Pontypool
Director: Bruce McDonald
Writer: Tony Burgess
2008
Imagine a viral infection that spreads from person to person through the human language rendering humans zombie-like. Now imagine that this is the story for a Canadian film (yes, I wrote Canadian). Would you still see it? The correct answer is ‘yes’. Pontypool is the most original, thrilling films of the virus/zombie/infection films that I have ever seen. I don’t want to give too much away, but I will say that this film is one of the better examples of how to build suspense, and keep you on the edge of your seat while creating utter panic. The entire film takes place in a basement radio station, where Grant Mazzy (expertly played by Stephen McHattie) is the morning show host for the small town of Pontypool, in Northern Ontario. What makes Pontypool so thrilling is the audience only knows as much as the characters inside the radio station, and we experience everything alongside with them to the point where we are not shown any of the horrors happening on the outside – we can only hear them through phone conversations and breaking news reports. This allows our own minds to create the images of what we are hearing, which makes it all the more terrifying. Pontypool is amazing in so many ways – the story, the location, the lack of gore that pervades most of these types of films, the clever storytelling and the characters – you’d be a fool not to see this film.
