Pontypool (film)

Pontypool
Promotional film poster
Directed by	Bruce McDonald
Produced by	Jeffrey Coghlan Ambrose Roche
Screenplay by	Tony Burgess
Based on	Pontypool Changes Everything by Tony Burgess
Starring	Stephen McHattie Lisa Houle Georgina Reilly Hrant Alianak Rick Roberts Boyd Banks Tony Burgess Rachel Burns
Music by	Claude Foisy
Cinematography	Miroslaw Baszak
Editing by	Jeremiah Munce
Studio	Ponty Up Pictures Shadow Shows
Distributed by	Maple Pictures
Release date(s)	March 6, 2009 (2009-03-06)
Running time	95 minutes
Country	Canada
Language	English French
Budget	$1.5 million
Box office	$32,118

Pontypool is a 2009 psychological thriller directed by Bruce McDonald and adapted by Tony Burgess from Burgess' novel Pontypool Changes Everything.

Plot

In the small town of Pontypool, Ontario, former shock jock turned radio announcer Grant Mazzy encounters a woman lightly clothed on a heavy snow-filled morning, who startles him when he makes a stop in his car. When he calls out to her, she disappears into the darkness, repeating his words ominously and visibly disturbing him. When he arrives for his shift at the radio station he is accompanied by technical assistant Laurel-Ann Drummond and station manager Sydney Briar.

As the morning proceeds, Grant's tactics for his radio announcements garner ire from Sydney as Laurel-Ann tries to settle their differences. They get a report from their weather and traffic helicopter reporter Ken Loney (actually a man on a hill with sound effects mimicking a helicopter) about a possible riot at the office of Doctor Mendez in Pontypool. What he describes is a scene of chaos and carnage which results in the deaths of numerous people, immediately grabbing Grant's attention and puzzling the women as their live wire has not gotten any word of this. After Ken is unexpectedly cut off, the group tries to confirm the report, but they are not able to find much as their witnesses are disconnected before they even make it to the airwaves. Ken calls back amid the chaos and manages to spot the "infected" son of a well-known Pontypool citizen nearby mumbling to himself. Before Ken is able to hear what the son is saying, the call is again cut off, this time by a startling transmission of garbled French that Laurel-Ann is able to translate.

The transmission is an instruction to remain indoors, not to use terms of endearment, phrases that conflict, or the English language. Pontypool is declared to be under quarantine. Ken then manages to call back, this time close enough for Grant and the women to listen to what the infected son is saying, which is nothing but "Mommy" in a child's voice. In confusion and disbelief, Grant tries to leave the station, but a horde of people attack, and Grant, Sydney, and Laurel-Ann lock themselves in. Meanwhile, Laurel-Ann begins demonstrating erratic behavior. She fixates on the word "miss," repeating it over and over, then imitates the sound of a boiling kettle, ceaselessly singing its tune. Dr. Mendez enters the studio and Grant, Sydney, and Mendez lock themselves in Grant's soundproof booth where Laurel-Ann cannot hear them.

Mendez explains his theory that somehow a virus has found its way into human language, infecting certain words and that only certain words infect certain people. Once these infected words are said and understood, the virus takes hold of the host. As he explains this, Laurel-Ann begins a series of increasingly violent slams against the sound booth's window, chewing off her lower lip and splattering blood with each attack. Ken calls in again and, while on the air, he also succumbs to this strange attack on the language, repeating the word "sample."

Soon, Dr. Mendez begins to repeat the word "breathe" but immediately begins speaking in languages other than English, which stifles, but not eliminates, the symptoms. Outside the booth, Laurel-Ann opens her mouth and vomits a large amount of blood and gore. Mendez suspects this has happened since Laurel-Ann failed to pass the infection on to a new host. The horde then breaks into the radio station, attacking the sound booth. Sydney records a loop of Grant saying "Sydney Briar is alive" and plays it over the station's outdoor loudspeaker as a diversion to lead the mob away. Mendez surmises that it is only the English language that was affected by the virus. Grant and Sydney, speaking in French, leave him alone in the booth. They are nearly killed when the recording fails and the mob returns, but Mendez successfully lures them away from the studio.

