The Carrier (2015) User Reviews

The plot holes no one is addressing...

[lightmyjunglefire-76421 · 5/10 · 18 November 2018]

I went online and read a lot of synopsis' and reviews and they all say something a bit different, and none mention my big issues.

Good opening scene, although misleading. A woman trying to get her son out of an infected area with what blatantly looks like a bite on her wrist. So, I think, ok we have another zombie movie. Nope. It's just a deadly cure-resistant infection passed via? Not air. Touch? Yet we see non-infected touching infected, including major amounts of blood, and only some of them get infected.

Now the main problem. There are actually two planes in this movie trying to evacuate non-infected people. When the planes land the infected attempt to hijack them. WHY?? Why. I was trying to figure this out the whole time. Why? What would've been the point of them getting on a plane and flying anywhere else in the world. They are infected, everyone around them is infected. If they go somewhere not infected they will just infect the new people. The few infected people on the plane at no point get violent, try to eat anyone, attempt to do anything negative until extremely provoked. There was no indication of madness or deterioration of rational thinking. There would be food and water where they are, especially as people die off. If there was a cure, which there is not per a radio broadcast stating this, it would be brought to them. Again, Where are they going that every plane needs to be hijacked by the infected?

If they had made a valid point, or even attempted to address this I could suspend belief a bit. When movies leave such major plot holes as these, I just can't. Give me something more, a reason. Don't short change your audience.

One thing that I did like about The Carrier is that you can identify with the "villain" at some times. He's a very mean and violent man. He's rude to everyone. Treats them all like trash. BUT he is not wrong when he says they shouldn't be flying the infected on the plane to non-infected areas. I hated him, but agreed with him on his major struggle.

What were these people thinking?

[thekarmicnomad · 5/10 · 24 February 2016]

The world is going to hell in an antibiotic-resistant- plague powered hand cart. Soldiers are shooting people dead on the street and the suburban houses of the infected are set a blaze.

A bunch of people manage to get aboard a plane and make a dash for it. Locked in to a confided environment, with the potential of infection aboard and the world burning below, this is dynamite.

Production, acting and writing are sufficient to carry all this off and is very tense and moving in places.

Happy days?

No. The problem with this film is the plot. To unfold the way it does the characters have to make one shockingly ill-thought out choice after another. You know in horror films when the guy goes down in to the cellar on his own just to find out what that scrapping noise is? Well every single character in this film does this, about every six minutes.

This sounds nit-picky for what is essentially a sci-fi film; but it is so annoying it distracts from the film.

"Hey Gary I'm just going to pop out and have a chat with this guy who has been trying to kill us for the last twenty minutes."

"Right-oh Fred, want to take this gun with you mate?"

"No I'm sure it will be fine. Just sneeze into my mouth for good luck"

The ending reaches an appropriate climax but I was left wondering what was the point in it all.

Good acting and production hung on a distorted framework.

Bland And Pointless

[nebk · 3/10 · 1 February 2016]

The Carrier is a bland and uninteresting movie. The main premise of the movie is that there is a global infection occurring and there is no cure as the infection is resistant to antibiotics. Eight survivors of the outbreak find themselves on a plane leaving from London and soon it becomes apparent that the infection has followed them as there are infected people on board. One of the passengers on board kills some of those that have been infected. But obviously the infection has not been stopped. The plane eventually ends up landing in order to refuel as the pilot wants to proceed to Greenland as there are rumors that there is an infection free zone there. There are also rumors of a cure. The plane is however sabotaged from taking off again an the survivors have to repair the plane if they are to have any hope of continuing. They also have to fight off infected hijackers who want to take over the plane.

The acting is relatively bland and most of the effects are bad. Most of the characters are not interesting enough and it's very difficult to get into the dramatic aspect of the film when the drama is mundane. The action is also uninteresting and predictable. The fact that there are other movies with a similar premise which have been done better also doesn't help. Overall this movie is slow paced and uninteresting and does not deserve more than a 3/10.

Total waste of time.

