Pontypool Review

Reviews

Low budget horror that falls short of getting many screams

Oct 1st 2009 By Matt Glasby

Put a John Carpenter-esque hero (grizzled DJ Stephen McHattie) in a George A Romero-type scenario (a zombie infestation engulfing a rural radio station) with a Cronenbergian conceit (the infection is aurally transmitted) and what have you got?

A sizeable advance on director Bruce McDonald’s The Tracey Fragments, that’s what.

Big on atmos, low on incident, this claustrophobic chiller captures the hysteria of a town flailing on the frontline of disaster.

Conjuring an (offscreen) armageddon with just three leads, minimal gore and some alarming soundbites, it’s a lesson in economical filmmaking that only flips from ingenuity to incredulity in the garbled last act.

Film Details

15
UK Theatrical Release Date: Oct 16th 2009
Genre
- Horror,
- Thriller
Starring
- Stephen Mchattie,
- Lisa Houle
Director
- Bruce Mcdonald

Try This...

Pontypool News and Features

Watch the trailer

User Reviews

Join Log In with Facebook

- captainchod
  Mar 9th 2010, 13:22
  
  While everything is happening off screen and snippets are being given over the phones, this is 5 star material. Some of the images are fantastic and truly frightening. However once we see the 'zombies' and have the concept explained etc, it pretty much implodes on itself.
  Alert a moderator