Review of Pontypool (2009) by Lewis C — 27 Aug 2010

"Do you really want to provide a genocide with elevator music?".

This is certainly one of the most unique movies that I've seen this year. There's no doubt about that.

I give Pontypool massive props for putting it's own spin on the zombie/virus genre. We see the story unfold through the eyes of a few people at a radio station, and we get no more information than they do. They don't have many answers, and neither do we. The story started off pretty slow, but there are some seriously tense and creepy moments that happen as we hear what's going on in the outside world. Eventually, the radio station itself is no longer the safe place it initially seemed to be. virtually none of the violence and little of the gore happens on-screen, but it all makes sense within the scenario.

Pontypool's main weakness is that when the answers do start coming, they're a little too ambitious and "different". I'm all for variety and anything that dares to be more creative than the standard old zombies, but the story here gets more muddled as it goes on, and the explanations aren't really communicated clearly. Perhaps we were expected to read between the lines, and I had a nagging feeling that some knowledge of the political situation in the part of Canada where this movie was set would have given me a bit more clarity.

I give Pontypool an A- for effort and originality, but a C- for execution. With a few changes to the story, this could have been brilliant. As it stands, it's flawed, but still worth watching if you like your horror low-key and you're looking for something other than the same old thing.