Seasons Greetings

As anyone who reads this site should know, nothing pleases me more than discovering new filmmakers with original takes on the genre. The team of Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead impressed me for a lot of reasons with their festival favorite Resolution. The film (which you can find streaming on Instant Watch) took a typical cabin-in-the-woods setup and approached it from a different angle, keeping such a strong focus on it all by centering the film on a pleasant, normal lead. It wasn't a perfect film, but it was fresh and moving.

Their followup feature, Spring, has been getting a lot more press and is now available on Amazon Prime. 

Let's do this. 

Quick Plot: Evan (the very natural Lou Taylor Pucci from the wonderfully underrated Carriers) is a nice but aimless twentysomething whose life goes into a tailspin following the death of his mother. With no job, a possible arrest warrant for a bar fight, and a best friend who spends the majority of his time so inebriated that he barely knows Evan is alive, our unhappy young man heads to Italy for a break.

After a few rounds of drunken nights out with fellow hostel travelers, Evan takes a job helping out an elderly farmer in a small and picturesque seaside town. He also meets a beautiful, well-traveled medical student named Louise (Nadia Hilker) and instantly falls in love, unprotected sex style.

Everything is all wine and espresso until Louise reveals (first to the audience) a very strange, rather gross secret. I won't spoil the details, but let's just say it's a little Cat People, a little American Werewolf, and a whole lot of skin peeling. 

Once you get past the very stonercentric opening (which borders on dangerous levels of hip and beard length), Spring opens up into a rather sweet love story. Pucci and Hilker have a strong chemistry and find the lightness in their (maybe) doomed romance, while the actual design of Louise’s condition feels quite new and surprising. The final act lingers a tad too long, but there’s something fresh in how Benson and Moorhead let their characters take time in determining their end. 

High Points

As I said with Resolution, directors Benson and Moorhead seem to have an outstanding talent when it comes to getting incredibly likable, low-key performances from very natural actors. Both Pucci and Hilker are both fantastic and do an incredible job of grounding the story in a very real relationship

Low Points

I deduct at least 10 points from any film that dares to blind me with a closeup of a caterpillar

Much has been discussed about Spring's use of drone footage camerawork. While it didn't bother me, I did find that the film overall seemed to lack a real visual style. Considering Spring is filmed in this gorgeous Italian landscape, it feels as though the photography should be...well, prettier? Whether that has anything to do with the new style, I'm not sure

Lessons Learned

The real problem with Americans is that they don't play rugby

Fear of the unknown has produced some very pretty stuff

It only takes a few days to become fairly conversational in Italian

Rent/Bury/Buy

By the time it's over, Spring feels a tad overlong, but remains a fresh, well-told tale that takes a simple story and treats it with such affection and care. Benson and Moorhead continue to be one of the most promising filmmaking teams in the genre, and it will be exciting to see them continue to grow. You can find Spring streaming at Amazon Prime. It's certainly worth a gander. 

Back In Action, Along With the Apocalypse

So I'm married!

It's exciting enough stuff to bring on a Spanish apocalypse!

It's always nice when you have something in common with someone, particularly when said someone is actually a pair of filmmaking brothers who like you, share a fascination with viral plagues and apocalypses. 

Hey, David and Alex Pastor...wanna meet up for nachos while we're at it?

Several years ago, I fell in love with a little film called Carriers. It wasn't a masterpiece, but it took the pretty popular world-in-peril trope and managed to successfully explore it from a different angle. The Last Days is the Pastor brothers' followup, also about a plague but of a very different tone and sort.

Plus, check out their adorable buddy shot

Quick Plot: Marc is a computer programmer struggling to keep his corporate job before an outside resources rep can ax him. At home, his girlfriend Julia longs to start a family, much to the total terror of Marc. His troubles get a little more complicated as the world succumbs to a mysterious disease that renders human into agoraphobes who can't breathe in open spaces. Within a few months, anyone who steps outside falls prey to a seizure-like condition that turns terminal in minutes.

