Stop Making Sense

Pontypool (2008) Dir. Bruce McDonald

Disgraced shock jock Grant Massy faces the end of his career, broadcasting from a small local radio station in Pontypool. When an unexplained, violent incident occurs in town, he finds himself at the centre of a shocking emerging news story.

“In the wake of huge events, after them and before them, physical details - they spasm for a moment; they sort of unlock and when they come back into focus they suddenly coincide in a weird way. Street names and birthdates and middle names, all kinds of superfluous things appear related to each other. It's a ripple effect. So, what does it mean? Well... it means something's going to happen. Something big. But then, something's always about to happen.” - Grant Massy

The zombie sub-genre, politically speaking, has gone through something of a traditional Baby Boomer journey. Starting out in the late 1960s (in its modern, Romero incarnation at least) as an upstart, counter-cultural critique of racism, Reaganism, and mass consumerism - before turning wildly right-wing in the 21st Century. The genre, presumably spending too much time on Facebook, has seen a shift in recent years to the conservatism of The Walking Dead and Zack Synder’s various …of the Deads. Gone are the progressive left-wing critiques and metaphors - long since replaced by a survival of the fittest, prepper mentality that seems more interested in having an excuse to gleefully mow down large groups of people with impunity. Don’t trust people, these films/shows demand. Carry a gun and only care about yourself. Anything else is weak.

That’s the consensus anyway. The truth is that, if you know where to look, zombies have never lost their radical edge. You just have to dig a little bit harder to find it.

Based on the book Pontypool Changes Everything, Pontypool came out in 2009, in the middle of the 2000s zombie revival. The same year as Zombieland and just a year before The Walking Dead came to TV. I think those two cultural behemoths largely overshadowed this low-budget indie and that’s a shame because it has a lot to say. 

For the most part it takes place in a single location (clearly I’m a sucker for it). The basement of a church that is used as the studio for the local radio station. As reports come in of the outbreak happening in town, we don’t get to see it, just hear people call in and describe it. In a lot of ways I could see this working as a radio or stage play. I’m not the only one who thought that, as there is indeed a radio play adaptation (see below).

The central conceit in Pontypool is one that feels so exciting and refreshing that it feels surprising no-one had tried it before. The virus infects people via language. It’s such a beautiful and simple idea and pregnant with possibility.

That Pontypool makes the virality connected to the English language is particularly interesting. In the second half of the film, characters start speaking to each other in broken French - the significance of which is hinted at by the film when a BBC reporter asks if the violence has been caused by separatist insurgents. But on a larger scale, the English language is a colonial export, loaded with a history of violence. To escape a doomed fate in this world, you’ll have to unlearn it.

I also love that the film’s setting is a radio station - where the characters are in the perfect place to educate listeners about the ensuing events while also best placed to spread the virus itself.

The final act really leans into the heady, experimental, Burroughs-esque playfulness that you’d hope for if someone suggested “zombies where the virus is spread by infected words” to you. With the survivors landing on an improvisational, vibes-based system of nonsense when it becomes clear that the problem is when you understand a word. The key to survival is to stop making sense.

Pontypool is a film that continues to have more to say about the way we communicate every time I return to it. It’s a film that manages to be claustrophobic zombie thriller but also has protagonists quoting Roland Barthes. What more could you want?

“But you know what friends? We were never making sense. And today, when armageddon leached out into your good, good mornings, you know what? It's just another day. Another day in Pontypool. The sun came up, you did what you did yesterday, and it's exactly what you'll do tomorrow. Today's news folks, today's late breaking, developing, just across my desk news story is this: it's not the end of the world folks. It's just the end of the day.” - Grant Massy 

Where can I watch it in the UK?

You can stream it for free on FreeVee/Amazon/Shudder/BFI Player or rent it for £1.99 on Apple.

Pairs well with

If you’re looking for more zombies with something to say, you could bite into Blood Quantum (2019, dir. Jeff Barnaby, available to stream for free on Shudder).

Another Canadian zombie horror. Here, zombies have decimated the country (and presumably the world) except for First Nations individuals who remain immune. It feels like the true, spiritual successor to Romero - keeping this incredibly potent metaphor front and centre while never forgetting to throw in some fun, gory, visually dynamic set pieces. It’s not perfect, but it’s absolutely worth a Shudder subscription for October.  

Further Reading

• You can listen to the Pontypool radio play on YouTube here.
• There’s also an audiobook version of Tony Burgess’ original novel.
• I’d recommend the Faculty of Horror episode where they dig into the Canadian specificity of Pontypool in a way that I can’t speak to.
• They reference this piece of writing by Margaret Atwood about Canadian literature that I think is particularly interesting.
• An interview with Tony Burgess where he discusses adapting his book and why Pontypool is a metaphor for metaphors.

Other recommendations

• Even though it has nothing to do with horror, it feels inappropriate to title this post Stop Making Sense without mentioning that the Talking Heads movie is back in the cinemas right now.
• I can’t casually attack Zack Snyder’s zombies without recommending Maggie Mae Fish’s video series about Snyder - How to Make a Martha. The 2nd part - We’re Already Dead - is the most relevant here but I’d highly recommend the whole series. 
• Scaredy Cats also has a Who Ruined Zombies video that’s fun.
• If you enjoyed Blood Quantum, I’d really recommend The Marrow Thieves YA book series by Cherie Dimaline. Similarly set in a post-apocalyptic world, here indigenous people are being hunted for their bone marrow and ability to dream. It uses this setting to explore the real-world atrocities committed by European settlers in Canada. It’s a dark story, but not without hope.
• If you’re keen for more daily Halloween related recommendations, there’s also the 31 Days of Halloween TinyLetter by Laura Hall who is into her ninth year of doing the newsletter!