The Carrier, Curse of the Cat People meets Street Trash

This is the most interesting film you have never seen.  I speak of 1988's "The Carrier." After reading about it in the most recent issue of Rue Morgue, I just had to see it, so off to YouTube I went.  Filmed in Michigan, dog lovers will cheer as the fate of the cat population meets a very unceremonious demise.  Lovers of Civil War films will also see similarities between this horror flick and 'Gettysburg," as some great battle scenes occur between rival gangs of Michiganders.  Intrigued yet?  Let's head to this film.

A lot happens in this 100 minute flick, so forgive me for leaving many important plot aspects out. Know this..Jake (Gregory Fortescue) is attacked by a monster. Because of his wounds, he now carries some weird virus.  Whoever he touches melts away to a puddle of sizzling liquid.  Even worse, anything he touches holds the virus, and if someone else also touches it...they melt.  Jake is the town outcast, and only two females like him (...so what's the problem?).  One is Jane (DeLancy Provencher), who's pride in her new breast implants puts her at odds with the town's religious right.  Unfortunately, her implants will come into contact with the virus and...well...very sad.  The other is Treva (Stevie Lee), also a bit of an outcast. The town figures out the virus, but not who the carrier is. Jake finally realizes he is the carrier after bugs flying around him all disintegrate. Because of a storm, the town is cut off from the rest of civilization and paranoia set in.

Two sets of survivors form.  The religious right armed with faith and clad in clear plastic wrap (oh yes, everyone has wrapped themselves in plastic to avoid touching anything that may be contaminated) fortify themselves in a large farmhouse.  The other is the more aggressive sort, clad in black Hefty trash bags.  The town doctor (Steve Dixon) has turned his home into a triage center, similar to the ones found in Civil War battlefields, in which he performs lots of amputations of infected limbs. As more paranoia sets in, both sides search the town for cats. The felines will be used as canaries were used in mines.  Set a cat loose and if it doesn't liquefy...you know the ground is safe. Many die in the search for cats, including children in this most brutal film.  A final, bloody confrontation is in store between the increasingly unstable Jake, the clear wrap clan, and the Hefty clan.

Ignored through the ages, "The Carrier" will have your jaw dropping.  Filled with much social commentary and religious imagery (...feel free to ignore that), we can see influences here for "Platoon" and "Fear the Walking Dead."  Head to YouTube today for something very much different.