Trapped inside his high rise office building, Marc longs to venture outside to be reunited with Julia, whom he last saw angry at him and on her way to work at a shopping mall. He soon discovers Enrique--the same corporate warrior who almost terminated him when the world had other concerns--has a GPS that might be the only way to navigate the city through underground subways and sewers. The pair reluctantly team up to venture deep into Barcelona, occasionally battling violent scavengers, warring survivors, and, well, bears.

You know how to make anything better? Add a bear.

Between Carriers and The Last Days, the Pastor brothers (who write and direct) demonstrate strong skills behind the camera. More importantly, the team seems to have a genuinely unique viewpoint and interest in exploring common tales (plagues, post-apocalyptic survival) from different perspectives. The plot of The Last Days isn’t that new, but the fact that the story is far more concerned with showing Marc’s progression from cubicle monkey with 21st century doubts to survivor helping to mold the next generation is what ultimately makes this such an involving film.

High Points

For a good stretch of The Last Days, I found myself annoyed at the lack of thematic foresight. Yes, the characters playfully discuss what might have caused the strain, but it almost felt as if 'agoraphobic plague' was simply a cool idea that wasn't going to be given any actual weight. It's really not until the final act that the film reveals what it's about, and I ultimately found that far more rewarding and powerful than if it had been hammered at us from the start

Low Points

There are a few leaps of logic and happy coincidences that might feel a little too sweet for what seems to start as a gritty tale of the apocalypse

Lessons Learned

As if we didn't already know this: it always pays to start stocking your apocalypse shelter, both at home and the office

Know your underground urban geography. Love your underground urban geography

Never forget: just when it all gets quiet and peaceful, BEARS

Rent/Bury/Buy

While I wasn't quite as impressed with The Last Days as I was with the out-of-nowhere Carriers, I still found this film to be quite good. The Pastor brothers clearly have excellent (and more importantly, interesting) instincts when it comes to filmmaking. Unlike Greg McLean's now-dull obsession with his Wolf Creek style, I'd be more than happy if David & Alex Pastor remained in the realm of the apocalypse, especially if they continued to explore it through different concepts and tones. 

Let the Sunshine In. Then Die.

Daylight Savings is a cruel calendar trick and a reason to distrust farmers, but we can be thankful for  one thing: sunshine. Bright, warm, orange hued illumination a whole 60 minutes ahead of schedule.

As I walked home this week and actually saw things, I started thinking about the effectiveness of daylight and its underuse in horror. Sure, there’s some primal fear and easy camera tricks to harvest in midnight cinema, but today, let’s take a look at films not afraid to let the sunshine in.

In rough chronological order:

1. The Wicker Man

Some of the earlier eeriness occurs in that sexy witching hour, when snails cuddle and Britt Ekland’s body double booty shakes, but Robin Hardy’s 1974 classic enigma truly comes to pagan life in its last terrifying act set during a beautiful fall early afternoon (well it starts in the morning, but those choral parades take forever). With the bright glare sometimes forcing you to look away, the film bypasses any of the tricks of night vision, letting all the weirdness of bunny masks, pancake makeup, and group singing hang out in full view. When (SPOILER ALERT) Sergeant Howie screams his final hymn from a blazing, goats a’fire filled sacrificial structure, the glory of the natural sun shines straight through to the audience.

2. I Spit On Your Grave

Brutal gang rape is horrifying any time of day, but this 1978 shocker is made all the worse by its fully lit cruelty. Filmmaker Meir Zarchi doesn't shy away from showing you the horrors experienced by lead Camille Keaton, filming her pale body with a matter-of-fact detachment that simply lets the crime speak for itself.

3. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre

Spanning dusk to dawn, Tobe Hooper’s classic set the bar for all-out backwoods psychohorror. The introduction of Leatherface--silent, husky, and full of gutty grime--is shocking not just because of his untamed violence, but also due to the sudden appearance of such a grotesque human in full light. It’s fitting then that TCM ends on such a memorable, sun-lit shot as our chainsaw-wielding madman swings his roaring sword across a slowly waking Texas morning landscape.

4. Jaws

Quint’s account of the USS Indianapolis may be told in haunting shadow, but his lower half gets crunched on what may otherwise be a perfect July beach morning. 

5. The Brood

Generally, kindergarten days begin with the Pledge of Allegiance and one kid vomiting in the morning circle, but leave it to David Cronenberg to capture a different sort of start to alphabet games and adding practice. This 1979 chiller features many fine sequences, but it’s the schoolteacher slaughter that truly horrifies anybody with a pulse. A sunny winter morning turns exceedingly bloody as two evil gnomish creatures bludgeon Ms. Mayer with kiddie tools...right in front of a classroom full of 6 year olds. Time for milk and cookies yet?

6. Friday the 13th

A good deal of this series benefits from those summer days, fitting when the entire concept is based on camping. Since we already know what Jason Voohres looks like by Part III, there’s really no more point in hiding his face in the nighttime shadows (something the misguided remake didn’t seem to understand). All this sunny machete action began in its ‘80s glory with the initial film, where several counselors met their end before they got the chance to put on their pajamas. More notably, the 1980 hallmark of dead teenager movies ends with one of the best jump scares in horror history, when final girl Alice survives into the early morning, only to get a terrifying wake-up call with a dozen and counting sequel potential.

7. The Burning

Yes, George Costanza himself--with hair--handing out condoms to camp counselors intent on seducing underage high schoolers is reason enough see this not-so-good 1981 slasher, but the real highlight is a raft massacre of a dozen kid campers via sharp, rusty garden shears. A great scene of gruesome cruelty and refreshingly timed for all to see.

8. Day of the Dead

Not the best Romero installment by any means (or at least, mine), but it’s hard to argue with those opening five minutes, where scabby, rotting zombies shuffle through an abandoned Florida street on what could otherwise be a fine day for a jog.

9. The Devil’s Rejects

The perfect flip side to the rave-colored black-lit House of 1000 Corpses (look close enough and I’m sure you’ll find some velvety neon posters of wizards hanging on Dr. Satan's walls), Rob Zombie’s matured throwback followup is dripping with the sweaty grime from a hot southern sun. From the daytime hotel massacre and truck scramble to the slow-motion Freebird finale, The Devil’s Rejects makes you feel the heat, one stabbed banjoist at a time.

10. Dawn of the Dead

Zach Snyder's surprisingly spry reimagining of zombies gone shopping smartly avoids the better-in-the-dark style of so many other modern films by opening and closing with two beautifully spring-like sunny days...that just happen to include Olympian trained sprinting undead. Before Johnny Cash's Man Comes Around or Ving Rhames' cool rears its shiny bald head, Dawn of the Dead starts so innocently in a bland, postcard worthy suburb of middle America before waking up the next day to neighborhood shootouts and helicopter crashes. It's fitting that the film ends at its titular time of day as our survivors make their way to a new--probably very short--life sailing a yacht on what would otherwise be an expensive mini vacation.

11. All the Boys Love Mandy Lane

Sure, the bulk of this still unjustly unreleased slasher takes place overnight on a blood-soaked ranch, but its grand finale gets the hot desert morning treatment, making its stunning twist all the more jarring. See it to believe it...when it actually gets legally put into theaters.

12. The Strangers

While the majority of this unofficial Ils remake occurs in the quiet midnight hours, the real horror is saved for sunrise. To avoid spoiling a fairly recent film, I’ll tread softer than the barely audible whispering of star Liv Tyler and simply say that in this surprisingly vicious minimalist slasher, the terror doesn’t end just because it’s time for waffles.

