Pontypool

"Shut Up or Die!"

A Canadian horror film from 2009, set almost entirely inside a radio studio in the town of Pontypool, Ontario. Swaggering shock jock Grant Mazzy 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, who's assisted by staff member (and Afghanistan vet) Laurel-Ann Drummond.

Then, the Zombie Apocalypse happens. Trapped in the snowstorm, the three try to keep track of the situation through the radio, and eventually face a zombie siege.


 * Aliens in Cardiff: Or zombies in Ontario.
 * All Your Base Are Belong to Us: The radio station is breached.
 * The BBC: Pretty soon, the Pontypool situation becomes headline news.
 * Bilingual Bonus:
 * Blood From the Mouth: Happens to  in very gory fashion.
 * Brown Note:
 * Canada, Eh?: The film could easily have taken place anywhere else.
 * Creepy Child: Happens with one of the singers who visits the studio.
 * Dead Line News:
 * It's a zombie film, what would you expect?
 * Dueling Movies: with Dead Air, another 2009 film that shares the premise of having a DJ stuck in his broadcasting station while the world outside is full of not-Zombies.
 * Dumbass DJ: Grant behaves like this early on.
 * Ear Worm: Intentionally invoked.
 * The Film of the Book: Based on the novel Pontypool Changes Everything.
 * Fridge Horror:
 * Gory Discretion Shot: The camera focuses on a wall poster advertising the station as.
 * Heroic Sacrifice:
 * Hoist By His Own Petard: Sort of, when the BBC calls and gets Mazzy on the air. He's usually the one asking the questions...
 * Horror Doesn't Settle for Simple Tuesday: The film happens entirely in one February 14th, Valentine's Day. This is part of the plot, because as stated above the virus is spread with terms of endearment and baby talk, and lovers are prone to do that on Valentine's Day.
 * Infant Immortality: Averted. Mazzy and Sydney are attacked by  and are forced to kill her.
 * It Got Worse: The entire plot of the film.
 * Last Kiss
 * Madness Mantra: Oh yeah.
 * Magic Countdown:
 * Mind Screw:
 * Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Possibly. Given the way the virus spreads, Sydney theorizes that they might have propagated it
 * Not Using the Z Word: The producers stress that the infectees are not zombies, but.
 * Oh Crap: "Do not translate...this...message." Oops.
 * Our Zombies Are Different: Very. They're not created through bites, but through.
 * Punny Name: The band "Lawrence and the Arabians", which are just a group of white people in tacky Arabian costumes (one of them is even nicknamed Osama).
 * Real Life Relative: Mazzy and Sydney's actors are married in Real Life.
 * Shell-Shocked Veteran: Thoroughly averted with Laurel-Ann, whose tour in Afghanistan was obviously angst-free.
 * Or was it...
 * Shout Out: A copy of Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash is displayed suspiciously prominently in one scene. Snow Crash also deals heavily with.
 * Survival Horror: Eventually.
 * Technically Living Zombie
 * The Voice: Ken Loney in his Sunshine Chopper.
 * Zombie Apocalypse: The faint beginnings of one, though the term is certainly played with - see Not Using the Z Word above.
 * Zombie Infectee: Numerous. The first one is the woman from the beginning of the film.