[lordzedd-3 · 1/10 · 6 August 2016]

This movie starts out with this so called horrible virus pandemic spreading all over Europe but England is the only quarantined. And the virus is so horribly deadly that people with the virus are shot on sight. Yet who ever wrote this mess of a movies knows nothing of viral containment. The army searching people for infection before getting on board a plane only had their uniforms, gloves and a gas mask. For a touch based virus, that was stupid. There was several ways they could have been touched and infected. The character were all horrible people. The pace went to dead slow to complete stop. And let's talk about the horrible virus that makes them get the infected shot on sight of the slightest infection. The cover implies some kind of zombie virus, which is a lie. All the virus does is call massive amounts of swelling of the face. That's it. I'm not kidding, that's it. They're not undead, they're not going insane or cannibalistic, just face swelling. That's it, the world's afraid of super mumps. The only monster here is that the uninfected are killing sick people for looking slightly unpleasant. There was no indication that virus even kills on it's own. The effects are horrible, the make up effects would get someone kicked off of "Face-Off". The CG was all kinds of amateur. They used the same cockpit for a jet as well as a so called prop job. Those two types of planes would have totally different looking windows and controls. Not to mention, they added props to a private jet in one bad CG scene. This is all kinds of wrong and the UK should be embarrassed to have made this dog-pile in an age when adverts have quality CG.

Stupid movie

[banusanbrent · 1/10 · 26 December 2020]

It was so annoying that everyone was acting stupid, I wanted to punch my screen watching this!

No. Really no.

[g-hbe · 3/10 · 9 May 2020]

This sounded mildly intriguing so we gave it a whirl. How I wish we hadn't. It started off OK, but quickly revealed itself as a very cheaply-made straight-to-video formula horror/thriller. It looked as though it may have been a pilot for a TV serial that never got made (can't think why). Most of the characters are either useless and unreliable or just plain psychos, like 'Eric' who goes around wrecking the group's chances of survival. According to the end credits, it was filmed 'around the back of B&Q in Basildon' or something like that. Avoid.

No need to run they ain't biting

[esalvad · 1/10 · 1 April 2020]

In the film "The carrier" it follows a group of survivors fleeing of a pandemic. The Film takes the Virus and tries to convince the audience the pandemic is really an apocalyptic moment. The film has every thing a large military presence,news reports about the infected. Then you see the infected with reflexes and reasoning as those unaffected by the virus. The deference is they have tumors growing across their faces. If the "infected don't bother you" the kills will. No one in the film seems to know how to check for pulse. The film relies heavily on bringing back what ever thing they just thought was dead as a action sequence. It gets to the point every act repeats it's self on the next. I was expecting the film to have a plot twist but it only disappointed.

Recommend "Carriers" or "Quarantine 2"

[nogodnomasters · 4/10 · 21 March 2018]

The world becomes infected with an antibiotic-resistant bacteria. A group opts to fly to Greenland where they understand there is a cure. They get forced to land and have issues. The infection causes large deformities i.e. Elephant Man look. There is internal conflict in the group as one person believes they should stay put for humanity. It becomes loose alliances and every man for themselves.

The film was more drama than horror. It was low budget and I thought I was watching a made for TV production due to the sound track and lameness of the script. Nobody wears gloves or uses alcohol wipes or bleach. Recommend "Carriers" or "Quarantine 2: Terminal" instead.

Guide: No sex or nudity.

Who would've thought the Apocalypse could be so dull?

[midnightmosesuk · 4/10 · 9 June 2022]

I'm not sure why I'm writing this review. I've spent far too much time on this film already. Perhaps I just want to warn people that this is not a very entertaining film and not just because of the grim subject matter.

Terror in the air

[TheLittleSongbird · 3/10 · 24 August 2018]

Was drawn into seeing 'The Carrier', with a cool poster/cover, a promising trailer, an intriguing premise and as someone with a general appreciation for the genre it fits under. That it was low-budget, which from frequent personal experience is rarely a good sign due to that there are so many poor ones out there, made me though apprehensive.

It is sadly however yet another film seen recently, hence some reiteration because the exact same strengths and flaws present in those films are here, that to me was incredibly disappointing considering its potential which it doesn't do anywhere near enough with. 'The Carrier' is weak with not much point to it, with so many huge flaws and doesn't do enough with its potential, which was hardly small. There is very little to recommend in 'The Carrier'.

Lets start with the positives. Some of the acting is okay considering what was given to them. The production values had atmosphere and didn't look too cheap.

'The Carrier' also starts off reasonably promisingly, it does intrigue and it does have creepiness.

Going on to the negatives, the story does feel over-stretched and some of it comes over as vague and under-explained in the last third where the film especially became duller, more predictable, more senseless and less unsettled and never gaining momentum. All the characters are too sketchy and with nowhere near enough to make one want to endear to them. Their annoying and illogical decision making and behaviours frustrates. The chemistry lacks character or punch.

Making the film feel bland and forgettable with not enough heart put into it. The sound quality is obvious and utilised cheaply (being too loud in the build ups and people's reactions) and some of the acting seemed unsure. The effects can be ropy.

