Zombies and people infected with a rage type virus seem to be all the rage in the past few years with tons of mainstream and independent films jumping on the bandwagon of the sub-genre. The problem with them all is that they all seem to follow the same format, yet seem to tell a different story in what seems to be a similar universe. This of course has resulted in tons of really bad zombie (or infected) films that plague the genre like zombies themselves. Sure we have some good ones, but the majority of the great zombie films are from horror’s past, and very few are from the past few years. So where does Pontypool play into this sub genre? Well It’s does something very similar to the original Night of the Living Dead, It takes the idea of human beings going mad for some unknown reason, but gives us a fresh original story in the process where we’re along for the ride with the characters as to what is causing all the madness.
PONTYPOOL is about three people whom work in the town of PONTYPOOL in a local radio station in the basement of the town church. Granty Mazzy (Stephen McHattie) is the stations DJ, and he’s very opinioned and seems to just want to have fun with this boring job on the air in which he play some music, talks about the local weather and school cancellations. but when bizarre and strange reports of people going crazy and killing one another start to come in from their man on the street; the radio station is targeted by these insane human beings. Now with the help of his station manager Sydney Briar (Lisa Houle) they will try to figure out what going on, and the mystery behind what is making the people of PONTYPOOL go mad.
At first glance I can’t say I was to impressed by what I was seeing. The first half hour or so takes place in the same place and is just a bunch of people sitting around in a radio station talking to one another while broadcasting the news as the events unfold. But as the story develops, it becomes obvious that there is more to this films script than meets the eye. There are hidden meaning throughout the film as to what is going on and how it all relates. It’s a script that relies more on it’s characters and story to get the viewer though rather than kill us with over the top action scenes and blood and guts.
The films production value is fare, as most of it takes place in one location. What I particularly like about the film is that it relies more on not showing us the situation at hand, but rather puts un in this isolated radio station with the characters as the story is being told to us by the station man of the street. This leaves us to use our imagination, giving us the less is more routine and let us develop our own nightmare. As the production moves on we’re treated to a few scenes with some blood and a little bit of gore, but we’re not over killed with flying body parts and buckets of blood gracing every surface. The acting in the film is also great, and Bruce McDonald’s directing is top notch.
PONTYPOOL’S budget was estimated to be around a million and a half dollars. I’m willing to bet that it was done for a lot less than that and that the majority of the budget went towards the cast and crew salaries. This is a film that many of the low budget horror film makers out there can lean from and take and learn a few pointers. The film has not major gore scenes and pointless deaths for the sake of grossing out the audience. What it has is a story that blends it’s scares with social issues while developing an original idea out of a horror sub-genre that is being driven into the ground by un-original ides by people who want to be just like George Romero. When they should be trying to make a film with an original idea that brings life to the horror film and it’s sub genres like the zombie and vampire films. The filmmakers behind PONTYPOOL did just that. Scaring the audience psychologically, rather than grossing us out. I recommend PONTYPOOL to horror fans that can enjoy a film that does need to rely on a lot of gore to scare it’s audience, but rather brings them along for the ride with it’s characters.
PONTYPOOL is now available on IFC In Theaters on demand.
– Horror Bob
- Interview with J.R. Bookwalter - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Andrew J. Rausch - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Rick Popko and Dan West - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Director Stevan Mena (Malevolence) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Screenwriter Jeffery Reddick (Day of the Dead 2007) - January 22, 2015
- Teleconference interview with Mick Garris (Masters of Horror) - January 22, 2015
- A Day at the Morgue with Corri English (Unrest) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Writer/Director Nacho Cerda (The Abandoned, Aftermath) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actress Thora Birch (Dark Corners, The Hole, American Beauty) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actor Jason Behr, Plus Skinwalkers Press Coverage - January 22, 2015
