For your safety, please avoid contact with family members. For greater safety avoid the English language.
Grant Mazzy (Stephen McHattie), is a big city DJ finding himself at a small town radio station in the basement of a church. Grant starts to get various reports of violence throughout the town. At first his ‘take no prisoners’ attitude and constant stereo typing of the small town life is a big joke to him. But, when the reports get more frequent, and when he realizes things are getting pretty serious. Grant starts singing a little different tune.
Grant’s weather man, Ken, reports of the mob outside a doctor’s office. Described as a riot like group of towns people trying to all get into the office, people are getting trampled and it seems like a very crazy situation. Suddenly we hear that the military is already on the scene as well. This is Ken’s queue to head out. He starts screaming about the road being blocked right before he is cut off.
‘Grant, I’ve just seen things that will ruin my natural life. I’m scared, I’m scared, they’re like cannibals.’ We really get a sense of Ken’s very real fear.
Stephen McHattie does a great job in his role. He could really pull off the DJ bit pretty well. He has that Lance Henriksen voice that just makes you soak up every word he says. Which is a good thing, because Pontypool seems to rely on this for the better part of the movie. Grant Mazzy along with the rest of the characters start to tell a story. From the very beginning they keep our minds wandering, and we want to know what the hell is going on. Its a little different plot than what we are used to in this type of horror film. Even though it does take a little while to get some action in the movie. Its given to us at just the right time. Be prepared for something you haven’t seen before. As we figure out the root of all the carnage, its a good thing we are broken in easily. Because, its a gutsy move that worked out perfect. I love it when I find an original movie that works as well as this one does.
OVERALL SUMMARY
Pontypool tells a very unique story from front to back. Its strange and original with some logical reasoning behind it. Stephen McHattie makes this movie. I honestly don’t think it would have happened without him. Its great that a horror movie can provide a real sense of fear without being flooded with the blood and gore we tend to expect out of the traditional film. Our imagination helps us through this as the story is told. Even though the character development is fairly minimal. Their emotions and fear seem true, and are felt by the viewer. Especially Ken! This is a great movie for those that want something more out of a horror movie. Pontypool gives the brain something to chew on and provides a great story that seems to have become non existent in other horror films in the past decade. 4 out of 5 stars for me. And, in the near future I will hopefully have some news on the ‘in development’ Pontypool Changes film, which is currently in the scripting stages.
