Pontypool, 2008

  Grant Mazzie is a rebellious, big city, ‘shock jock’ radio DJ, who after getting fired from his previous gig, finds himself working the small town of Pontypool, Ontario, doing an AM talk radio program. His show consists of him riffing on his passing thoughts,  and taking phone calls from listeners - you know, the standard radio talk format.

He is joined by his producer, an assistant, an occasional guest on the show, and call-in traffic reports from “Ken Loney in the Sunshine Chopper,” (the ‘Sunshine Chopper’ being a Dodge Dart with sound effects.) And the whole show, (indeed, almost the entire movie!) is set in the basement studio of an old church.

During one fairly mundane, deep winter midmorning show, Eye-in-the-Sky reporter Ken calls in to report a disturbance of a riot of hundreds of people outside of a doctor’s office. Grant advises him to stay safe and the show resumes. 

Similar calls come in. And as reports of incidents of violence become more frequent, a pattern starts to emerge. Eventually, Dr. Mendez, whose office was being stormed, arrives and logic sorts out the origins. The dwindling radio crew must form a plan.

Let it be said, Stephen McHattie as Grant Mazzie really carries this film! His gravitas and world-weary demeanor play perfectly for the leader of this small group, and his struggle to understand the illness and come up with a way to survive it is convincing and fun to watch. All of the characters have real personalities and backstories and are quite beleivably portrayed.

The setting, a church basement, serves not only as a secure stronghold, but also provides seclusion from the world due to its lack of windows, and as the infected draw closer, both outside and in, gives the film a real sense of claustrophobia.

The zombies here are of the ‘rage-fueled infected’ kind: mindless, fast-moving and homicidal, but that is where the similarities end. The transmission of the virus is unlike any from other films of this genre - and really drops a WTF moment. 

Pontypool resides firmly in the true horror category, not the 'action-horror,' subgenre offspring of Dawn of the Dead, and so many subsequent entries to the zombie field. No guns or headstomping or copious amount of gore, just suspense, desperation, and scares.

One scene has traffic reporter, Ken, describing events unfolding around him in real time that is right up there with Quint's U.S.S. Indianapolis story... Well, maybe not. But, still, it is a great scene.

The movie isn’t without flaws, though. The source of the virus may be a bit too improbable for some to absorb. Others may find the lack of frantic action too boring. But as a scary movie in the Zombie Outbreak category, Pontypool really delivered for me. And apparently, I was not alone in this. I used my ‘Zombie Movie Rubric’ to scale this a bit more objectively and the ZMR scored it at a damned respectable 3.25 out of a possible 4.0. This translates as “definitely recommended viewing.”

But Good news! You need not take my word for it. YouTube has a trailer for it, (because YouTube has everything!) 

See it here ➜  PONTYPOOL       

Descendents, 2008

A story of mutation and evolution among Zombie Apocalypse survivors.

Narrated by and shot from the perspective of a young girl as she makes her way through the post-armageddon wasteland. The entire story is stitched together with the child’s musings and memories - flashbacks are plentiful. Actual Zombie encounters, not so much. No bother, apparently, the humans are more of a threat to the girl and her young companions. Fortunately for our diminutive protagonists, the trigger-happy military are some of the worst shots in cinematic history: Seriously, nearsighted Storm Troopers would mock these guys!

Coincidentally, the very reason the army guys are chasing the kids is the same reason the undead are NOT interested in them: these children have developed a specific mutation. And through these flashbacks we learn that the young group is traveling across the war-torn landscape to the presumed safety of the sea.

A hodgepodge assortment of camera techniques are employed to mask the ‘not-so-special’ effects: shaky cam, handhelds, Super-8 style, 1st person perspective, et cetera, to limited success. The hand-held shaky-cam in particular is so fierce that headaches will almost certainly ensue. And my apologies to the cameraman, who CLEARLY suffers from some violent nervous disorder.

Other clichéd effects include the brilliant bright, candy-apple red blood and the WAY over-used blood splatter on the camera lens shtick.

Zombies are straight-ahead Runners, but again, as no threat to the group of kids, they are not nearly as scary as they could have been.

