Zombie Movies?

An original take on the zombie genre and bizarre 80s sci-fi zombies. (Yes that second entry is a bit of a cheat and certainly isn't "horror", but what the heck.)

Pontypool (2008)

Okay, so I'd heard rather mixed things about this, but was intrigued by the idea of a zombie movie set entirely in a radio broadcast studio. What I wasn't really prepared for was the very original take on the zombie genre. That said, while it's an original idea it's not an idea that I think leaves much scope to be re-used by other zombie movies in the future. Still, originality points all the same.

As per usual I'm keeping my reviews spoiler-free, so I guess I can't explain what this new take on the zombie genre involves. All I can really say is that the zombie plague is spread in a different way to normal. I think this might be how the movie keeps getting people interested. If zombie fans are told that there's a new original zombie movie, it's rather hard to resist. "Pontypool" is not exactly a bad movie and the premise is interesting, but it's a little inconsistent.

The movie starts with a voiceover and the soundwave displayed in front of us. The content of the voiceover is pretty much gibberish (or as close to gibberish as makes no difference). I was hoping it would make more sense later on in the movie, but no such luck. It's just an ultra-pretentious beginning done purely for the sake of it.

And you know what isn't a spoiler? To tell you the ending. Oh don't worry, I don't mean the end of the film. I mean the end of the credits. There's a scene after the credits which is similarly pretentious to that beginning. Two of the characters from the movie appear to be in Japan and one of them is wearing shades and they sound like they think they are starting some new kind of revolution or something. This scene looks vaguely similar to "The Matrix", but it has absolutely no relevance to the content of the actual film whatsoever.

So yes, we have a film that starts pretentiously and ends pretensiously. It's a pity because in the middle we very nearly had a decent movie.

So what else didn't I like? Well, the first point where a story actually unfolds involves our main character, a professional DJ who's fallen on hard times and taken a dead-end job in a smaller radio station. He sees something a bit spooky, then makes his way into the radio station recording booth and starts speaking. He's got a deep radio voice and makes an impression, but unfortunately he rambles.

His boss at the radio station gets upset that he is trying to stir up controversy, but never seems to mention that barely anything he says makes a lick of sense. No this isn't the plot. This is bad scriptwriting. The actor has the radio DJ voice and is saying his lines with confidence, but unfortunately anyone who takes the time to think beyond that has got to notice that your average radio listener is going to find what they are hearing very bizarre indeed. And that's before we even get to reports of a zombie outbreak.

Of course, early zombie outbreak reports are fairly vague, so while they are trying to work out what they are dealing with the day carries on as planned. So what was the first major planned event on the radio that day? A bunch of middle eastern singers enacting something to do with the 9/11 war on terror situation. No seriously. I think perhaps the movie-makers have a different sense of humour to me...

Okay so once the outbreak gets going we do see some blood, there are some bits that freak you out (not least because of the original concept which I can't go into details on) and there's a sort of "mad scientist" figure too. However, it feels like perhaps there wasn't enough material to fill the movie. Once they've properly understood what's causing the zombie outbreak it's not long before it's all over and it's clear that the movie wants to force some kind of important message that simply doesn't belong.

It's bad enough when movies don't know how to end, but when they don't know how to start either? That's even more annoying. It's especially irritating since the bit in the middle seemed so promising. I can't say that you won't be entertained by this. There are good bits. But overall this simply isn't a good movie.

D+ (Not good, but somewhat entertaining.)



Trancers (1985)

Trancers are sci-fi "zombies" in more of the voodoo sense of the term. The future villain of the movie is apparently able to turn weak-willed people into "trancers" who will mindlessly do his bidding. It seems that this villain does not need to actually need to be anywhere near a person in order to turn them into a trancer, meaning that trancers can turn up at pretty much any time during the movie.

The future villain in question is called Martin Whistler, which is far less interesting a name as the rogue cop who wants to track him down: Jack Death. (Okay, so imdb says it's spelt "Deth" but whatever.) It's a rather silly macho name like Jake Bullet (ref: Red Dwarf).

Whistler has used a time travel machine which allows him to take the consciousness of one of his ancestors, so Jack Death goes after him by doing the same thing. This is very confusing for Helen Hunt in modern day who had spent the night with Phil and wakes up to find that Phil can't remember her name and has suddenly gained an interest in "noir" movie style trenchcoats and massive amounts of hair gel (because Phil's now possessed by future cop "Jack Death").

During a short reprieve from tracking down Whistler before he kills the ancestors of the future world leaders, Helen Hunt introduces "Jack Death" to punk. The punk band in question is playing a punk version of "Jingle Bells" and yes this all feels just as random and out of place in the story as it sounds.

"Trancers" is ridiculously silly and trashy and the poor quality of the version of the film on the DVD I watched doesn't help matters. The DVD even randomly blacks out, presumably for a commercial break, and the "cliffhanger" of a gang coming to attack them seems to be pretty much instantly forgotten. However, it's so chock full of ideas that it consistently kept my interest.

Yes, I could see the ending coming for miles, but that didn't matter. This movie has a zombie father christmas, a watch that slows down time, tramps with delusions of grandeur and a fellow future officer who can't find an adult to possess when he checks up on Jack Death. And that's just me getting started.

This isn't a good movie, but it's such wonderful silly fun that I can't really call it bad either. If you are looking for something which is ridiculously stupid but still want to actually enjoy it anyway, look no further than "Trancers". 25 years old, yet still great entertaining rubbish. This enjoyable trash has really stood the test of time. A remake with a decent budget and a complete script rewrite might be able to make a pretty good movie out of this, though perhaps without the same schlocky charm.

C+ (Nearly a good movie.)

(x-posted to candycorncomm)