Bruce McDonald, critically acclaimed director of The Tracey Fragments, teams with author Tony Burgess to adapt Burgess' own novel about a small town in the grip of a mysterious frenzy. It may be Valentine's Day, but for caustic radio personality Grant Mazzy (Stephen McHattie) that's just another reason to be miserable. Mazzy used to be a certified radio superstar, but working in Pontypool is a far shot from working in the big city. Today, however, as Mazzy prepares for his regular routine of
reading the weather, updating school closings, and pleading his case for a little on-air controversy to producer Sydney Bryer (Lisa Houle), the appearance of an unexpected figure signals the beginning of a disturbing phenomenon in the small town of Pontypool. Heading to work, Mazzy is nearly run over by a distraught woman who seems to have lost her grip on reality. Later, reports of a shoot-out between provincial police and a group of local ice fishers are made even more bizarre by the revelation that they were all screaming gibberish, running around nude, and missing body parts. By the time a riot breaks out in Dr. Mendez's (Hrant Alianak) office, it's obvious to Mazzy that the residents of Pontypool are suffering from a strange form of contagious dementia, but what has caused this bizarre outbreak and, more importantly, how can it be stopped? ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
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.
If you're a devotee of the deranged mind of Canadian indie auteur Bruce McDonald, then I can just tell you that he's made a horror movie (kind of) and that Pontypool is it.
Alarmingly intelligent and deeply disorienting, Pontypool plays as a radically different film upon subsequent viewings, its metaphor-filled dialogue seeming to shift and alter in meaning with every scene.
Laurie Anderson would be proud: language is a virus in [this] zombie(-esque) thriller set almost entirely within the walls of a basement radio station.
Interesting zombie flick. A little too claustrophobic with all of the scenes in a makeshift radio station. Too much description and not enough action, almost like War of the World's radio broadcast. Still, worth watching once. Paul Chambers, CNN.
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.
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?
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.
In a genre that's overexposed, overworked and often overrated Pontypool still manages to be original and intelligent.
June 27, 2009
Randy Tippy
Super Reviewer
This movie proves just how spectacularly good horror movies can be. Not your standard zombie apocalypse nonsense, Pontypool proves that what you don't see is a million times more frightening that what you do see. Intelligent and original it spins the tale of three people working at a radio station when a virus outside
begins to turn people into zombie-esque creatures. They soon realised that language is transmitting the virus and systematically begin to "un-understand" the words they know in order to save their lives. With an intoxicating start and smack-you-in-the-face ending, with all the delicious bits in between this movie in short ROCKED.
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