But, the kicker is the surprise ending. The interesting and unique premise of evolution of humanity is almost completed overshadowed by film’s first real eyebrow-raising twist at its conclusion. BTW, that is not necessarily a good surprise.

So, all of the walking around from one antagonist encounter to the next, made Descendents a fairly boring experience for me. The Zombie Movie Rubric I employ for objective review ratings gave it a 1.7, with the heavy lifting awarded to 'originality within the genre.' This translates to somewhat of a recommendation, as in, if you’ve got nothing else going on, sure. But, personally, I would rate this a “Not unmissable.”

YouTube Trailer here: DESCENDENTS

Outpost (2008)

    Ray Stevenson is hired to assemble a team of battle-hardened mercenaries to escort their mysterious money-man into the Eastern European wilderness in search of “Minerals.” Easy-peasy, 48 hours round trip. 

    Well, ‘minerals’ turns out to be Nazi Gold and the location is an old, underground  German bunker. And, shortly thereafter, unknown enemy fire from without forces the squad to hole up and fortify the old bunker.

    Soon, what started out as a very ‘Predator’-like film, (“Get to de CHOPPA!!!”), becomes a haunted house ghost story, complete with silent ghostly apparitions! 

    Then, as the inevitable siege gets setting in full-swing, FINALLY! The Nazi Zombies are tagged in!

    Oh, they may have ghost-like qualities, but these shock-troopers kill with bullets, bayonets, and even a pickaxe!

And, although these Zs seem unstoppable, invulnerable, and in overwhelming numbers, a plausible plan for defeating them is in place and hopes are high! But the time is short, and the undead have breached the bunker!

    Outpost’s action scenes are really good, if sporadic. There are periods of slow exposition and atmosphere-building, and then suddenly and briefly, some violence and gore, then back to storyline. The squad works well as a team and although there is some hamming, the mercs are convincingly portrayed. 

    The undead are, of course, Nazi Zombies, and therefore need not adhere to the Rules of Romero. Instead, at times appear as if ghosts, others, as silent soldiers following orders. There is a commanding officer Nazi Z, but he, too, is utterly silent.

    The movie setting, deep in a wilderness, surrounded by forest, and filmed in under-saturated, washed-out colors, provides great mood - very bleak and soullessly utilitarian. Perfectly befitting a clash between two armed forces in Eastern Europe.

    Yeah, I enjoyed this one, but I am such a sucker for a well-done Nazi Undead flick. If, instead, you place your trust in the cold heartlessness of maths, then there is The Zombie Movies Rubric to convince you. When held up to the ZMR, OUTPOST earned itself a 2.55 out of 4.0 points. And although that is a pretty good rating, I may’ve been a bit more generous!

Either way, if you dig your walking dead with a pinch of goose-stepping WWII evil, you should enjoy OUTPOST. 

Of course, YouTube has a trailer to further help you decide! OUTPOST

    Two sequels to follow - reviews coming soon!

 

Dead Set (2008)

  Think of a TV show that you’d like to see a zombie outbreak occur during: The Sopranos? The Brady Bunch? Duck Dynasty? What about Big Brother? Well, that’s what this one is about. And it isn’t an episode or a movie, its a miniseries. Bitchin!

   For those unfamiliar with Big Brother, it is a reality show in which a number of contestants live in a custom-made house isolated fro the outside world and watched over by "Big Brother," the producers and viewing audience. A regular "eviction night" sees a contestant voted off by the viewing public and a "24-hour Live Feed" allows constant monitoring of the goings on and misadventures of the test subjects... I mean, "contestants." Originally a British program it has gone on to worldwide production and has achieved an unfathomable global following. Now you know.

   Yup. Five 30-minute episodes of Great Britain’s most popular reality show just happened to take place as the apocalypse hit. The result is simply brilliant.

   And that’s your scenario. The series starts at “Day 64” of the isolated, one-house, “social experiment” where the outside world no longer exists to the contestants and they are all caught up in their petty, encapsulated lives, completely unaware that the world has stopped.