13. 28 Weeks Later

Danny Boyle’s 28 Days Later offered a few effective AM shots, but it’s Juan Carlos Fresnadillo’s underrated sequel that takes full advantage of the rare British sun with one of the most terrifying opening sequences of recent years. There’s a reason you have to seal yourself indoors in the event of an infected cannibal rampage, and all it takes is one open eyehole to let the chaos destroy any safety you’ve built with fellow survivors. Watching a horde of infected chase after Robert Carlyle, operatic classical music playing maniacally in the background, is enough to make you turn out the lights.

14. The Ruins

Most vacationing college students traveling to Central America want nothing more than to surround themselves with hot people and work on their tans, but that gets taken a little too far in this 2008 adaptation of Scott Smith’s novel. Five fresh-faced young folks find themselves trapped on a mysterious Mayan structure, battling the threat of homicidal vines and--cue the sound cue--each other. While the film’s screaming plants lurk inside darkened caves, most of the more disturbing action occurs under the dry, scorching sun to ill-prepared twentysomethings running low on water and high on tequila. Nearly everything is fully visible, and all of it horrific in a way rarely seen in your typical pretty-people-in-trouble flicks of the 21st century.

15. Carriers

Highly contagious disease is ravaging its way through America--and presumably, the world--but you’d never know it if you just glanced out your window. The gorgeous weather offers an intriguing contrast to the increasingly tense atmosphere of this 2009 thriller as humans die off and plague erodes the line between morality and survival. There’s something disturbing, and yet perfectly fine about nature’s continuance in the face of human obliteration, and Carriers captures it with sunshine to spare.

and a few Honorable Mentions via some fine folks on Twitter

Cabin Fever

The Crazies

Drag Me to Hell

Let the Right One In

Martyrs

Picnic At Hanging Rock

Rosemary’s Baby

plus & Recommendations I Haven’t Seen:

And Soon the Darkness

The Children

Curtains

Dead Snow

Apoca-Party Time

There are a whole lot of ways the could can end, and even more films that document each one. Here's a rundown of a few noteworthy entries into the apocalypse.

Nuclear Disaster

The 1980s was a decade fraught with Cold War paranoia, so it was only natural for filmmakers to mine the potential of nuclear holocaust for cinematic storytelling. Interestingly enough, in order to fully experience the horror of what could have been, one must prop up the Lazy Boy in the comfort of home to see the two most terrifying fictionalizations: the ABC Network’s The Day After and the BBC produced faux documentary, Threads. Both detail the everyday suburban/rural world of the early ‘80s spiraling into a burnt, radioactive open graveyard quickly eroding the faces and souls of those unlucky enough to survive the initial attack. Threads--still not available on Region 1 DVD--is particularly horrifying in how it tricks its audience into following a young pregnant couple and their families, only to lose a few members with the same lack of fanfare as the rest of the world and tear apart the bases we expected to hold strong. In just two hours, this made-for-TV film takes us from worrying about the economy to reliving the Dark Ages, where the new generation of children speak in grunts and age faster than Ice Pirates in super speed. It’s truly terrifying, particularly due to the matter-of-fact presentation that shows the demise of society not as a tragedy, but an inevitable consequence of a planet at war.

Disease

The Stand, 12 Monkeys, and 28 Days Later are a few classic examples of devastating plagues, but for a fresh take on viral horror, check out Alex and David Pastor’s wrongfully-straight-to-DVD Carriers. What makes this low budget, but extremely sharp little film so strong is the particular point in time it takes place: after the outbreak but before complete chaos. Without any flashbacks or forced exposition, Carriers starts with a young group of smart--if not smart enough--survivors led by Star Trek’s Chris Pine. These seemingly normal twentysomethings and teens are armed with disinfectant and a single pistol, but also mildly afflicted with consciences still clogged with the empathy they had in a world past. Unlike most plague pictures hypnotized by sexy scenes of contagion and apocalypse, Carriers focuses on how a person must adjust to surviving a world with no mercy. By the end, our remaining characters have crossed a line and stepped into a new world, but not without surrendering--and, in a sense, executing--what made them human in a former life. It’s gripping and far more intelligent than its pretty-people-in-peril poster art would have you believe.

