Line #67 Film/Pontypool


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2	[[caption-width-right:300:''[[TagLine Shut up or die.]]]]''
3
4	A Canadian horror film from 2008, set almost entirely inside a radio studio in the town of [[TitleDrop Pontypool]], Ontario. [[DumbassDJ Swaggering shock jock]] Grant Mazzy (Creator/StephenMcHattie) has just been hired by the local radio station, and this particular day sees the snowstorm from hell descend on Pontypool. After a strange encounter with a nonsensical woman who staggers off into the storm, he gets to work - immediately butting heads with producer Sydney Briar (Lisa Houle), who's assisted by staff member (and Afghanistan vet) Laurel-Ann Drummond (Creator/GeorginaReilly).
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6	Then, a ZombieApocalypse (of sorts) begins. Trapped in the snowstorm, the three try to keep track of the situation through the radio, and eventually face a siege.
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8	----
9	!!This film provides examples of:
10	* ActorAllusion: Creator/StephenMcHattie as an early-morning radio reporter, having previously played the original "Nite Owl" in ''{{Film/Watchmen}}''.
11	* AdaptationalNiceGuy: in both the film and radio versions the on-the-scene reporter Ken Loney [[spoiler: becomes infected and loses his mind live on-air]]. In both continuities Grant immediately tries to comfort a crying Sydney for her lost friend. In the film [[spoiler: Sydney clarifies that she's suspected for a long time that Ken was a pedophile and should be kept away from children, and is only crying from the shock of losing someone who she'd known for 17 straight years]]. In the radio version, this information is not revealed, and thus this version of Ken is technically blameless.
12	* AdmiringTheAbomination: Mendez's talk of the virus frequently tips into an eerie reverence and admiration of its ability to spread.
13	* AnAesop: During his anti-establishment tirade, Grant concludes that society duly deserved this virus, as it had already [[spoiler:perverted language beyond all recognition]].
14	* AgentMulder: Mendez, with Grant as his curmudgeonly [[AgentScully Scully]].
15	* AliensInCardiff: Shit goes down in the tiny, rural Ontario town of Pontypool (a word which just happens to be Welsh in origin).
16	* AllYourBaseAreBelongToUs: The radio station is breached.
17	* Creator/TheBBC: Pretty soon, the Pontypool situation becomes headline news.
18	* ApocalypseHow: [[spoiler: Presumably class 1 if the infection is contained to the English language; class 2 or 3 if it jumps to other languages. The events during the end credits suggest that a class 1 event is imminent, given that the infection is spreading.]]
19	* AxCrazy: The sanity of those infected gets worse as time goes on, until eventually they plunge into a perpetual UnstoppableRage.
20	* BetterToDieThanBeKilled: According to Mendez, the infected have this mindset by the third stage of the infection, looking for another infected person so they can chew each other to death and end their suffering before [[spoiler:they vomit out their own liquified viscera.]]
21	* BilingualBonus: [[spoiler: The infection is only spread through the English language. Don’t want to succumb to the infection? Knowing French or Armenian might help.]]
22	* BlackComedy: A few bits, but Mendez, immediately after [[spoiler:Laurel-Ann]] dies, is in fine form:
23	-->'''Mendez:''' My GOD that was impressive! (''He notices Sidney is throwing up'') Oh, oh, oh, and singularly monstrous, defies comprehension, I'm sorry, I'm sorry...
24	** Moments later, when the other "victims" swarm the station:
25	-->'''Mendez:''' There must be hundreds of them pressed against the building! What we need is a flamethrower.
26	* BloodFromTheMouth: Happens to [[spoiler: Laurel-Ann]] in very gory fashion. Dr. Mendez believes it's due to [[spoiler:her failing to kill herself with another sufferer of the infection.]]
27	* BreadEggsMilkSquick:
28	-->'''Grant:''' That was our own Ken Loney...interviewing...a screaming baby...coming from Mary Gault's eldest son's last dying gasps.
29	* {{Brownface}}: The two white kids dressed as bedouin for "Lawrence and the Arabians" have their faces painted dark brown, as does one of the adults accompanying them, who performs a cringe-worthy ululation at the end of their song.
30	** It's especially ludicrous - and we may be tempted to share Grant's frustration and disbelief that he has to feature them - in that the group has put on costumes and browned up for a ''radio performance'' with no cameras.
31	* BrownNote: [[spoiler:How the virus is spread.]]
32	* BuffySpeak: "I need the Mazzyness."
33	* CatScare: A subtle one. Just prior to things really beginning, the station gets a report of a kidnapping that has required police intervention. It is swiftly revealed to be nothing more than a group of drunken ice fishers having a fight and has been resolved almost as quickly as it started to Grant's amusement. [[spoiler: Cue the reports of a riot happening in Dr. Mendez's office...]]
