Review of Pontypool (2009) by David L — 25 Sep 2012

One of the rare occasions that I have watched a film which critics have actually praised.............. But why??? Ok, so it's a zombie film like no other, but do we want it to differ from the classic premise of flesh eating hordes of the walking dead moaning and groaning their way to the next victim?! It all started with a very sinister take whereby a drunken old radio presenter comes in for his normal shift of local news and chat within the village of pontypool, but the everyday routine soon changes upon emergency transmissions from nearby reporters declaring a mass outbreak of seemingly possessed individuals demonstrating unusually violent behaviour.

Unfortunately for the audience, we have to sit and listen to the radio reports as opposed to seeing the actual action first hand. This is all very well providing it builds up to something good, but it never materialises.

The whole film is shot within the confides of the radio station, and although the disease does eventually spread into the compound, there is very little drama that we are used to from such zombie flicks.

The unique aspect to this film is later revealed to be how the virus is transmitted from one victim to the other - not by being bitten or by any form of contact with the 'living dead', but by voice and the spoken word.

At this point, I have to admit to becoming a little lost and bemused with it all - probably me, but it just seemed unnecessarily complicated and too far off the beaten track for its genre. It's good to see some originality attempted, but when even Wikipedia can't explain what's going on, it becomes a bit too far fetched to enjoy!