Canadian Horror Marathon Movie 1: Pontypool (2008)

I’ve been watching stuff related to horror since I was a kid.  When I was growing up, there was a lot of television geared towards children that skewed into the horror realm.  There was Are You Afraid of the Dark, Goosebumps, Tales From the Cryptkeeper, and for us Canadians, there was Freaky Stories.  I watched all of these shows.  This built a foundation for me to like and/or appreciate horror movies.  That is where this marathon comes in.  This marathon is for Canadian horror movies.

I began the marathon with Pontypool, a Canadian horror movie about a radio station that is hearing reports of mobs of people taking over the town of Pontypool, Ontario.  This is a slow paced horror film that builds more tension than it shows horrific images.  In short, it’s my favourite type of horror in a movie.

I don’t tend to be into horror movies for mass killing.  That’s not true.  I like them, but they don’t really get to the point of horror for me.  What has gone on to typically become slasher fare or torture porn, depending on the variation, has mostly lost sight on what is the point of a horror movie.  The point is to be horrific in tone, not simply in look.  The movies about killings have lost sight on that and, usually, have become more about getting the more elaborate, gory deaths on screen.  I’d rather have a feeling of dread than a feeling of disgust.

This is where Pontypool excels.  The movie is more about what you don’t see than what you do.  You hear reports of mobs taking over the city.  You hear about what is happening to people.  You hear about what is happening to the town of Pontypool.  You don’t see all that much.  Yet the tension builds.  Once the tension builds naturally, you begin to see a few things.  Overall though, there isn’t a lot that is shown and there is one scene that could be considered gore.  That’s all.  One scene.  Yet this movie is better than a lot of the gory horror movie fare that has been released in the past five to ten years.

The viewer does not need to see things or have jump scares in order to feel some fear from a movie.  Well written, tension building horror can inflict fear without all of the tactics of gore and jump scares.  It’s a case of what you don’t see being scarier than what you do.  Pontypool does a great job in this area, as I’ve already said multiple times.  I can’t reiterate it enough.

Of course, there are exceptions to everything I’ve said here.  But that’s not the point right now.  The point is that Pontypool does very well with little shown on screen.  That’s my point.  Also, that I’d rather watch something that can build tension without the use of blood and guts than something that heavily relies on them to instill fear in the viewer.  That’s the whole reason behind everything that is written.  And that’s all I have to say about that.

Next up in the Canadian Horror Marathon is going to be Black Christmas (1974), because what better way to get into the Halloween spirit than with a Christmas movie.  Until next time...