This low-budget picture is a little too claustrophobic, and it grows tedious. The ominous, overbearing musical score tries but fails to jack up the tension.
Comment
12/17/09
Pontypool (2009)
82
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:71
Fresh:58
Rotten:13
Average Rating:6.6/10
Consensus: Witty and restrained but still taut and funny, this Pontypool is a different breed of low-budget zombie film.
Theatrical Release:May 29, 2009 Limited
Synopsis: It’s not just the snow storm that’s chilling in this Canadian zombie movie from director Bruce McDonald (THE TRACEY FRAGMENTS). Stephen McHattie (WATCHMEN) stars as controversy-courting radio DJ... [More]
Starring: Stephen McHattie, Lisa Houle, Hrant Alianak, Georgina Reilly
Director: Bruce McDonald
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Reviews for Pontypool
Top CriticAn entertaining cerebral chiller.
11/08/09
Compellingly apocalyptic.
10/20/09
An original take on genre movies of its kind.
10/20/09
Inventive and genuinely suspenseful, this is a welcome addition to the expanding zombie/virus canon.
10/16/09
This cerebral horror movie plays Scrabble with the genre’s cinematic lingo.
10/16/09
This unsettlingly quirky account of semiological breakdown and small-town apocalypse plays like My Winnipeg for fans of intellectual horror. Pontypool is as astonishing as it is original, and amply repays multiple viewings.
10/16/09
It’s always an unexpected bonus in a zombie film to find the brains evident in the screenplay rather than splattered all over the scenery.
10/16/09
An utterly baffling and stunningly boring zombie horror thriller.
10/16/09
Tight as a drum and the most inventive spin on a zombie-plague premise in years.
10/16/09
An immersive film built on inference and interrupted signals rather than cheap shock-jock tactics. But the question remains: why the hell didn’t they call it Dead Air?
10/16/09
Ignore the shaky tongue-tied opening fifteen minutes; when Pontypool gets its words in order it reminds you how much creepy fun can be had in keeping the horror tantalisingly offscreen.
10/16/09
Big on atmos, low on incident, this claustrophobic chiller captures the hysteria of a town flailing on the frontline of disaster.
10/16/09
Talky and claustrophobic, Pontypool is a mash-up of Orson Welles' notorious The War of the Worlds radio broadcast and George A. Romero's Night of the Living Dead, with a tone and cast that's reminiscent of John Carpenter's Assault on Precinct 13.
10/16/09
Too much jaw, not enough gore.
10/16/09
In its best moments the film offers an entertaining throwback to the Seventies heyday of John Carpenter and David Cronenberg, when a creepy situation could be just as effective as a burst of stomach-churning special effects.
10/16/09
Bruce McDonald directs a tiptop cast. Tony Burgess, scripting from his own novel, clearly saw the grand guignol potential in the computer virus, in the way great plagues can be planted in tiny units of understanding.
10/16/09
McHattie and Houle are terrific as the besieged duo.
10/16/09
Pontypool is an absolute treat, thanks to an original, offbeat premise, a clever script, great direction and a terrific central performance.
10/16/09
This is one of those little films that proves that you don't need a blockbuster budget to make a high-concept movie. McDonald and Burgess create a mass-chaos apocalyptic thriller with essentially just three characters in a windowless room.
10/16/09
Latest News for Pontypool
May 28, 2009:
Critics Consensus: Up And Drag Me to Hell Are Certified Fresh
This week at the movies, we've got a high-flying house (Up, with voice work by Ed Asner and Christopher Plummer) and a demonic curse (Drag Me to Hell, starring Alison Lohman and... More...
May 10, 2009:
Trailer & Poster review 
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