I love scary movies, and I love the feeling of being scared. However, I haven't been truly frightened by a movie since I was about ten. Until last night, when I watched Pontypool.
I don't know if it was the fact that I watched it in the middle of the night with the lights off, but for some reason, in the middle of the movie, I had to pause it, go to my parents' room just to make sure they were there, and then return to the movie. I know. I actually felt fear when watching a movie.
Let me start off by saying that this is not your usual scary movie, at least not at first. There is no blood and gore until the second half of the movie (which is admittedly not the better half of the movie, but I'll get to that in a bit). It gets to you by playing on your primal fear of the unknown. It leaves you with a feeling of dread and unease, because you don't see what's happening, you're being told what's happening outside. You could almost close your eyes and it would scare you just the same, since it is being told as a "radio play." As you start to understand, you also begin to fear for the safety of the characters, because by now, you feel you are one of them.
The second half, as I said, isn't its strong point. It gets a little illogical. I won't spoil it, but it gets a little out there, and all feelings of uncertainty give way to incredulity. However I'm not saying it's unwatchable. It's well worth seeing until the end.
*SPOILER*
The only problem I had with this movie was the illogical explanation for what was happening. A virus? That spreads by words? It seems to me that all attempts to make this sound believable failed. All logic was abandoned. I really think the writer could have thought of something better, but I suppose that this movie wasn't really anything more that symbolic, but I'm not up to analyzing anything today.
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