34	* ChekhovsGun: ''(bemused)'' "Mrs. French's cat is missing. The signs are posted all over town..." Also the soundbooth, which allows them to hide from [[spoiler:Laurel Ann]].
35	** If the signs are all over town, then everyone in town has been consciously or subconsciously meditating on the word "Honey", a term of endearment - the very type of word that [[spoiler: the French government later specifically warns against as particularly infectious]].
36	* CityMouse: Grant is a disgraced shock jock from the big city and is still getting adjusted to life in a tiny rural town.
37	* CreepyChild: Happens with one of the singers who visits the studio. [[spoiler: Later, she appears in full-on zombie form.]]
38	* DeadlineNews: [[spoiler:The news crew get's regular updates from their "traffic helicopter" reporter Ken Loney who is stuck out in the middle of the action.]]
39	* DeathOfAChild: [[spoiler:Grant and Sydney are attacked by the youngest member of Lawrence and the Arabians, who showed earlier the signs of infection and are forced to kill her]].
40	* DeliberatelyMonochrome: Grant's disturbing obituaries are read over stylized black and white footage of the victims. TheStinger is also in monochrome.
41	* DoNotGoGentle:
42	-->"This is Grant Mazzy for CSLY Radio Nowhere. ...''And I'm still here, you cocksuckers.''"
43	* DoubleSpeak: Mendez comes up with this method of evading infection. Grant takes it a step further by [[spoiler:substituting "kill" for "kiss,"]] and so on.
44	-->'''Sydney:''' I don't think we're saving the world with shitty haiku.\
45	'''Grant:''' [[BlackHumor Everybody's a critic.]]
46	* DownerEnding: It's a zombie film, what would you expect? [[spoiler:Though Grant and Sydney have found a (theoretical) way to cure the infection, the town gets bombed anyway. It doesn't stop the spread, though; the closing credits are a voice-over montage of other radio stations and callers reporting the beginnings of the same strange events in Pontypool. The last lines we hear are the BBC anchor repeating "Pontypool, Pontypool," sounding rather bewildered.]]
47	** GainaxEnding: In a quirky twist, [[spoiler:Grant and Syd's supposed deaths are followed more black & white footage, except they're dressed as a couple of Tarantino-style hipsters (!)]] The color returns as Grant [[QuipToblack Quips to Black.]]
48	* DumbassDJ: Grant behaves like this early on.
49	* ExtremelyShortTimespan: The entire story and events in regards to the Pontypool-incident takes place within the span of twenty-four hours, maximum.
50	* FacialHorror: WordOfGod [[https://web.archive.org/web/20090316051142/http://shocktillyoudrop.com/news/festivaloffearnews.php?id=7454 from the director, Bruce McDonald]], confirms this is the third stage of the "Infection", where [[spoiler:"''you become so distraught at your condition that the only way out situation you feel, as an infected person, is to try and chew your way through the mouth of another person''".]]
51	** A complication of this is where [[spoiler: the "other person" the sufferer hears is not a person at all but an object such as speakers or a sound booth]] and the sufferer becomes badly injured as a result, or as in [[spoiler: the case of Laurel-Ann, where the "other person" is visible but not audible, at which point (in her case), the sufferer begins ''chewing on their '''own''' face'' as a kind of 'relief'.]]
52	* FearfulSymmetry: The infected have an unnerving habit of parroting anything you say to them in the later stages of the disease.
53	* TheFilmOfTheBook: Based on the novel ''Pontypool Changes Everything'' by Tony Burgess.
54	* FluffyTheTerrible: In a very strange way. This whole mess supposedly began with a [[spoiler:flyer for a missing cat, "Honey." While Honey is presumably a totally normal cat, the cutesy name ''itself'' is implied to have been the cause of the outbreak.]]
55	* ForScience: Dr. Mendez is a hilarious, over-the-top nod to grindhouse "scientists" who are fascinated by the infection, and not terribly concerned about the victims.
56	* FromBeyondTheFourthWall: [[https://bogleech.com/cinema/mm29-pontypool A deeper analysis]] of the book, the film and the radio play posits the theory that the language virus - the "entity" within the English language - has [[spoiler: managed to infect the various media through which we learn about it]]. In the book, this involves [[spoiler: the narrative gradually breaking down and becoming derealised, the final chapters barely comprehensible and totally unrelated to the original story]]. In the film, [[spoiler: this takes the form of the surreal coda in which Sydney and Grant have seemingly taken on new identities and can only speak in code]].
57	* FunnyForeigner: John Mendez, Pontypool's very own [[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons Dr. Nick]]. He's currently under suspicion for writing false prescriptions.
