Something shiny.

High Notes

Die doesn't do enough with it, but I always have to give my respects to a film (particularly a standard genre one) that is smart enough to diversify its cast with a full range of ages

Low Notes

I challenge myself to remember a single detail about this film in 6 months

Lessons Learned

Heroin addiction will in no way deter your ability to learn a second language with impressive speed

Elias Koteas is not Chris Meloni. Or so they say

Sometimes we are more connected to perfect strangers than we think

(or so a gal can dream)

Rent/Bury/Buy

Die is streaming on Netflix Instant which is where it belongs. Like Hunger, this is one of the upper tier Saw descendents, but it's still a mediocre horror film with little specialness about it. Queue it up if you're in the kind of mood for competent, unexceptional horror. If you're like me, that feeling strikes you more often than it probably should. 

The best way to treat such a symptom, by the way, is by watching Law & Order: SVU.

It's a Germ's World. We Just Die In It.

When you really think about it, the popularity of post apocalyptic film and fiction says some very mysterious things about the arts loving public. Are we fascinated by the all-too-possible tease of our own demise? Taking notes on what to do when disaster strikes? Actively trying to undo the damage before it becomes real? Or do we just have a soft spot for watching overgrown beards illuminated by homemade bonfires?

Whatever the reason, I too find any short story, novel, play, movie, miniseries, or religious cartoon pamphlet handed out on Halloween that’s seeped in anarchy and mass devastation to be truly fascinating. Hence, 2009‘s studio-made but straight-to-DVD released Carriers found its way up my queue faster than you could say ‘the quiet earth.’ Toss in a plague element (particularly when this viewer is nursing a hopefully non-fatal form of sore throat) and a supporting role filled by Chris Meloni and you’ve sold me well before the term PG-13 can muster even the slightest taste of discouragement. 

Quick Plot: The sun is shining as four smiling friends drive towards the beach with beers in their hands and flirtation in their eyes. It’s just like Creepshow 2...except instead of a carnivorous oil spill and porous raft, our characters are escaping a nationwide pandemic with no hope of immunity in sight.

And that’s about all I’ll say before delving into SPOILER CITY. Be warned: it’s a foul smelling land that rivals New Jersey in rotting trash and toxic fumes, but sometimes, to get to one special place you must hold your nose, close your eyes, and run faster than Danny Boyle’s infected to brave the cloud of hairspray on the way. In the case of Carriers, I want too much to discuss some of its plot and character choices to hint about it in a general review. For those who haven’t seen it, skip to the bottom (Rent/Bury/Buy) for my summary. All others, let’s talk:

Like Michael Haneke’s Time of the Wolf  (a film directors Alex and David Pastor cited as a ripe source of inspiration), Carriers takes the idea of society’s death in the wake of disaster and uses its possibilities to explore humanity. Excuse me while I cough up some pretentious tasting phlegm brought up by that last statement.

By the way, my pretentious phlegm wanted to say hi:

Continuing, our four main characters start out as standard film fodder: the jerky big brother Brian (Star Trek’s Chris Pine, hinting at some interestingly dark charisma lurking beneath a pretty boy exterior), his seemingly slutty girlfriend Bobby (Piper Perabo), the Yale-bound nice guy Danny (Lou Tayor Pucci) and a shy rich girl Kate (Emily VanCamp). In a way, they’re all a tad off-putting and nowhere near as sympathetic as Meloni and his adorably dying daughter, but you know what? They’re wiling to do what it takes to survive, so like it or not, it's their path we follow.

Like every movie about the apocalypse, Carriers abides by the rule that strangers generally aren’t friends you haven’t met. Some are racist. Some are potential rapists. All can be liars and hypocrites and none (well, at least none that make it past the early days of infection) are generous and trusting. What I think Carriers does particularly well is demonstrate just how a normal, everyday human being can become the kind of stock villain that pops up in any disaster genre.

Take, for example, the character of Kate. Early in the film, she’s presented as a rather spoiled rich girl who simply wants to reunite with her parents, uselessly playing with dead payphones and tearing up at the suggestion of hopelessness. After she watches enough of the horrors around her, Kate learns--or perhaps, has always known and gains the confidence to actually put into action--how to influence Bobby into making a decision he’s been incapable of acting on in the past. Likewise, we see the valor of Bobby’s moral superiority slowly chip away as the reality of survival sets in with each passing tragedy. Even Pine’s Brian--a stock character fully aware of his own jerk-itude--evolves and devolves in ways most 100 minute films wouldn’t even think necessary to detail.

It's almost as though Carriers takes place around the 27th day of 28 Days Later. Characters like the Hazmat wearing germophobes come across as regular civilians still unsure as to what they're willing to do in a new world. Once devout (or fish loving) Christians choose their lives over risky human compassion. Doctors euthanize children before their bodies have a chance to fight a losing battle with disease. The world has given up, but nobody is confident in exactly what that means just yet.

Carriers is far from a great film and in some ways, not even overly enjoyable. Its story is as stark as its landscape is bright, but even that cinematography style is another interesting choice for a film that could have been so formulaic in both story and execution. Most post-apocalyptic films go for graying skies and try their hardest to color every blade of grass with dreary desolation. The landscape of Carriers is strangely untouched, a choice that makes the disharmony with what's happening in its human world oddly unnerving.

High Points

The opening misdirect-introducing typical pretty people on a joyride only to reveal the true nature of their roadtrip--starts with the right kind of twist that appropriately sets us in a world filled with the folks we know facing a situation we don’t

Similarly, the choice to start Carriers in the middle of the plague’s onslaught, with no flashbacks, prologue, or newsreels bombarding us with exposition, helped to make a surprisingly dense film move briskly without any real wasted scenes 

Though some of the scene’s dialogue inside feels a little too forced, the rescue center sequence (and its even sadder aftermath) is incredibly effective due both to the strangely unnerving empty bed/plastic curtain setup followed by the subdued earnestness of Chris Meloni

Low Points

While I have no real issue with the story ending how and where it did, the choice to introduce heavy-handed narration over home video footage felt forced and cheesy in a film that was in no way either of those things for 90% of its running time.

I’m not a big fan of the ‘extreme closeup on an importantly placed object’ trick often used to foreshadow an impending story action, and Carriers is guilty of this offense way too often

Lessons Learned

During a pandemic, gasoline may be sparse, but at least bullet supplies in handguns seem to be endless

Sand is dirt. (On a related note, if I ever start a band, this is so the title of our first single)

To avoid dropping any hint about accidental blood spatter during a plague, be sure to wear only dark colors and/or keep a Tide stain remover pen inside your pocket at all times

Millworkers do not appreciate having their windows smashed by darned kids 

YOU ARE NOW LEAVING SPOILER CITY

Try to clean up after yourself before you go.

Rent/Bury/Buy

This isn’t an Idiocracy type good time or Pulse level of nightmare-inducing horror, but I highly recommend any fan of the post apocalyptic genre gives this film a rental with an open mind. It’s easy to write off as a sleek pretty-people-in-peril thriller, but Carriers succeeds at both delivering a well-paced thriller and tossing in new elements to well-worn territory in filmdom. I don't mean to oversell this as a classic or mini masterpiece, but for a crowd-pleasing eye candy flick relegated to your local video store (or, let's face it, Internet provider), Carriers has a lot to offer. Sadly, none of that is to be found on the complete lack of special featured DVD. Give it a watch, mail it back, then keep your eye out for the Brothers Pastor's next work.