McQualude Review of Pontypool

Pontypool (2008)

The really scary part is how many Pontypool zombies are already among us.

[8/10 · 12 October 2009]

I really, really, hate to give anything away but many people seem to be missing the obvious... that words hold power, they are infectious and can lead to unintended consequences. Stephen McHattie steals the show as the cowboy hat wearing radio talk show host Grant Mazzy. Mazzy was recently fired from his real gig and is now the morning show in the small town of Pontypool. Between reports of school closings and traffic reports, Mazzy tries to provoke (wake up) his audience with charged language but Mazzy is about to learn that words have consequences. First he offends his producer and a casual joke turns out not to be funny when it hits too close to home. Then reports of mob violence start flooding the station. As the bloodshed escalates and threatens Mazzy and his morning crew they slowly learn the true nature of the threat and the power of their own words. Pontypool holds relevant lessons for us all. There is some blood and mild gore but the really scary part is how many Pontypool type zombies are already among us.