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| Susan and co. only wanted to come inside for a Hobnob and a coffee |
Pontypool is a film about a virus that breaks out in a small town called Pontypool in Ontario. 98% of the film is set inside a small local radio station with three characters Grant Mazzy (radio announcer), Sydney Briar (Station manager) and Laurel-Ann Drummond (Technical assist). One day the morning team start getting reports of outbreaks of group violence around the town. Quickly they begin to realise a virus has broken out and the town is being destroyed by it.
The first half of the film is pretty gripping. The only visual you have of the carnage that's unfolding outside the radio station is one that's inside your mind. You're forced to use your imagination because the morning team only know what's going on outside via their 'eye in the sky' reporter Ken (He's actually just a man on a hill with a sound effect machine). He describes scenes outside of chaos which lead to numerous deaths amongst the town's people. Having only your mental image of what could be going on outside, you're left wanting more. There's further on and off contact with Ken where he describes more disturbing scenes followed by a bizarre transmission that reveals the virus is being spread through the English language.
So it comes to light that the virus seems to spreading through the English language. 'How interesting', I thought but no, not really. At this point I lost interest as I felt (and the people watching with me agreed) that the film had lost the plot. It became confusing on how the virus was spreading. It didn't help that I wasn't really bothered if the morning team were killed and eaten. The only one that had a personality was Grant and he was an arrogant prick. Laurel-Ann starts acting erratic and repeats the word 'miss' over and over again but it's not explained why.
A doctor turns up and explains that he thinks only certain words in the English language are infectious and that certain words affect certain people but, again, there's no indication as to which words. Surely if only certain words affected certain people, then any selection of words could infect anyone, in which case does it really matter if it was only certain words?
They decide speaking foreign languages will prevent them from catching the virus so Grant and Sydney begin speaking in French. The doctor speaks in a different language but after a few repetitions of a word it looks like he's gone and caught the dreaded virus too. BOO HOO.
After some zombies from outside manage to break into the station, Grant and Sydney retire from a sound booth they've been hiding in and take refuge in a different room. At this point Sydney starts to repeat the word 'kill' over and over as Grant tries to convince her 'kill' means 'kiss' in a bid to disinfect her (yeah I was lost too). This works so the pair go back to the sound booth to get on air and begin spouting a series of random and contradictory words, making no sense whatsoever, in an attempt to cure the infected. During this time there is a loud voice coming from above the building claiming to be the authorities and instructing them to come off air 'NOW'. The duo ignore the demands and a countdown begins as Sydney joins Grant in the booth for a kiss. As the countdown ends the screen goes dark, implying that the radio station has been wiped out and that is the end.
What a load of old shit! But, DO NOT turn it off yet. If you want to get any kind of satisfaction from this film then you need to listen to the voices over the credits. I won't spoil that here though.
The scene after the credits have rolled? Don't even get me started. Also, the 6.7 rating on imdb is not justified.
Tay Tay :-)
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