Dialogue can be stilted and rambling while the pace and film lacks tightness after such an intriguing start and doesn't recover. Found too many of the supposedly shocking moments not surprising and very bland and the atmosphere dreary, due to the excessive obviousness, a lot of idiotic and vague moments and explanations and the lack of tension and suspense. Thrills are none, thanks to stodginess and excessive over-familiarity, and found myself never invested in the drama, which tended to be overacted and statically directed.

A lot of 'The Carrier' has underdeveloped plot elements and often nonsensical and confusing character motivations, while too many of the things to make you shocked are far from creative or unsettling.

Everything is unimaginative and are more odd than scary, completely failing to show any sense of dread. The thriller elements fail to thrill and are very predictable and the drama is overwrought. Some badly sagging momentum too and a lot of weirdness. The direction is leaden, got the sense their heart was not in it.

Overall, weak but not without redeeming merits. 3/10 Bethany Cox

A Fine Tale

[semielco · 8/10 · 6 January 2018]

For the frightened characters this film is a harrowing plane journey away from disease and death, for the viewer it is an enjoyable flight from superstar blockbusters. In a world where computer effects replace stories and superstar names replace actors, this film attempts to tell a story with honesty and consideration. No overuse of cartoonish CGI, no wisecracking superhero, in fact most scenes don't even have loud music pumping through them because there is actually proper dialogue to listen too instead. What music there is is always well-placed and appropriate, especially the gentler compositions. Certainly, some scenes and situations have been done before, but thats because such scenes are realistic and at any rate, that 'criticism' applies to all movies. Indeed, to all art. This absorbing movie does try to take a couple of unexpected decisions that work well. The Carrier also manages to give the impression of being just one story in a whole complex world of other stories. That in itself is a rare and highly commendable thing.

The ending is the perfect consequence of what has gone before. In summary, this a a good take on the pandemic setting; a more than acceptable script is complemented by good performances all round and good use is made of the limited setting.

The fact that Billy Clarke isn't an acting superstar is a sure sign that mainstream cinema is in a deep crisis of quality. I'd take The Carrier over SuperDuperMegaHeroPowerMan6 any day, purely on the basis that it is much, much better.

So much better than the ratings would have you believe..but..

[k_tomb · 6/10 · 21 May 2016]

Not a great movie by any stretch, but merely a somewhat good movie. My wife got this having no idea of the ratings, and I had read about it, expecting some utter crap movie. Honestly is is quite watchable, a bit low budget, but not nearly a bad movie. It is somewhat suspenseful and was a really good rainy weekend movie!

I think some of the really bad reviews are not real. A solid 5.5-6 movie. Acting is okay, effects a bit mediocre, but the music, filming and story are all fairly decent. The movie really got interesting after they got out of the sky and onto the ground! I wanted to lend a real view of this movie. So to sum up,a DECENT rental, you would do far worse. It is English made, and features and English cast, so those that are unable to watch anything that is not USA made or Big budget, just pass it by. For the rest, that want a good movie, give it a try!

Waste of time, Only enjoyable if you like laughing at terrible films

[beckyanderton-72042 · 1/10 · 20 June 2020]

Hadn't heard of this so thought we would give it a try, I didn't look at the reviews beforehand so went in completely unbiased. This was an absolutely awful film for a number of reasons;

The Characters: Pretty much every character in this film was poorly designed, their motives were increasingly questionable and in some cases would flip at random without any real reason. Also when a 'major' event such as a death or killing of one occurred they tried to make it incredibly meaningful but hadn't really provided the audience with any real attachment to feel something when they died which was poor. I could see what they were going for but from an emotional response respect it did not achieve what they were attempting. The fact that the 'good guys' were actually ridiculously irritating and made so many bad choices that would realistically be detrimental to themselves and their groups survival made them irritating and made you vouch more for the bad guys just to end the stupidity.

The SFX: I understand with low budget/indie films you have to bite your lip a little at the quality of special effects as it is only fair but these were downright terrible. The makeup department did a pretty great job but the CGI was just unrealistic and looks like the sort of thing I created when doing After Effects training for the first time in college.

The Plot: There are so many plot holes and red herrings. For example, as someone said earlier why are the infected trying to hijack planes? the infection causes no form of superiority complex/Mental impairment it just makes you look deformed so they have nothing to gain from traveling to other places other than making more people look deformed, I know there was the cliche "potential cure" but come on. People would run away to finish off personal vigilante fuelled missions that didn't really help anybody. Two of the cast slowly wandered around watching TV and listening to radio stations just repeating what they already knew which ultimately meant they are wasting time, aren't they supposed to be in a hurry... the infected might be coming, maybe? If they had got their act together this film could have been over and done with in 20 minutes, instead dragged on and on.

