The October Zombie-Thon 2009 - Day 29: Pontypool
Posted by Trevor Snyder on 10.29.2009
Keeping quiet when zombies are around is always a good idea...but this time, it's a REALLY good idea.
PONTYPOOL (2009)
Directed by: Bruce McDonald
Written by: Tony Burgess
Country: Canada
The unique and peculiar Canadian shocker Pontypool stars Stephen McHattie (recently seen as the original Nite Owl in Watchmen) as radio shock-jock Grant Mazzy, whose controversial on-air antics have recently gotten him fired from his job in the city. With no other options on the table, Mazzy has accepted the only job he can get – the early morning show in the small Ontario town of Pontypool, broadcast out of the basement of an old church. Mazzy's in-your-face approach to radio is an odd fit with the laid-back nature of the town's residents – a fact his new producer Sydney Briar (Lisa Houle, McHattie's real-life wife) points out every-time he strays off topic into one of his "Mazzyness" rants. He does have a fan, however, in the station's cute and eager technician, Laurel Ann (Georgina Reilly), who has recently returned from a tour of duty in Afghanistan and might be just as bored with reporting on school closings and lost cats as Mazzy is.
That same boredom might look pretty nice in retrospect, though, considering the events they soon experience. What starts off as just another extremely snowy but otherwise uneventful day takes a deadly turn when reports start coming in concerning startling acts of violence all over town. Mazzy is at first excited to be reporting on something so interesting, even though he and his crew cannot confirm the legitimacy of any of these stories. That all changes, though, when they get an eyewitness account of a bloody riot from the station's "eye-in-the-sky" traffic reporter Ken Loney (who acts as if he's in a helicopter for the listeners, but is in fact just sitting in his Dodge Dart on top of a hill). Loney describes seeing "things that are gonna ruin the rest of my natural life" as he watches hundreds of insane-with-rage townsfolk attack the offices of a town doctor.
The situation quickly escalates from there, as the violence continues to spread throughout the town. Mazzy and crew soon realize how big this story is, when they hear that the Canadian military is putting the town under quarantine and the BBC is calling in to get an interview with Mazzy about what is happening. Soon, they start to wonder just how safe they are in their basement studio – a fear that is only amplified when they are joined by Dr. John Mendez (Hrant Alianak), the same doctor whose office was attacked in the aforementioned riot. Mendez was able to escape, and having seen for himself their behavior, he has some interesting theories on the infected crazies. Mendez believes this is a new kind of virus, one transmitted not by airborne germs or fluid exchange, but by language. That's right, the English language – and, in particular, certain tainted words – is the culprit; anyone who hears and comprehends the affected words and phrases is driven mad. This of course puts Mazzy and the rest of his crew in an awkward position – how do they report on this and warn people what is going on, when the broadcast itself might in fact be spreading the virus?
Needless to say, this is a pretty different kind of zombie movie, in both concept and execution. And as weird as it might sound from my description, let me just assure you – it's actually even weirder than you're probably thinking. As directed by Bruce McDonald and written by Tony Burgess (adapted from his own novel, Pontypool Changes Everything), Pontypool is a deliberate head-scratcher of a film. Sure, on one level, it's just another movie involving characters forced to take refuge in a claustrophobic setting in order to stay safe during a zombie plague. And it works extremely well on that level, too. It's not unfair to question how interesting a movie could possibly be when the majority of it is watching people talk on the radio (on only a few precious occasions does the camera go outside the station, and we never get a glimpse of the madness enveloping the rest of the town). But the slow-burn building of tension that McDonald employs, aided by very good performances from the lead actors, more than makes up for the film's lack of visual thrills (although those who are patient are rewarded with at least one gruesome moment and a little bit of action in the final act).
If anything, the setting and presentation only helps Pontypool, as at times it almost plays like an old radio drama, allowing the viewer's imagination to fill in the nasty bits that they (and the characters) are only hearing about. In fact, stars Stephen McHattie and Lisa Houle) actually did record a radio drama version of the story while filming the movie, which can be heard here.
But, as unique and well-done as the radio-station setting is, what of course really makes Pontypool stand out is the abstract idea of language as virus carrier. It can be a little tough to wrap your head around when reading the plot description – and it's not necessarily much easier when actually watching the movie, either. Pontypool is not afraid to confuse its audience – like Mazzy and crew, the viewer is never quite sure just how something like this could have started, or if Dr. Mendez' strange explanations even hold any water.
Some might find this frustrating, but it only enhances the whole experience. The idea at work here seems to be a sort of commentary on the power of language, and how essential it is to our interactions with each other. When stripped of that capability, Mazzy and his fellow survivors are forced to communicate with each other through their rough knowledge of French (it's only the English language that is affected, remember), and must fight off infection by stripping away the meaning of what they are saying through repetition and swapping certain words for others. It's bizarre, heady stuff, and the movie does not mind presenting it in a proudly obscure and sometimes perplexing way. Maybe that's the right way to go – it throws the viewer off, thus rendering them as rattled as Grant Mazzy himself; a man whose very career is built on his control over language, who now finds that very control not only threatened but perhaps downright dangerous.
But don't let me lead you to think that it's nothing more than a pretentious, impenetrable puzzle, either. Regular zombie fans willing to tackle the film's odder elements will still find some good-old-fashioned visceral thrills and intentional humor, too. At times, it can even get downright wacky. For instance, there's the babbling Dr. Mendez, whose over-the-top performance seems to have been borrowed from a B-movie. That these more traditional moments merge so well with the film's more mind-bending concepts is once again a testament to the writer, director and cast.
Overall, it's nice to see a zombie film that pretty much forces you to think. Even if you don't quite get it, the very act of trying to figure it all out makes Pontypool a hell of a lot more engaging than the numerous carbon-copy zombie movies that are out there right now. I'm always up for an ambitious, well-made zombie feature that can actually live up to the potential of its concept. Pontypool does just that. It's pretty darn unusual, but I mean that in the best way possible. It's also only the first film in a planned trilogy…so maybe we all better be quiet for the time being.
