Pontypool (2009)

Directed by Bruce McDonald
Written by Tony Burgess
Featuring Stephen McHattie, Lisa Houle, Hrant Alianak, and Georgina Reilly
2009, IFC Films

Tony Burgess’s adaptation of his own novel, Pontypool Changes Everything (in limited theaters on May 29, 2009), is a very strange little movie about a small town DJ named Grant Mazzy (Stephen McHattie), his producer Sydney Briar (Lisa Houle) and the strange morning when their radio show becomes the center of a new breed of virus that infects people through the English language causing violent outbursts and gore-drenched physical reactions…

Having not read the original novel, my guess is that the film version, directed by Bruce McDonald, probably stays quite close to the original novel in premise and plot. Grant Mazzy is a big-town DJ who has been demoted to the local radio morning show at the small Ontario, Canada town of Pontypool at CLSY Radio. Sydney Briar, his producer, is somewhat of a snippy bitch (played by McHattie’s real-life wife Houle) and their tech (Laurel Ann Drummond) is a sweet gal. The boring morning gets its start with snow storm reports. Mazzy couldn’t be more bored. But as the day wears on, reports of people chanting and marching while yelling strange word patterns and inflicting violence all over one another throughout the small town keep getting called in. Mazzy decides to cover this news, and people call in describing horrible violence. People seem to have nervous breakdowns over the air and start chanting themselves. When Dr. Mendez arrives at the radio station with some clues, they learn that there’s a weird virus out there that has been making people crazy. In fact, Mendez believes that the virus is spread through speaking the English language. That means that Mazzy and his team have been helping to spread the sickness to their own town over the airwaves, and it’s only a matter of time before everyone locked inside the station becomes infected too.

Lisa Houle as 'Sydney' and Stephen McHattie as 'Grant Mazzy' trying to figure out what the hell to do

The new idea of ‘technology makes us go crazy’ has been done with more scares in 2007’s The Signal, in which a strange transmission over TV’s and radios drove people insanely violent and made them kill each other and hallucinate. It’s another version of the trend of zombie-mania, in which people turn into savages due to an uncontrollable factor. Pontypool focuses far more on character development that many of these movies because the whole thing takes place inside the radio station. Sydney and Grant have an intense relationship and it changes perceptibly throughout the day. Despite the lack of violence onscreen, there’s a definite tension and almost painful pressure surrounding the storyline that doesn’t break until the very end of the film – it’s really quite forceful.

A rare gore shot in 'Pontypool' (Georgina Reilly)

But the question on everyone’s mind is probably this: how the hell does a virus get spread through the English language? I'm not a germololoogist, but I’m still waiting for the explanation on that one. It doesn’t really make any sense and no one even utters the words 'mutation' or 'adapted', which I would think they'd have to for a scenario like this. Even the ‘cure’ for the disease that Mazzy comes up isn’t very good – you have to try to trick yourself into not understanding what the ‘infected’ words mean and then you’re safe. It’s vague and (if I may be so bold) lame.

Lisa Houle as 'Sydney'

The incredible acting and the rugged good looks of Stephen McHattie can’t save this movie from being a huge letdown. Rave all you want about ‘originality’ in the plot, I think it’s the type of originality that follows the formula of ‘People get sick with a virus caused by ____”. Who’s sick of viruses causing mass destruction to the human race? Raise your hands!

"You! You did this, corporate Amerika and fascism and anti-bacterial soap and penicillin!"

It’s a neat little movie with a lot going for it in other areas, but the weird virus itself here is what takes away most of the scares from an audience (let’s face it) who is probably looking for some grotesque zombie action or avant-garde black humor. They won’t get any.