Religion

Whether you worship Jesus or prefer his work in Jesus Christ: Vampire Hunter (a classic for another list), it’s hard to deny the Book of Revelation is one kickass read. Religious-themed apocalypses are something of a cheat due to the lack of real rules that goes with the territory, but Michael Tolkin’s 1991 drama The Rapture earns a place here for taking the idea of its title and exploring its implications through one conflicted character. Mimi Rogers plays Sharon, a telephone operator (a job which apparently warrants a horror film entirely of its own) who trades in her promiscuous swinger lifestyle for a Born Again baptism with a new husband (David Duchovny) and church ready daughter. Without getting into spoiler territory (as this is a highly recommended film for the thematically combative philosophizing film fan), let’s just say Sharon, a woman fully expecting to greet the end of the world with her family at her side and arms open wide, instead finds herself doubting her faith at an extremely inopportune time. It’s one of the most intriguing and discussion-ready films I’ve seen to deal with this (or any) big issue, and well-deserving of a watch on a day that warrants introspection into the individual at the end of it all.

Supernatural

While Buffy spent seven years protecting Earth from demonically-rendered apocalypses, John Carpenter chose to pit a mere insurance investigator (albeit one who previously took on velociraptors) against the god-like horror novelist celebrated by a surprisingly fertile nation of readers. A beloved, if messy apocalyptic offering from a brilliant genre director still in his golden years, In the Mouth of Madness playfully juggles a few big ideas about what it means when an entire population puts its devotion in one morally questionable artist. Carpenter had dabbled in the world ending before, but even Snake Plissken would be blinded (in the other eye) by the insanity of reality now ruled by a Sutter Kane, a Stephen King-meets-Jack Ketchum style novelist who loves blood and the color blue. Like The Rapture, this is a film as much about idol worship as gooey monsters and practical effects. A surprisingly thoughtful, fairly flawed, and incredibly fun trip into the end.

Alien Annihilation

The good thing about extraterrestrial invasions is that they’re kind of out of our hands. If a passing spaceship wants to blast our planet like it’s Alderon, then what can we really do? Steal our water or serve man for dinner, well, at least that’s fast and/or filled with plenty of fattening food to pad us out. Other films, however, take a more haunting and individualized approach to those strangers from other galaxies, and none are quite as frightening as Jack Finney’s Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Both the 1956 and 1978 adaptations capture an unsteady sense of loss, as mysterious seeds land in our neighborhoods--the suburbs and city, respectively--to grow into blank alter-egos of our more dynamic selves. It’s creepy enough to consider the loss of your soul to an emotionless (and never actually identified) being from another world, but what makes these films true classics is how easy it is for an apocalypse to take place inside our friends, family, and neighbors without most of us batting an eyelash. 

Zombies

Anybody worth their protein-filled brains knows a thing or two about surviving in a world ruled by the shambling elite. It’s easy enough to devote a few million words to my favorite film of all time, but Dawn of the Dead needs little praise from the likes of me. Meanwhile, Day of the Dead and Land of the of the Dead cheat the apocalypse with disappointingly upbeat (and slightly unearned) endings. Zombieland shows us a world low on Twinkies and common sense, thus knocking it down a few points when it comes to realistic survival techniques. For two recent undead films very different in execution, yet oddly similar in approach, compare the caravan of Resident Evil: Extinction with the somber team of The Zombie Diaries. Both focus on hardened survivors living off canned goods and their wilderness skills, and neither is necessarily a good time, but if you’re looking to tide yourself over before The Walking Dead and World War Z hit mini and big screens, you can always enjoy some vegetarian unfriendly feasting at the world’s most depressing restaurant: planet earth, post-Z Day.

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.