Rotten Tomatoes Logo Do you want to see ‘Pontypool’?

Pontypool (2008)

tomatometer

83

Average Rating: 6.6/10
Reviews Counted: 77
Fresh: 64 | Rotten: 13

Witty and restrained but still taut and funny, this Pontypool is a different breed of low-budget zombie film.

62

Average Rating: 5.7/10
Critic Reviews: 13
Fresh: 8 | Rotten: 5

Witty and restrained but still taut and funny, this Pontypool is a different breed of low-budget zombie film.

audience

68

liked it
Average Rating: 3.5/5
User Ratings: 4,864

My Rating

Movie Info

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

PG, 1 hr. 35 min.

Art House & International, Horror

Tony Burgess

Jul 21, 2008

IFC Entertainment

Cast

All Critics (78) | Top Critics (13) | Fresh (65) | Rotten (13) | DVD (2)

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.

December 17, 2009 Comment
Hollywood Reporter
Top Critic IconTop Critic

However shrewdly contrived to keep its budget low, Pontypool, set almost entirely in a basement radio station, is a zombie flick sans bite.

September 1, 2009 Full Review Source: Variety | Comment
Variety
Top Critic IconTop Critic

For a while, this claustrophobic little horror movie is a dark little treat.

June 5, 2009 Full Review Source: Newark Star-Ledger | Comment
Newark Star-Ledger
Top Critic IconTop Critic

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.

June 5, 2009 Full Review Source: Salon.com | Comment
Salon.com
Top Critic IconTop Critic

A horror flick that's all talk and (almost) no action? The risk pays off better than you'd think.

May 29, 2009 Full Review Source: New York Daily News | Comment
New York Daily News
Top Critic IconTop Critic

What's a zombie movie without zombies? A dull zombie movie.

May 29, 2009 Full Review Source: New York Post | Comment
New York Post
Top Critic IconTop Critic

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.

December 1, 2010 Full Review Source: Little White Lies | Comment
Little White Lies

A winning combination of shuddery suspense and intelligent observations.

August 9, 2010 Full Review Source: sbs.com.au | Comment
sbs.com.au

Its a mighty strange beast, an intellectual B-movie that offers equal parts semiotics and projectile gore.

January 30, 2010 Full Review Source: Movie Metropolis | Comment
Movie Metropolis

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.

January 27, 2010 Full Review Source: Seanax.com | Comment
Seanax.com

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.

January 15, 2010 Full Review Source: CNNRadio | Comment (1)
CNNRadio

This year Canada's PONTYPOOL ranks as high as any United States science fiction films I have seen.

January 7, 2010 Full Review | Comment
rec.arts.movies.reviews

An entertaining cerebral chiller.

November 8, 2009 Full Review Source: eFilmCritic.com | Comment
eFilmCritic.com

Compellingly apocalyptic.

October 20, 2009 Full Review Source: Observer [UK] | Comment
Observer [UK]

An original take on genre movies of its kind.

October 20, 2009 Full Review Source: This is London | Comment
This is London

Inventive and genuinely suspenseful, this is a welcome addition to the expanding zombie/virus canon.

October 16, 2009 Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | Comment
Empire Magazine

This cerebral horror movie plays Scrabble with the genre's cinematic lingo.

October 16, 2009 Full Review Source: Time Out | Comment

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.

October 16, 2009 Full Review Source: Film4 | Comment

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.

October 16, 2009 Full Review Source: Times [UK] | Comment
Times [UK]

An utterly baffling and stunningly boring zombie horror thriller.

October 16, 2009 Full Review Source: Guardian [UK] | Comment (1)
Guardian [UK]

Tight as a drum and the most inventive spin on a zombie-plague premise in years.

October 16, 2009 Full Review Source: Daily Telegraph | Comment
Daily Telegraph

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?

October 16, 2009 Comment (1)
Little White Lies

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.

October 16, 2009 Full Review Source: Sky Movies | Comment
Sky Movies

Big on atmos, low on incident, this claustrophobic chiller captures the hysteria of a town flailing on the frontline of disaster.

October 16, 2009 Full Review Source: Total Film | Comment
Total Film
More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for Pontypool

In a genre that's overexposed, overworked and often overrated Pontypool still manages to be original and intelligent.

June 27, 2009
flixsterman
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

August 24, 2011
theunknownhobo
Unknown Hobo

Super Reviewer

Pontypool Quotes

No quotes approved yet for Pontypool. Logged in users can submit quotes.

Latest News for Pontypool

March 3, 2011:
10 Great Canadian Films You Might Not Have Heard Of
They don't always get as much publicity as they should, but our polite Canadian neighbors have made...

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...

What's Hot On RT

Critics Consensus
Critics Consensus

Journey 2 Not Worth the Trip

Luis Guzman
Luis Guzman

What are his 10 best movies ever?

<em>Amazing Spider-Man</em>
Amazing Spider-Man

See the all-new action-packed trailer!

The Avengers!
The Avengers!

Five new Marvelous pictures

Top Movie Quizzes

LEGO Mania: 2011 Best Picture Nominees
by natalie - 18,638 taken
created 12 months ago
How Much Do You Know About Leonardo DiCaprio?
by natalie - 44,623 taken
created 15 months ago
Pixar Movies!
by jdikwlzviv - 27,240 taken
created 15 months ago
The Wizards of Harry Potter
by jdikwlzviv - 27,756 taken
created 15 months ago
Help | About | Jobs | Newsletter | Critics Submission | API | Licensing | Blog | Developers | Mobile