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For the best of the Horror/Cult/Exploitation film experience
Pontypool (2008)
At this point and time in the world of horror cinema the zombie/infected person movie has completely run it’s course. It’s been done a million times over and just about every way you could imagine. Or at least that’s what I thought prior to seeing “Pontypool”. Although the film is certainly going to draw some comparison to “Night of the Living Dead” considering that the main characters in the film are basically trapped in a radio station, but that’s honestly not that fair of a complaint to have about the film. It manages to do a few things to the zombie/infected person subgenre that I’ve never seen before. It creates a brand spanking new reason for the people to have become that way in the first place: The English Language.
At the center of “Pontypool” we have shock jock Grant Mazzy (who bares resemblance to shock jock Don Imus) who after being booted from the airwaves in the big city is now on the early show on CLSY Radio in the tiny town of Pontypool. Seemingly just another day, one strange news occurrence after another and something is wrong....dead wrong. Apparently people are being stirred into a frenzy by something strange and Grant and his co-workers at CLSY attempt to do everything they can to keep people informed over the airwaves. The only problem is that might be the worst decision of all considering this is happening due to the English language itself.
Now considering I’ve hammered some zombie movies in the past because the fact that they hide the monsters the entire time, I wasn’t disappointed in this one in the least. Mainly because without the zombies, the film contains something the others that I didn’t enjoy: rock solid acting. Seriously, the cast here is fantastic and you get dragged in because of the fact that all of the characters are pretty interesting. Also, you seem to be left hanging there waiting for more just like their radio audience is, which I found to be a very interesting concept. Stephen McHattie plays the character of Grant Mazzy and is excellent in the role. He really carries the film and manages to interact with the rest of the cast wonderfully and in a realistic manner. Lisa Houle and Georgina Reilly both add backbone to the cast as they compliment McHattie quite nicely.
The story of the film is the real star here and I thought it was very well done due to the fact that it really holds your attention without real horror in front of your face. Another issue that I think makes this film a lot better is that the funds for it were all raised independently and therefore there was little interference from anyone on the outside looking in. If this was not the case I could see this film becoming quite like most of the zombie nonsense we’ve been seeing for sometime.
Overall I think “Pontypool” is an excellent little film that’s completely worthy of horror fans attention and time. It’s not the typical zombie film by any stretch at all but it still delivers as a very well written and acted film. It satisfied my tastebuds for something different and I think if people give it a chance it’ll do the same thing for them as well. RECOMMENDED.
Rating - ***
-Ed Demko
