It’s thrilling to see the Canadian film industry step behind one of its own, especially one as talented as Bruce McDonald.
McDonald is on a roll. Though the director has kept himself busy over the last few years, he seems to finally be getting some acclaim outside of Canada and last year’s The Tracey Fragments which starred “it” girl of the moment Ellen Page, garnered even more international attention for the Canadian director (though I believe the experimental aspect of the film may also have something to do with the added attention).
Now, home grown distributor Maple Pictures has picked up Canadian distribution rights for McDonald’s upcoming film Pontypool which will premiere at TIFF later this year. The film stars Stephen McHattie, Lisa Houle, Georgina Reilly, Hrant Alianak and Rick Roberts in a story about a washed-up small-town radio DJ who becomes trapped with his crew after getting reports of a virus spreading through town.
Aside from this being his first foray into horror, the film also continues McDonald’s experimental streak. The film is the first full-length Canadian feature shot with the Red One 4K HD camera not to mention that it is also the first film shot in that format to screen at TIFF. That’s a lot of firsts.
I don’t expect Maple will release this until sometime in ’09 and how wide it will open is still up in the air but it’s reassuring to know if we miss it at TIFF, we’ll have an opportunity to see it!
I’ll be catching this one in the next couple weeks for sure.
I think it’s amazing to see a movie about Zombies, has anyone ever thought of this as an idea before? This is fucking genius.
I just can’t believe there’s a movie based in the small town that I grew up in. No one has ever heard of Pontypool before so this is very exciting and I can’t wait for it to come to theatre’s!!
You won’t be disappointed Andrea, it’s one of the ‘best in class’ zombie styled flicks. Really sharp and more importantly, really fun.
I finally saw this. It’s kind of ridiculous how the rowthree gang just falls all over any canadian production. Doing a site wide search for Pontypool reveals some pretty bombastic praise for this modest thriller.
It’s experimental to use the red camera?!?!WTFOMG?! Did you also enjoy the experimental film Night at the Museaum 2?
It’s one of the best of the zombie class? Kurt, no it’s not. It’s maybe about as good as Return of the Living Dead or something like that. It’s basically a radio drama adapted to the big screen, which is fine but I think other productions have gotten more suspense out of a claustrophobic setting.
Kurt persistently calls it a “semiotics zombie movie” but I’m afraid I just didn’t get much out of that angle. I thought it was pretty heavy handed.
Pontypool was made well before the Night and the Museum 2 and District 9 was made. Pontypool and CHE were the pioneer feature films with that camera. Keep in mind that Pontypool was shot in April 2008 or so.
Also, it’s not just the “R3 Gang” that flipped for this film, note Where the Long Tail Ends, Jay Cheel @ Filmjunk, an 82% RT score (which is kinda crazy for a Zombie flick), etc. etc.
And yea, it is very much one of the best of ZOMBIE CLASS, lots to chew on in that movie, more than your average zombie-romp for sure. Sorry you didn’t get much out of it, but having seen the thing 4 times now, I have a blast with it each time.
It may help to be Canadian (and Ontario/Quebec resident) however, as there are a lot of regional in-jokes in there….
Is Zombie Class a proper noun. I don’t know what it refers too.
Top of Zombie Class = as Zombie films go, PONTYPOOL is one of the better ones, one of the ‘best,’ actually.
@ Top of Zombie Class = as Zombie films go, PONTYPOOL is one of the better ones, one of the ‘best,’ actually.
Kurt, no it is not. That’s ridiculous. It’s standard zombie fare with a somewhat pretentious hook. That speech Stephen McHattie gives at the end (kill is kiss! kill is kiss!) is just… it’s like you have an idea but it’s not a particularly cinematic so you end up just having a character give a speech about it.
It’s just a very modest movie whose claim to be “a zombie with brains” is mostly a pretense. NotLD was mostly set in one environment, it had social satire, in fact I think it did that far better. I don’t see this adding much to the formula. I think its main innovation to be from the perspective of the news caster. But I don’t think it does much with that.
Fair enough Rusty, we’ll agree to disagree on this one. I love the way ‘language’ and ‘broadcasting’ were equated with a virus and transmission of a virus. I love the sense of humour in the film and I love the lead actor. I think the concept is handled with more wit and intelligence than 99% of Zombie (or general genre films) out there.
But admittedly it is not for all tastes, and you are going to find what you look for in it.
@ I love the way ‘language’ and ‘broadcasting’ were equated with a virus and transmission of a virus…
It seems like an idea they tried to marry with the zombie genre to create some fussion style but what they ended up with is half assed. It’s neither cerebral nor visceral. They really don’t figure out how to make the one setting work completely. I felt like they ran out of ideas at the one third mark.
I think Man From Earth is a much better one set movie.
Respectfully disagree Rusty… and I’m not Canadian and couldn’t care less about what country a film comes from.
What makes this movie most interesting is there really aren’t any zombies. You get to picture what is going on for most of the film in your head. You probably have a completely different idea of what “the mob” in the story looks and sounds like than I do. I love getting the description of what is going on but not seeing it.