I know the 'infection' theme has been done over and over again so you can only expect so much but this was just dreadful, I have seen low budget movies create much more satisfying and enjoyable content.

Some decent bits but largely a miss.

[stevelivesey-37183 · 4/10 · 19 April 2023]

There are some interesting little set pieces here that, at the very least, keep the watcher interested. However the big problem is that the writers have a basic concept of 'plague on a plane' and no idea of how to flesh out the story, the characters or how to end the film.

The action is wooden, the character motivations are strange, to say the least, random things happen like people turn up to shoot at people and then just disappear.

However the scene with 'the arm' is quite harrowing, the opening scene is full of suspense and the counter play with the other pilot is well done. Shame they couldn't knit it all together.

The Inferior

[akg1249 · 5/10 · 7 May 2021]

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.

Starts out promising...but can anyone explain Magic Immunity?

[lashton-2 · 4/10 · 21 July 2023]

This movie began on a promising note: a global bacterial plague with no cure is taking down country after country, and a few nervous soldiers are shooting anyone who even looks a bit peaky.

A woman and child are driving to an airport, as one of the last flights out of the UK is waiting for them...but they miss it. An adorable little boy is left staring up at the airplane as it flies overhead.

Cut to The Carrier, a dilapidated 747 which is having its own problems. A few of the escaping passengers on the plane are getting all puffy-faced, which means they're infected. One tall guy is the boss of the cabin and passengers (we don't know how he got the job) while the pilot tries to get them to a plague-free country.

Here's where the storyline goes off the tracks. If this plague is so infectious, how come the non-infected on the plane aren't infected by the sick ones? And how does one man survive by chopping off his infected arm?

The unexplained immunity enjoyed by the main characters keeps on working while they wander around a deserted airport, taking keys from infected bodies and walking through makeshift morgues.

I won't give away the rest of the film...well, not much. Some pissed-off, infected males show up. Bad guys are dispatched, but good guys finish last. And the final insult is that we don't know who survives, who doesn't, what happened to the co-pilot's kid, and where that darn plane is headed.

Good Ideas But Missed the Mark For Me!

[icocleric · 4/10 · 7 June 2022]

The idea had potential, but I think it just missed for me. The pandemic has taught us that people WOULD in fact be idiots, and try and jump on a plane despite the risk to others. So the very idea of this film is a solid one.

The problem is the characters were bland and one dimensional, and I don't feel the film had any real focus, or real ending. Like there were some very good ideas going on, but they needed developing more, and the film needed more focus on deciding what it wanted to be. It started off very reasonable, but then just went flat.

The other issue I had is the acting was a little all over the place. Some points seemed overacted, where as other actors felt flat/stiff. I wish the film had more going for it, because the concept is a good one.

Not the worst indie I've seen

[Leofwine_draca · 3/10 · 22 November 2018]

THE CARRIER is another indie movie themed around a zombie virus, although this one is more of a deadly infectious plague than an onslaught of the living dead. The real surprise is that this movie was made with an actual budget behind it, and it shows in the early plane sequences which have a filmic look to them. Sadly, after around 20 minutes of mild interest, things begin to tail off rather quickly, let down by poor writing and wooden performances. In the end it's turned into a character drama rather than a proper thriller or horror movie, and you're left wanting so much more.

It started out well enough, but then took a nosedive...

[paul_haakonsen · 3/10 · 14 June 2018]

This movie had potential, I will definitely say that much.

But it ended up being a less than mediocre movie, because it turned out to have a storyline where you just don't immerse yourself.

The characters were flat and one-dimensional, and that ultimately started to quickly deflate the movie. Why would you immerse yourself into the movie and its universe if you didn't care about the characters that were in that particular universe?

"The Carrier" had fairly good acting performances, despite the actors and actresses having very little to work with.

The storyline in "The Carrier" was straight forward, although somewhat idiotic as flying around in an airplane is a very temporary means to such a disaster. as fuel becomes a crucial factor very fast.

There wasn't a particularly present feeling of a threat from whatever that infection was. And was a crippling anchor around the movie.

enjoying watching The Carrier

[niraj-kapur1 · 8/10 · 2 February 2016]

In today's world of big budget movies and special effects, it's sometimes nice to sit at home and watch a DVD of a local British film. This low budget horror movie has a terrific trailer and I'm a sucker for a good trailer. The Carrier doesn't even feel low budget, so well done to the producers and crew. Anthony Woodley has gone a good job directing.

