I knew I would have to watch Pontypool after hearing it mentioned on the podcast twice. Michael Sanchez is a big fan of this movie listing it as a comfort film. I’m a fan of zombies so it makes sense for me to watch it. Also, I’ve come to realize I haven’t seen too many zombie films outside of Romero’s. Pontypool has some standard elements and some unique ones landing it the Decent Watch rating.
Pontypool is an interesting take on the zombie film.
Grant Mazzy (Stephen McHattie) is a small town radio disc jockey who is apparently miserable in his job. A strange encounter the morning before his work day shakes him up, but the day gets stranger. A riot breaks out and Mazzy finds himself reporting on speculations, but frustrated about being stuck in the basement studio.
This movie is predominantly centered around Grant Mazzy. He is in his studio with his producer, Sydney Briar (Lisa Houle), and the tech Laurel-Ann Drummond (Georgina Reilly). The three are the main character who we see in the film and the set doesn’t change. This means McHattie’s performance has to be powerful to keep our attention. I feel he completely nails this and owns the screen. If he were an actual radio DJ I would listen to his show. He is extremely interesting and has a great radio voice. He is also able to express great emotions with his facial features and definitely makes the film enjoyable.
Tony Burgess story is definitely a zombie one, but offers a different twist. The virus spreads differently than in any other film I’ve watched. It’s very interesting and adds to the scare factor. At the same time, there is a part towards the end of the film that seems like he ran out of ideas. Yet, the tone of the film established by Bruce McDonald works really well. They do a lot with what I assume is a low budget. Most of the film actually feels like an old-timey radio show as we hear a lot more than we see. Yet, the film works really well.
I didn’t love this film as much as Mike, but I did enjoy it. The end is where it kind of fell apart for me. However, the story was compelling and it had an old school feel. It took it’s time getting into the zombie element, but it was never boring. There were little mysteries and character elements that kept me interested. This film is on Netflix and I say check it out.
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