And there are scenes here that are flat out strange/creepy (the strange French transmission out of nowhere).
**SPOILER***
And the idea that language can spread a virus or trigger something in the brain is a pretty neat concept I think. It keep you thinking and guessing and hypothesizing for days. I love that about this movie. And Kurt is right – Steven McHattie was great in this – almost worth it right there.
@ and I’m not Canadian
FACT! You’re from Minnesotta which is north of Canada.
@ What makes this movie most interesting is there really aren’t any zombies.
yes there are.
This is what I don’t like about the movie. It’s got a bunch of stuff that sounds good to talk about but doesn’t play very well in the film.
It’s a zombie movie with NO ZOMBIES OMGWTF1111!! Except for the zombies that show up half way through.
The opening bit with the McHattie’s voice is another one. It’s clever I guess, but it doesn’t really have anything to do with the movie, other than y’know… words n’ stuff.
This film is the Behind the Mask of 2009. A film whose supporters claim turns the genre on it’s ear, and whose detractors say is as uninspired and played out as they come.
BTW I didn’t see the after the credit scene.
And just to be clear, McHattie, the radio drama feel of the story, these are all virtues of the film that I appreciate but I just by 30-40 minutes in it’s completely run out of steam. They don’t figure out enough places to go with it.
And then they’ve gotta tack on this semiotics / word virus angle, which good or bad (and I lean towards good) isn’t the most filmic idea of all time. And what they come up with is to have McHattie literally give a speech about it, like some hippie college professor reject from Waking Life. LAME.
Has anyone seen Baghead? Compare and contrast.
Baghead still pending for me….hopefully by the end of the year…
Compare Baghead to Pontypool? Seriously?
I guess if Pontypool is the BTM of 2009 then Bag Head is the BTM of 2008.
Three films that don’t necessarily have much in common other than they’re indie takes on the genre, trying to attract a different type of audience by turning the conventions on their ear. They’re all attempting to infuse the genre with some kind of indie irony.
Of the group Baghead is hands down my favorite. For one it’s the film that actually kept me guessing.
For another, unlike Pontypool, I think it actually gets a lot of milage (or kilometer-age for our canadian friends) from its small cast and single location. It really milks ‘em for all they’re worth.
And it’s a marriage of horror and comedy that isn’t just copying screams answers to the test.
@ Compare Baghead to Pontypool? Seriously?
Well Marina, looks like I’ve anticipated your question. Bag Head is the far superior film. My score card looks like this:
Bag Head: **** (I have a feeling I came out it thinking 3.5 but it’s grown in my estimation)
Pontypool: **1/2 (to be fair I’ve been consentrating more on it’s negatives. Maybe under other circumstances I would’ve taken the other way down the slope and arrived at 3 stars)
Leslie Nelson Whatever: * (a terrible film)
So they’re pretty evenly spaced out.
That’s not comparing, that is merely giving film ratings on two films with a note about how you have been thinking about them after, not what you are actually thinking.
@ That’s not comparing, that is merely giving film ratings on two films
I meant that I compared them above, with all that stuff I wrote. That’s what I meant by having anticipated her question. And there are three films.
And I don’t understand the second half of your sentence.
Have you really compared Baghead to Pontypool? was the second half of my sentence.
The opening bit with the McHattie’s voice is another one. It’s clever I guess, but it doesn’t really have anything to do with the movie, other than y’know… words n’ stuff.
Actually McHattie’s speech, which was broadcast the previous day, is probably what caused the outbreak.
Matt, I’ve heard others claim that as well. Where ever that’s suggested I guess I missed it.
Is it the stinger after the credits?
It’s the name “PONTYPOOL” which is the trigger, and perhaps the way Grant Mazzy kept repeating it in various variations in the opening bit that was the trigger, This is reasonably obvious.
No, the stinger on the film is a somewhat non-sequitor, or veiled reference to the ‘meta-verse’ from Neil Stephenson’s SNOW CRASH, a sci-fi (cyberpunk) novel dealing with a computer virus which comes out into the biological world and is passed through language/images/brain.
That cat’s name is also Honey, which he says several times, and when you hear the French disrupt the broadcast one of the words they specifically cite to avoid is honey.
There is also a very subtle hint that the producer infected her own children, which is probably how the disease will spread outside of Pontypool.
I didn’t pick up on this at all until I watched it a second (or it might have even been the third) time. I really think the biggest strength of this film is just how much it improves with each viewing, as their are tns of very subtle clues and queues throughout it that help tie everything together, That probably is what also could account for some of your issues with it not being very cinematic as much of what it is doing is not really meant to be showy.
Hopefully you at least enjoyed it enough to give it another shot at a later date, as I think you’ll find you enjoy it more on the rewatch.
The opening Monologue of PONTYPOOL is such a great awesome moment that even if the rest of the film sucked (which it most certainly does not) it would still make the film worth checking out.
I love the cadence of McHattie’s voice and the oscilliscope visuals. I suggested to several folks that that speech with the oscilliscope should have been the trailer for the movie. People would have talked more about the movie methinks if they had gone that non-traditional route instead of the rote zombie-movie-trailer they went with…