The Carrier is about surviving passengers on a 747 - no vampires, no zombies, nothing grotesque which made it stand out. The pace starts slow, builds through lots of tension and makes you jump. The cast do a commendable job and this is definitely one of the better horror movies I have seen in recent years

Room for a lot of improvement!

[vengeance20 · 6/10 · 14 February 2016]

Saw this on the shelf in a supermarket for £7 & thought to buy it as I was intrigued by it's synopsis. Though I had different thoughts after watching this film.

The Carrier, global incurable virus which is swarming the United Kingdom. A 747 Plane full of 8 survivours is in the sky avoiding the chaos which is unfolding 40,000ft below them. But a few of the survivours are infected & things begin to spiral out of control!

The film itself was lacking in kills & dramatic action which I was expecting from looking at the DVD cover & the trailer which looked promising! I mean something along the lines of 2010 remake, The Crazies which not only had a fast paced & great story-line, but had loads of mad things going on in it! It never gets old & is watchable over & over again! If that had been combined with this film it would've been so epic!

But this is not the case with this film, which was slow to begin with & kind of messed up with what one of the protagonist's was doing which made little to no sense! Though the beginning & opening credits were pretty cool it did have me wondering how this film was going to play out!

The effects which a little bit cheap & but somewhat better than other CGI films with far worse effects & editing!

The ending was by far the worst I'd ever seen! It just ended on a cliff hanger (Which I hate!), it literally made me feel abit cheated!

I overall would give this film an average rating of 6/10. The film could've done with way more chaotic action & kills. Not to mention the biggest killer in films today with boring drag on story-line! Which could have been cut dramatically!

Introducing the REAL horror in an apocalypse... humankind

[dan-bgb · 8/10 · 26 July 2019]

So nice to have an apocalyptic movie without mindless, flesh-eating monsters...no, it's eminently more satisfying to have the 'villians' in a movie be good old-fashioned, self-centered humans. The whole premise of the film is that the world is coming to an end because of human selfishness...in this case, overusing antibiotics which creates a lethal super-bug with no cure. In an effort to stem the tide of the disease, governments have quarantined the populace, halting all traffic from leaving the country. The message is clear...to save the 'body' of humanity, one must 'cut off' (or sacrifice) the offending part, a theme that is revisited often in the film, both figuratively and literally. But of course, no one listens and they all try to leave, infected or not, even killing in the process. Only one man realizes what a successful escape would mean for the world, and pleads with the others to not spread the disease, but is called crazy. The theme would run all through the film until the very end...but what is the ultimate message ? A nicely nuanced film that examines human priorities and what it means to sacrifice a part to save the whole. Oh, and the makeup FX was certainly good.

Better than average rating suggests

[dave-70421 · 6/10 · 11 January 2017]

Certainly not less than a 6 for me this film and to be honest, in my opinion this is a pretty decent production.

Though I fail to see directly where the film's stated estimated £3 million budget comes from or goes as such, unless the cost of using the plane for the main set piece used a big chunk, nothing about this film indicates or shows it to directly be a relatively budget based film. As simply put the production values are great on this film.

The story is fairly solid as is the acting throughout for the best part even if a few dodgy aspects towards the end of the film. Though a better back story to the film would have been good to see even if to add just several minutes more to the running time. Yet another film I fail to see or understand the low average rating for as certainly 1 of the best budget films I've ever seen.

Better than it sounds

[test-13032 · 7/10 · 12 January 2017]

This film is definitely good thriller. The characters are acting reasonably, the main dilemmas are actually answered in the movie: 1) why main characters try to stay in a plane: because they believe they can land in non infected city. 2) why infected characters want to board the plane: because they believe somewhere else could be a cure. One note: the movie starts so quick into the plot, kudos to the screenwriter here. SPOILER here: I kinda liked the ending. Basicaly, such kind of story cannot have too good ending anyways. The story quite lags in the middle, because the intentions of some characters are not clear: for instance, what they intended to do with infected on-board, how would they know the amputation even slow down infection etc. The cast is good too, definitely for the genre. The movie is overall better than you would expect and fun to watch (beside the depressing subject), try it out.

Watchable, but cast sucked

[boydpeters · 6/10 · 14 January 2019]

Good premise, drama and entertainment. I had enough of dead people coming back to. Got lost in some characters who were just a drag and hurt the story. Personally, in an apocalypse, I want all the weak willed people to be dead, not the protagonists in a story. But that's me. A soy boy, wimp free apocalypse