Directed by:
Bruce McDonaldScreenplay:
Tony BurgessCinematography:
Miroslaw BaszakComposer:
Claude FoisyCast:
Stephen McHattie, Lisa Houle, Georgina Reilly, Hrant Alianak, Boyd Banks, Rick Roberts, Louis Negin, Tony Burgess, Daniel Fathers, Beatriz Yuste (more)Plots(1)
Shut up or dieShock jock Grant Mazzy (McHattie) has been kicked-off the airwaves and now works at a small-town morning show. Another mundane day on the job quickly turns deadly when reports pile in of people developing strange speech patterns and evoking brutal acts of violence. Before long, Mazzy discovers that the behavior is actually a deadly virus being spread through language. Does he stay on the air in hopes of being rescued or, is he providing the virus with its ultimate leap over the airwaves and into the world? (official distributor synopsis)
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Reviews (3)
An incredibly sophisticated affair, not failing either on the horror or the black humor fronts. True entertainment in the space of one room.
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At a time when viewers are forced to rummage through all the screenwriting muck, anything that even slightly smacks of originality comes in handy - and when horror filmmakers come up with it, the surprises are multiplied. Pontypool is carried by one single idea, which is developed from the limited position of three actors and three rooms. It's more or less carried by the charismatic Stephen McHattie, but the escalating tension keeps the viewer in suspense until the very end. The "treatment" is questionable, as is the post-credits sequence. Regardless, Orson Welles with his famous radio "joke" would have surely been pleased.
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I’m not afraid to call Pontypool the most talkative horror film I’ve ever seen and given the premise, that’s quite deserved. In any case, after my own unfortunate experience, I’d recommend those who don’t know English perfectly to wait until some poor soul makes the subtitles (there is too much noise to make sense), and I will have to watch it again when that happens. But even though I got lost with some of the conversations of the characters, I have to say that I liked Pontypool. Basically, it’s a zombie flick where you barely see the zombies themselves, it’s set in a relatively safe, closed space, and that surprisingly works and manages to generate tension for most of the runtime. That’s mainly thanks to the original premise and the unusual way the script is put together. After REC, this is the freshest breath of originality in zombie horror in a long time – it actually turns the concept of REC upside down.
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Photo © IFC Films
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