A once big shot radio personality, Grant Mazzy, has found himself reading off news, weather, traffic, and local events in Pontypool, Ontario.  His new radio gig is broadcast from the basement of an abandoned church.  The calls from Ken in the ”Sunshine Chopper” concerning the traffic…yeah, there’s no real helicopter, it’s sound effects- Ken sits in his car on a hill overlooking the highways.   How the mighty fall.

His morning show technician, Laurel-Ann, practically worships him, but he is often at odds with the producer, Sydney.  She constantly has to remind him of his position, what his job is (read off the news, the weather, the traffic report), and it’s a lot like dealing with an angry, old, lion that’s been held in captivity for far too long and wants to break free and run amok.  Grant gets through his mornings with a little help from liquor.

On one routine, snowy, day a riot erupts in Pontypool.  A mob has descended on the offices of Dr. John Mendez.  Reports are sketchy, with no official word from the news services, and their only eyewitness reports come from Ken.  The traffic reporter is scared and horrified, relaying reports of people acting crazed, extremely violent, and committing cannibalism.  Grant tries to calm Ken, but then Ken succumbs to…something…and begins talking nonsense.  Then they lose Ken.

Grant, Laurel-Ann, and Sydney become barricaded in the church basement.  They are soon joined by the fleeing Dr. Mendez, who can’t shed a lot of light on the subject.  What little information Mendez is armed with doesn’t reassure the group any.  Mendez can identify the symptoms that lead to feral behavior, and he has figured out how the virus, or whatever it is, is spread.  It’s spread through the English language.


I didn’t care for Pontypool.  Stephen McHattie is wonderful in the lead as Grant Mazzy; he’s grizzled, bitter, a smartass, a fading rebel.  He steals the show.  Everyone else just falls into place and tries to keep up with him.  Even the movie.

There has to be some way to make the material work, but Pontypool can’t find it.  A word virus?  I just didn’t buy it, I felt it was absurd, and just plain, down right, silly.  Which is a shame, especially for McHattie- he’s the only reason to see the movie.

Pontypool starts good, creating an otherworldly feel to the early morning hours; as a daysleeper myself, I can relate, and the movie gets that right.  As the film progresses, the claustrophobia sets in, and that’s done well.  By the middle of the film, though, it begins a descent into a farcical territory with which its minimalist suspense clashes.  It doesn’t work.  Plus that whole “word virus” thing is just silly, and the monsters just aren’t that interesting.

2.5 out of 5
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