58	* GoryDiscretionShot: The camera focuses on a wall poster advertising the station as [[spoiler: Grant and Sydney kick a twelve-year-old zombie to death]].
59	* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler:Mendez, the doctor, sacrifices his life to save Grant and Sydney from the infected.]]
60	* HoistByHisOwnPetard: Sort of, when the BBC calls and gets Grant on the air. He's usually the one asking the questions...
61	* HopeSpot:
62	** After first becoming increasingly "stuck" on a particular word, and then frequently going nonverbal and imitating the sound of nearby objects, the infected reach a stage where they appear to regain some verbal ability and can again hold limited conversations with people, suggesting the start of a recovery. [[spoiler: Unfortunately, it is not. The disease has actually progressed, and as Dr. Mendez notes, the infected are essentially engaging in hunting tactics, as they require verbal responses to track down victims.]]
63	** [[spoiler: When Grant realizes how the disorder is spread and attempts to broadcast the "cure" over the airwaves.]]
64	** After [[spoiler: the destruction of Pontypool, one survivor calls in another radio station who seems to have overcome the virus. If that survivor or any others have been listening to Grant's last broadcast and have escaped destruction, then he may have planted a seed for others to understand what they needed to do to combat the virus.]]
65	* HorrorDoesntSettleForSimpleTuesday: The film happens entirely in one February 14th, Valentine's Day. This is part of the plot, because [[spoiler:as stated above the virus is spread especially quickly when using terms of endearment and baby talk, and lovers are prone to do that on Valentine's Day]].
66	* InnocentlyInsensitive: It's clear from watching them that Pontypool's amateur singing group "Lawrence and the Arabians" imagines that their performance of a Gilbert and Sullivan-pastiche called "The Nafud Desert" (an important locale in the Arab Revolt the actual TE Lawrence took part of) is respectful of Arab culture. It is not.
67	* InsaneTrollLogic: [[spoiler:The cure. In the end, Grant gives an impassioned speech filled with this, imploring his audience to "stop making sense."]]
68	* ItsProbablyNothing: Apart from Grant, the station originally dismisses the outbreak as a hoax.
69	* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Grant.
70	* LastKiss: Sydney and Grant share one as the fate of the radio station is left ambiguous.
71	* LostPetGrievance: the movie begins with "Honey the Cat", beloved pet of Pontypool resident Mrs. Frenchie, missing and sought-after, Arguably [[spoiler: the missing posters all over town with the word "Honey" on them are [[FridgeHorror what kick-starts the language infection]].]]
72	** A hilarious moment of MoodWhiplash occurs later in the film when, after one of its most disturbing moments [[spoiler: (on-the-scene reporter Ken Loney live recording the sound of a toddler's voice coming from the throat of a dying, mutilated teenager suffering from the infection)]], Sydney gets another call and confirms that Honey the cat has been found! Grant responds, relatably, with silent bafflement.
73	* MadnessMantra: Subverted. [[spoiler: While people infected with the disease speak in madness mantras, Dr.Mendez hypothesizes that this is how the victims seek out other victims. Grant believes it's actually the victims' brains trying to fight off the madness by making the diseased words incomprehensible]].
74	* MagicCountdown: At the very end of the film. [[spoiler: We never learn what it’s counting down ''to'', as the movie ends at zero.]]
75	* MindScrew: [[spoiler: The stinger after the credits.]]
76	* MistakenForInsane: When Dr. Mendez [[spoiler: briefly succumbs to the infection, but then manages to fight it off by speaking in his native Armenian, Syd and Grant become convinced by his manic musing aloud in Armenian on what he's just discovered that he's been overcome by the virus.]]
77	* MortonsFork: Grant pulls one on Sydney: [[spoiler: When they are forced to kill the infected girl and believe they will need to take out the doctor next, Grant argues that since Sydney was responsible for killing the girl, she should have to kill the doctor as well. When Sydney protests that ''Grant'' was the one who killed the girl, Grant counters that this means that it's Sydney's turn to kill the doctor.]]
78	* MrExposition: Mendez.
79	* NiceJobBreakingItHero:
80	** Possibly. Given the way the virus spreads, Sydney theorizes that they might have propagated it [[spoiler:through repeated mention of Honey the missing cat. Grant initially thinks she's off her rocker, but later it's suggested she might be right.]]
81	** The French warning early in the film ''ends'' with [[spoiler: Do not translate this message]]. Sounds like it should have been at the beginning, or repeated throughout the signal.
82	* NoodleIncident: We're not told what caused Grant to get fired from his previous job, but given that he's a shock jock, you can infer that he pissed off the wrong person, or too many of them.
83	* NonSequitur: PlayedForHorror. When somebody first gets infected, they recite one of these a few times before entering the first stage of the infection: a MadnessMantra.
