Simon Bates presents…

We took a brief look at this 1988 Warner Home Entertainment VHS tape at the DukeFest launch night, but here’s the complete thing for you to watch now. Simon Bates, then the face of video, introduces a selection of trailers and features in this 30-minute show that’s very reminiscent of Barry Norman and his BBC Film show…

The Carrier – Would you like cats with your trailer?

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Today we’re taking a look at two very different trailers for the same film: The Carrier (1988)

This fairly obscure horror feature follows a mysterious and deadly infection that breaks out in a small American town. An infection that can be on anything: your chair, your book, your bed. Touch it with your flesh and you’ll be instantly infected and start to melt away right there and then.

How do the townsfolk deal with this? Besides going completely insane and resorting to extreme violence they realise they need another living being to check things for them, what do they choose to use? CATS!

Yes cats become the number one commodity as the town splits into violent warlike tribes, all bent on surviving this horrific infection their town is suffering.

Which leads us to the film’s original USA trailer, which is a cat-tastic overload of people shouting about their four-legged feline friends. Sample lines include:

“Go out there and get me cats!”

“Get the children and cats inside.”

“Cats or death!”

“Cats are what you need!”

This makes for a highly entertaining trailer as if you watch it cold for the first time you have no idea what they’re talking about. It sold us totally on it and for once the actual film itself just about lives up to the craziness of the trailer. Watch the original trailer packed with CATS here:

Which leads us to this alternative trailer which we found on a VHS tape recently, of which there’s not a single mention of CATS! It’s like the person who cut this trailer said “Oh we’re not having any of that cat weirdness in this version!”

Here’s our NO CATS version of the trailer:

Take a watch of both versions – which do you prefer? With CATS or without CATS!