io9: pontypool

Pontypool Proves Words Do Hurt, Plus Evil Bollywood TVs

Meredith Woerner — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 16:00:45 PST

Get a better look at the zombie horror film Pontypool, with four new clips that show why words are deadly. Plus, find out if any blood-soaked Spanish apartments are for available in Rec 2.

Pontypool
First up this week is a movie I've been excited about since it's been filming, Pontypool. This survival film, where certain words in the English language can turn the speaker into a zombie, focuses in on one lone DJ who listens while a Canadian town falls into undead darkness. We've got a batch of new clips that are a little spoilery, so beware. Pontypool opens in limited theaters on May 29th.

New Trailer:

Welcome To The Beacon:

A Reporter Live In The Field (But Not For Long):

Some Words Are Infected:

We Are Here:

Rec 2
Jaume Balaguero and Paco Plaza are back for this Rec sequel. There are very few details right now but, from the teaser below, it looks like the movie is taking place right after the original Spanish film ended. Does this mean we're going to get a Quarantine 2 as well?

13-B
A nice family has just moved into an evil apartment where the television dictates what you see, and not in a "I deleted your TIVO" kind of way. The poor saps are slowly manipulated and bullied by the telly, until they take it out.

Shut Up Or Die In New Pontypool Trailer

Meredith Woerner — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 07:00:00 PDT

Discover the dirty virus embedded in the English language that turns townspeople in quiet little Pontypool stark raving mad. So mad that their eyes start to bleed and they rip passerby in half. We've been following the zombie outbreak film Pontypool since it took over the little radio station where it's set. This is the first time we've seen footage for this indie horror movie that follows a small batch of workers and a DJ trapped in a radio station listening to the world around them go to hell.

Directed by Canadian Bruce McDonald and still lacking a release date, it's been making the rounds at the festivals and receiving unbalanced reviews. I think the concept is worth the ticket purchase alone, and I have high hopes for this viral zombie/rage movie.

Deadly Disease Has 3 Stages: Endearments, Tongue-Twisters... And Face-Biting

Meredith Woerner — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 08:20:00 PDT

Your choice is simple, according to one new movie's tagline: "Shut up or die." Pontypool, from cult director Bruce McDonald (Roadkill), is about a radio DJ that discovers the English language has picked up a virus that is ripping the city inside out with madness. Eventually the madness turns everyone into "conversationalists," as McDonald puts it.

How can you tell if your speech is infected? McDonald explains:

"There are three stages to this to this virus. The first stage is you might begin to repeat a word. Something gets stuck. And usually it's words that are terms of endearment like sweetheart or honey. The second stage is your language becomes scrambled and you can't express yourself properly. The third stage you become so distraught at your condition that the only way out of the situation you feel, as an infected person, is to try and chew your way through the mouth of another person."

McDonald went on to describe the infected as extremely chatty deranged people. The movie is based on the Tony Burgess' novel Pontypool Changes Everything and will be screened at the Toronto Film Festival. Maple Pictures will handle all Canadian distribution.

[Shock Till You Drop and Movie Web]

Don't Speak English, Or The Language Virus Will Get You

Meredith Woerner — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 15:50:00 PDT

A new horror movie says what the rest of the world already knows: the English language is an infectious disease. Canadian filmmaker Bruce McDonald, who directed cult hit Roadkill as well as episodes of sexy space opera Lexx, stopped by the 680 News Radio Station in Toronto to do research for his his new horror movie Pontypool, which is set mostly in a radio station in Pontypool, Wales. He was pretty mum on the plot but spilled that, "The reason for this violence is that the English language has become infected with a virus." Like a killer meme? Or something else? Maybe the plot follows William S. Burroughs' idea that "language is a virus from outer space." [680News via Bloody Disgusting]