84	* NotUsingTheZWord: The producers stress that the infectees are not zombies, but [[spoiler: "conversationalists."]]
85	* OhCrap: "Do not translate...this...message." Oops.
86	* OnceForYesTwiceForNo: Grant and Syd later try scribbling notes to avoid being infected. [[spoiler:It doesn't work.]]
87	* OurZombiesAreDifferent: ''Very much so.'' They're not walking dead, they're not created through physical bites, but through [[spoiler: ''sound'' bytes: words infecting the mind and causing people to go crazy. Also, they parrot the last words they say/hear. They do eat people, but WordOfGod is that they aren't ''trying'' to eat people, exactly, but are instead utterly convinced that the only way to end their affliction is to chew their way into the mouth of another person. He also refers to them as "[[NotUsingTheZWord conversationalists]]" rather than zombies.]]
88	* PaedoHunt: Played with in reference to [[spoiler: Ken Loney. Sydney muses that everyone always suspected him, and they never left him alone with their kids.]]
89	* PrivacyByDistraction: Grant transmitting a BrokenRecord recording through the speakers, drawing the mob away from his booth and back outside.
90	* ARealManIsAKiller: [[spoiler: Subverted. After Grant and Sydney kill the infected girl from Lawrence and the Arabians in self-defense, Grant is reluctant to admit that they ''both'' killed her.]]
91	* ReassignedToAntarctica: Even though its a brief one-way conversation, it's pretty clear that whatever Grant did to get himself fired from his previous job, it tainted his prospects so badly that the middle-of-nowhere job of Pontypool was pretty much the only place he could get work.
92	* ResignedToTheCall: Rather than try to save his own skin, Grant is determined to broadcast his "cure" on the airwaves.
93	-->"People are ''already'' dying, Syd. And we've been playing [[GenreMotif/EasyListening Muzak.]] Do we really want to provide a genocide with ''elevator music''?"
94	* ShellShockedVeteran: Laurel-Ann seems well-adjusted, but she mentions "the situation I brought back in my head," alluding to some possible lingering psychological trauma.
95	* ShoutOut: A copy of Neal Stephenson's ''Literature/SnowCrash'' is displayed suspiciously prominently in one scene. ''Snow Crash'' also deals heavily with [[spoiler: infections transmitted via language.]]
96	* SnowMeansDeath: The film takes place with a severe snowstorm outside.
97	* SpoofAesop: "Keep an eye out for crazy ladies in the snow."
98	* SurvivalHorror: Eventually.
99	* TechnicallyLivingZombie: Lampshaded by Grant, who refers to them as "scared people." Conversely, an MP in the closing credits expresses hope that the mob was already dead when he took them out.
100	* TragicMonster: Since the infectees don't start off dead like regular zombies, in the first moments of infection they are [[spoiler:aware that they've begun speaking nonsense]], as we see with [[spoiler:Laurel-Ann, Ken, and the good Doctor]]. Many of them seem to be confused and terrified by what's happening to them, indicating that they may be fully cognizant of what they're doing but are suffering some irresistible compulsion.
101	* UltimateLifeForm: Alluded to with Mendez's calling the infection a "god-bug".
102	* {{Understatement}}: "This is a hell of a shift, Sydney!"
103	* TheVoice: Ken Loney in his Sunshine Chopper. ([[spoiler:Actually his Dodge Dart, parked on a hill, while [[AC:helicopterrotor.wav]] is piped in.)]]
104	* WhamLine: When Dr. Mendez realizes how the infection is transmitted.
105	-->'''Dr. Mendez:''' It's viral, that much is clear. But…not of the blood. Of blood, not in the air. Not on, or even in, our bodies. It is here.
106	--> '''Grant:''' Where?
107	--> '''Dr. Mendez:''' [[spoiler:It is in words.]]
108	* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Where did [[spoiler:the rest of Lawrence and the Arabians go? Why was 'Faraj' seemingly left alone at the radio station? Who found Honey the cat, and did either of them survive?]]
109	* WithCatlikeTread: In an amusing sequence, Grant and Syd accidentally trigger "O Canada", which blares from an overhead speaker. Grant takes a hammer to it, but the [[spoiler:conversationalists have already been summoned]].
110	* WordSaladHorror: The second stage of the infection is this. The sufferer starts spouting nonsensical sentences, unable to truly communicate.
111	* ZombieApocalypse: An unconventional take.
112	* ZombieInfectee: Numerous. The first one is [[spoiler:the woman]] from the beginning of the film. [[spoiler: Laurel-Ann soon becomes one. So does Sydney, but she [[UnexplainedRecovery gets better.]] Grant has a brief brush with TheVirus, but the sheer ''confusion'' of what's going on outside that he experience manage to snap him out from it.]]

Context Film / Pontypool