   An employee of the show manages to escape the deluge of running snarling undead attackers onto the closed-off set and informs the hapless contestants. It takes one of the undead to break in and do some zombie-esque damage, (the kind only a zombie can wreak on the uninformed, panicky, incredulous, and self-absorbed,) to let the situation sink in. 

   The show has a great sense of pacing, ending each episode on a point of both set-up and closure, just enough of each to force you to tune in, (or ‘binge watch,’ if you happen to be a zombie film fanatic. And if you are, then welcome, Brother!) 

   The characters are both annoying and realistic, but the REALLY annoying ones are much made less-so by an obnoxious producer, (played to the suffocating hilt by Andy Nyman!) and his running commentary on them. He is so intolerant of the contestants that it really makes you feel bad for them and their lack of graces. Ingenius device. Truly.

    Okay. The zombies run. There: I said it. For those that do not know, I dislike running zombies. The dead should be dead-like: slow and uncoordinated, as George Romero decreed. Not running and growling like animals. I realize there are different schools on this, so I don’t harp on this fact. Plus, in this case, they work. This show needed the fast-paced-type of dead to make this work. Also, very convincing and gory. In essence, great zombies. Go figure.

    Heroes, villains, zombies, subplots, a definitive story line, and decent acting. It must be because it was a 'made for BBC4 TV' that this is such an overlooked gem in this country. 

    So, I held it up to the cold, grey truth of the unforgiving eye of the Zombie Movie Rubric and it was deemed worthy of a 3.5 out of a possible 4.0! Serious stuff. That puts Dead Set in the 'repeated views' and 'highly recommended' categories.

   But, If you are NOT the type who likes to own-and-loan, (or simply ‘lord over’ friends and fam,) then GOOD NEWS! The five episodes are findable and viewable on them YouTubes-things! In fact, as I was looking for a trailer for this review, I had to wade through them all to find it. (Your welcome, BTW.)

Trailer: Here ☞ DEAD SET

   Worthy of extra mention: Andy Nyman steals every scene as an absolutely intolerable bastard of a producer. Such a great character, but Davina McCall, the long time presenter of the actual show, turns in a surprisingly convincing performance as both herself alive, and herself dead and full-on zombie menace!

Yup, that's Davina McCall.

ZMD: Zombies of Mass Destruction, (2008)

   This is actually a straight-ahead zombie invasion movie with strong, character-driven subplots. The flick is as much about xenophobic intolerance in modern, small-town society as it is about a living dead apocalypse. Religious persecution of a pair of homosexuals, (as well as imagined intolerance from old-fashioned types,) and discrimination and distrust of a Middle Eastern man and his daughter are executed by somewhat cartoony antagonists set the dynamics of the living, while the living dead act as a catalyst forcing them together... Or apart.

   A young man returns to his hometown of Port Gamble, Oregon along with his boyfriend, the intention of telling his mother that he is gay. A young Iranian-American girl returns home to Port Gamble from college only to find bigoted neighbors trying to disprove or justify their bigotry. A fire and brimstone preacher, an old-world Muslim merchant and the slacker who works for him, the ultra-liberal, hippie schoolteacher, the stiffly conservative mayor with a secret: These characters all go about their own story lines while the zombie epidemic unfolds. The characters you're supposed to root for are clearly likable, while the characters you are supposed to dislike possess more blatant personality flaws. (Who gets eaten and who doesn't is not much of a surprise here.)

   Sure, there is humor, (you can't justify blatant stereotypes without some chuckles!) but it is subtle mostly, overt occasionally, but never diminishes the sense of danger. The zombie effects are good, with some great zombie kills and attacks to score this entry into the genre with a solid 3.125 on the ol' Zombie Movie Rubric.

   The high production value also contributes to an easy-to-watch experience.

   A number of good trailers exist on YouTube. Here is one of my faves: ZMD: Zombies of Mass Destruction 

ZMD: Zombies of Mass Destruction is occasional billed as a "Political Zombedy," But don't believe it. There are no real politics aside from racial discrimination and homophobic civic authorities. Just a fun, and fun to watch zombie movie. Definitely worth looking for.