In guilt over killing a young girl who had been infected, Sydney begins to succumb to the word "kill". Grant then attempts to "disinfect" Sydney by convincing her that the word kill now means "kiss". Having her repeat "Kill is kiss" over and over again begins to work as her symptoms subside, until she is finally cured when she tells Grant to "kill" her--he then proceeds to kiss her. Armed with knowledge on how to stop the virus, the pair go on the air, spouting a series of non-contradicting and confusing phrases to help their infected listeners, ignoring warnings from the authorities who are trying to get them off the air. As an amplified voice from outside counts down from ten, Sydney joins Grant in the booth and they kiss once again. As the countdown finishes, the screen goes dark, implying the station has been destroyed.

The scenes that follow indicate that the infection quarantine failed as reports of people afflicted by the language virus start to rise, including the announcer of a news station whose words are heard over the credits. When that ends, the scene shifts to a radically different view: a stylized black-and-white version of Grant and Sydney in what looks like a far-eastern atmosphere which gradually shifts into color, hinting to the audience they did survive their ordeal, if perhaps only in spirit.

Cast

• Stephen McHattie as Grant Mazzy
• Lisa Houle as Sydney Briar
• Georgina Reilly as Laurel-Ann Drummond
• Hrant Alianak as Dr. Mendez
• Rick Roberts as Ken Loney
• Boyd Banks as Jay (Osama)
• Tony Burgess as Tony (Lawrence)
• Rachel Burns as Colin (Daud)

Production

Pontypool is based on Tony Burgess' novel Pontypool Changes Everything. Burgess adapted the material for the screen himself. According to McDonald, the writer hashed out a script in 48 hours. Orson Welles' infamous radio broadcast of The War of the Worlds inspired the approach that they decided to take. It was simultaneously produced as a motion picture and a radio play.

Filming took place in Toronto, Ontario and on location in Pontypool itself.

At Rue Morgue's 2008 Festival of Fear expo, director Bruce McDonald stressed the victims of the virus detailed in the film were not zombies and called them "conversationalists". He described the stages of the disease:

There are three stages to this virus. The first stage is you might begin to repeat a word. Something gets stuck. And usually it's words that are terms of endearment like sweetheart or honey. The second stage is your language becomes scrambled and you can't express yourself properly. The third stage you become so distraught at your condition that the only way out of the situation you feel, as an infected person, is to try and chew your way through the mouth of another person.

Release

Rue Morgue and ChiZine Publications held a special screening of Pontypool on 3 December 2009 at the Toronto Underground Cinema. After the screening, it featured a Q&A with Stephen McHattie, Lisa Houle, and Tony Burgess.

The film was released theatrically in Canada on March 6, 2009. The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray on 25 January 2010.

Reception

Pontypool received generally positive reviews from critics, currently holding a 83% rating on Rotten Tomatoes; the consensus states: "Witty and restrained but still taut and funny, this Pontypool is a different breed of low-budget zombie film." On Metacritic, which uses an average of critics' reviews, the film has a rating of 54/100, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

Accolades

Chlotrudis Awards - Best Adapted Screenplay

• 2010 Genie Nominee - Best Actor, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay

External links

• Pontypool at the Internet Movie Database
• Pontypool at AllRovi
• Pontypool at Box Office Mojo
• Pontypool at Rotten Tomatoes
• Pontypool at Metacritic
• Pontypool at Bloody Disgusting Horror
• Interview with Bruce McDonald about Pontypool at ion magazine
• Interview with Bruce McDonald and Actors at FEARnet
• Summary at Shocktilyoudrop.com
• Pontypool at Movies You May Have Missed (with response from Tony Burgess)