"Pontypool"....anyone seen it yet???

[JDFP]

Didn't really care for it at all. I liked the general idea of the film as it's solid, but the whole "English is a virus!" thing was just 'meh' to me. Why not Chinese or Swahili or another language with "infected" words? Just don't get it. I do give kudos for not over-saturating the film with bad CGI (which is 90% of CGI anyway if you ask me) and I appreciate a film where stuff isn't blowing up every five minutes, but I just thought it kinda fell flat. j.p.

[Neil]

Didn't really care for it at all. I liked the general idea of the film as it's solid, but the whole "English is a virus!" thing was just 'meh' to me. Why not Chinese or Swahili or another language with "infected" words? Just don't get it. I do give kudos for not over-saturating the film with bad CGI (which is 90% of CGI anyway if you ask me) and I appreciate a film where stuff isn't blowing up every five minutes, but I just thought it kinda fell flat. j.p. Sort of agree! The style was brilliant, but the crux of the story just didn't work for me!

[Mike70]

i absolutely loved "pontypool." just the kind of stripped down thing i go for. not in anyway comparing it to hitchcock but it reminds me of those great flicks like "lifeboat" and "rope." you have a very small cast in a small space and you don't really know much about who is who and what is really going on. plus, being a total philology geek, the idea of a language becoming infected fascinates me. the thing i'd like to see explored more is if the infection can jump languages which share words. for instance, in the flick speaking french was safe but what about the words that are the same in french and english, there are more of them than you might think. if understanding the word causes the infection to activate, then wouldn't there be a risk that cognates could spread the infection from one language to another. i'd be safe for a bit: je parle francais depuis quatre ans. and what if a word like "computer" which is pretty much the same in every language is infected? problems could ensue... i could go on about "pontypool" and its language aspects for 6 posts, but won't.

[Neil]

i absolutely loved "pontypool." just the kind of stripped down thing i go for. not in anyway comparing it to hitchcock but it reminds me of those great flicks like "lifeboat" and "rope." you have a very small cast in a small space and you don't really know much about who is who and what is really going on. plus, being a total philology geek, the idea of a language becoming infected fascinates me. the thing i'd like to see explored more is if the infection can jump languages which share words. for instance, in the flick speaking french was safe but what about the words that are the same in french and english, there are more of them than you might think. if understanding the word causes the infection to activate, then wouldn't there be a risk that cognates could spread the infection from one language to another. i'd be safe for a bit: je parle francais depuis quatre ans. and what if a word like "computer" which is pretty much the same in every language is infected? problems could ensue... i could go on about "pontypool" and its language aspects for 6 posts, but won't. The overall premise of the story bugged me. But I loved the production itself

[LouCipherr]

I liked the general idea of the film as it's solid, but the whole "English is a virus!" thing was just 'meh' to me. Sort of agree! The style was brilliant, but the crux of the story just didn't work for me! I'm in this camp too. Saw the flick, it wasn't "bad" but it wasn't anything brilliant, either. Was an enjoyable watch though.. I, like others, just couldn't latch onto the "language is a virus" thing. A bit too Chong ("far out, man!") for me.

[MinionZombie]

The premise is a little troublesome, but the execution otherwise is great - I really enjoyed watching it, but mostly for Stephen McHattie's excellent performance.

[Christopher Jon]

They did a pretty good job of containing the story to a single location but damnit, I need something to happen eventually. Yep, I got bored and didn't finish it. Maybe it picked up at the end, I dunno. At least it wasn't shot on an iphone.

[LouCipherr]

I really enjoyed watching it, but mostly for Stephen McHattie's excellent performance. Yeah, he did put forth an excellent performance in the flick, I gotta give him that.

[Neil]

The premise is a little troublesome, but the execution otherwise is great - I really enjoyed watching it, but mostly for Stephen McHattie's excellent performance. ...and the opening sequence is awesome!

[MikePizzoff]

Thought it started out pretty cool, but like it has been said six hundred times here, the whole explanation for the outbreak was very "Uh... what? Really?" But, overall, I did enjoy it. Would probably see it again.

[Ragnarr]

Own it on dvd. Nice isolated feel to the flick in general, but the thought/word association aspect of the disease was a bit out there. I would include the movie as a z-flick even though it was kind of weird.

[AcesandEights]

Finally saw it and really enjoyed the film. I watched it alone this morning while the wife was out and glad for it--the film was easier to focus on without sharing the premise with any other viewers. Some good, fun ideas in the film and the cast sold it in excellent fashion.

[JonOfTheShred]

I've said it before on this forum, I'm a pretty big fan of this movie. It took zombies in an interesting new direction. The acting is spot-on, and there's a good slice of comedy in it to keep it from getting too dull, seeing as how it's all in one location. Zombies talking NEVER works, but this....this DID work for me. The fact that all they can do is repeat each other, not really communicating but just spouting nonsense in a hive-mind type fashion was really unsettling and creepy, when they finally started to attack the radio station. The spreading of the zombie plague through language is a very interesting concept. It could've been explained more thoroughly, but I guess they left that up to a potential sequel. (Google 'Pontypool sequel', it's an idea being tossed around and mulled over. Not sure if it's confirmed yet, but it seems likely.) Yeah. But Night 90 isn't really that good. Ya buncha yo-yo's! Night '90 is one of my personal favorites!

[AcesandEights]

Night '90 is one of my personal favorites! I completely agree. It's not what one might call very ambitious, but it does what it set out to do very, very well.

[JonOfTheShred]

I completely agree. It's not what one might call very ambitious, but it does what it set out to do very, very well. Yup. Definitively creepy atmosphere and a great update to the original. The 'epilogue' was also great, especially how it tied into Dawn. (Helicopter = Roger, Peter, Francine, and Stephen. The part of Dawn they're flying over the rednecks. "They're enjoying themselves!" Some of the best 'character' zombies ever made. The two zombies in the cemetery. Uncle Rege. The zombie immobilized at the legs, creepily crawling in place. And, of course, the awesome sound track. Only thing lacking, really, was more gore...meatier headshots, a surplus of blood. Imagine Night '90 with the gore of Day of the Dead?