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“A horror film’s job is to scare you, is to get your pulse going, is to make you scream and yell. It’s to make you be afraid. That’s its main purpose, and creeping you out. And that can be an enjoyable experience.” --- John Carpenter ::::::::::::: MY CRITERIA FOR DISCUSSION ENCOMPASSES THE HORROR GENRE AND BEYOND, SO I USE THE TERM "NIGHTMARE MOVIES". SPOILERS CAN OCCUR WITH OR WITHOUT WARNING. READ AT YOUR OWN RISK.

Pontypool

June 9th 2009 00:47
Pontypool movie poster
An intellectual zombie flick?! Well, not quite, but Pontypool (2008), which I saw yesterday as part of the Sydney Film Festival, is far more academic in its satirical approach than anything George Romero has made. But it also gets bogged down in its own literate mire, to the detriment of any sustained horror viscera, which an audience demands of a movie that features viral infected flesh-eaters.

Pontypool is a weird little movie indeed, directed by Canadian Bruce McDonald, who has dabbled in the arthouse throughout his career, whilst directing television in order to finance those independent cinematic desires. I remember seeing his early feature, the quirky road movie Highway 61, years ago at a film festival. I couldn’t process his recent experiment The Tracey Fragments, finding it too self-indulgent and avant-garde to work as compelling drama, coming across more as a kind of curious “cinematic installation”.
Pontypool Stephen McHattie
Stephen McHattie as Grant Mazzy
Yes Pontypool is very strange, but much more accessible than The Tracey Fragments. Here McDonald is adapting his own novel. The screenplay is by Tony Burgess (who also has a bit part in the movie). The premise is straight-forward, but the subtext seethes. It’s essentially a two-hander, with two other characters as catalysts. In fact the whole movie is filmed as if its an adaptation of a piece of theatre. The entire movie takes place in one location: the basement of an old church, which has been turned into the local radio station for the township of Pontypool, Ontario, Canada. Apart from the opening sequence with radio host Grant Mazzy (Stephen McHattie) driving to the station, the rest of the movie is snowbound in the station.
Pontypool Lisa Houle
Lisa Houle as Sydney Briar
Mazzy is a cynical bastard, frustrated at having stepped down from his shock-jock position to delivering talk radio that specializes in weather and 911 reports. But he’s a professional, so he grins and bears it. Producer Sydney Briar (Lisa Houle) and her engineer Laurel Ann (Georgina Reilly) facilitate the crack o’ dawn morning show (it’s still dark when Mazzy arrives), while Mazzy spikes his coffee flask and tries his darnedest to inject the show with his own brand of caustic wit, much to Sydney’s chagrin.
Pontypool Georgina Reilly
Georgina Reilly as Laurel Ann
Then a report comes in from the local weatherman, Ken Loney (Rick Roberts) supposedly flying high over Pontypool in a chopper. According to Ken a riot is happening outside Dr. Mendez’s surgery and it’s escalating at a rapid rate. Chaos and violence ensue and Ken is forced to hide, his cowering voice coming in over the airwaves as he relates to Grant Mazzy the horror. Sydney is nervous Ken will die on air. It seems the residents of Pontypool are turning into crazed killers, muttering nonsense, and devouring human flesh. They’re zombies, but not as we know them.
Pontypool locals
The local infected are attracted by Mazzy's words over the airwaves
Pontypool Hrant Alianak
Hrant Alianak as Dr. Mendez
It soon becomes clear - well actually it doesn’t become clear, it becomes confused! – that the infection is not through saliva or blood, but through words. And not just any words, but the English language, and more specifically, words and terms of endearment are the infected bombs, causing people to start talking erratically, repeating themselves, voicing non sequiturs, muddling words. Eventually, as what happens to poor young Laurel Ann, they chew their own tongue off and vomit up their insides.

Dr. Mendez (Hrant Alianak) turns up and is trying to understand the lexicon of this spreading literal apocalypse. The three of them hole up in the on air studio room whilst the Pontypoolers stumble around with verbal diarrhea and the taste of copper in their mouths. Can they reverse the process? Can they turn the killers into kissers?
Pontypool Georgina Reilly
Laurel Ann tries to get her bloody words out straight
Technically Pontypool is very well made, with excellent cinematography and solid acting. As Mazzy McHattie commands the screen, but Georgina Reilly gives an affecting and creepy performance as the prime example of the infection at its worst (the special effects makeup on her is notable too). Where the movie doesn’t work is that there isn’t the payoff the story demands. There is such a long slow burn build as Mazzy, Briar and Laurel Ann are fed the reports from different sources and are trying to come to terms with the horrific reality (Mazzy thinks it’s an elaborate, distasteful hoax). There is a strong sense of utter chaos about to be unleashed, but this never really happens. Instead Mazzy and Briar tackle the problem with their tongues, forcing the virus to eat its words. There is never any explanation given to why Pontypool is the target, or even where this virus came from. Mind you Romero didn’t offer too much either.

I get the impression Pontypool the novel would be a more rewarding experience, but there is definitely something about the movie that resonates and lingers. The concept of repeating a word until it loses its meaning has always fascinated me (I used to do it as a boy, speaking a particular word over and over until it sounded foreign … yes, I’m a freak). The concept of words and our understanding of them becoming a deadly infection is very …. novel. Pun intended.
Pontytpool movie poster


Here's the trailer:

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Posted By: Bryn - Category: movie reviews
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10 Comments. [ Add A Comment ]

Comment by Irene

June 9th 2009 03:14


Grammar Matters
Cooking Monkey
Interrobang
I want to see/read this. Bruce McDonald is a pretty cool guy. Hard Core Logo is classic!

Comment by Bryn

June 9th 2009 03:35


Horrorphile
Irene, I've never actually seen Hard Gore Logo, it's an American punk doco right? Yeah, I'd be curious to read the novel of Pontypool fer sure ... cheers

Comment by Natalina

June 9th 2009 04:37


My Life My Muse
Beta Girl Blog
I'm intrigued by this one, but I can see how it would be a difficult concept to translate to film. I'll read the book and go from there.

Comment by Damo

June 9th 2009 09:31
This looks like an interesting premise.

Radio host trapped by words.
It looks like a must see.

Comment by Irene

June 9th 2009 12:21


Grammar Matters
Cooking Monkey
Interrobang
Hard Core Logo is a mockumentary, actually. It's pretty funny. It stars Hugh Dillon, who was lead singer of Canadian band the Headstones. The band's defunct now and Dillon went on to more acting.

Comment by Mountain Fog

June 9th 2009 13:15
I was at the film festival yesterday, saw an Aussie flick about a truckie, not bad..

Pontypool, the reason I was attracted to this post, was where my grandfather was born, George Baillieu, but not Canada, the original place in Wales.

I want to see this film however, just to imagine Laws and all those other boring bigoted airways oafs eating their own words...and tongues...nice touch.

cheers

fog

Comment by Anonymous

June 13th 2009 17:29
who agrees with me that they could have made twilight better then they did?


Comment by Bryn

June 15th 2009 04:48


Horrorphile
Anon, haven't seen Twilight and have no desire to.

Comment by BAW

June 23rd 2009 22:45
Here's an interview with the director:

Really Long Link

Comment by Bryn

June 24th 2009 00:03


Horrorphile
cheers BAW

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