THE DEAD TIMES
DEAD ARE COMING...
Why now is the perfect time for a Pontypool sequel
In the dim and distant past of 2008, a Zombie movie was released that, even though low-budget and despite the fact it pretty much flew under the radar - remaining mostly hidden from public attention - completely broke the mould. This movie was Pontypool and, like many Zombie stories it saw a virus that turned living humans into Zombies. However, unlike the hordes before (and after) it, this was no microbial or biological threat - this time, the English language itself was the source of infection. Certain words where "infected" which, when spoken and understood, they would cause the speaker's mind to deteriorate, rendering them incapable of any thought other than that single word, forcing them to repeat it over and over until even the simple act of speech was forgotten.
Pontypool's other major asset was the wonderful way it dealt with its meagre funding; the film being shown as reported by a radio show presenter, describing events as they "come in", often with fractured and partial information. On paper, it sounds boring - after all, if you hardly ever see the Zombies, can this really be deemed a true Zombie film? For me though, this was one of the highlights of the movie; without being able to directly witness the chaos of the marauding, violent ghouls, you are left to imagine the horror for yourself - a potentially much more scary prospect. It also creates an awesome sense of irony and dread; the radio host is continuously spouting English words down the mike, unknowingly spreading the plague, but will he eventually stumble onto an infected word himself?
This is a pretty cool and unusual twist on the Zombie genre - an injection of creative thinking that the Zombie film industry badly needs, especially in the relatively Zombie-fatigued early years of the 21st century. A sequel, taking the crazy 'language-infection' concept further, is definitely required and, luckily, there are rumours of just such a sequel happening. In fact, the last hint came only a few months ago with the hint of a Pontypool 2 being dropped by writer of the original novel, Tony Burgess. Sadly, no additional information has followed.
However, I think now is the perfect time for that rumoured next chapter to find it's putrefied Zombie-feet. With the rise of social media like Twitter and Facebook, people send messages globally - it's actually become pretty difficult for a person to be "out-of-contact" nowadays, the majority of people in the western world can be messaged, texted, video called and so on, wherever they are, whatever the time. Our age of digital communication also means that people no longer require to know each other to communicate; anyone, anywhere can leave messages, pictures, audio snippets and videos for anyone else to find, whoever they are, whether they know the sender/creator or not. Basically, an idea can spread faster than ever before and reach more people than ever before. This would be a terrific baseline for Pontypool 2, both keeping the same theme while advancing it for current times.
"An idea is like a virus, resilient, highly contagious. The smallest seed of an idea can grow. It can grow to define or destroy you."
- Inception, 2010
Imagine a world where the English language was infected, containing infected words, and that the transmission media was the Internet, the great, global interconnected digital link between all people. Instead of having to speak the words yourself, you would just have to hear the word or read it in your mind to begin the hostile deterioration into Zombie-hood. The spread of the plague would be biblical, enveloping the entire globe with lightning speed. And what of the almost ubiquitous mobile phone? People talking on these devices would also transmit the infection just by speaking into these electronic devices of convenience, increasing the spread even more, creating a true global pandemic in minutes in similar fashion to Stephen King's Cell. Maybe the 'radio host' viewing angle could continue as well, but again, updated for future climes. The movie could be led by a podcaster or YouTUBE celebrity, reporting on the facts by posting to the world wide web and showing uploaded video clips of Zombie attacks taken on mobile phones and handheld digital cameras, all the while, the results of the infection and subsequent panic being heard, and occasionally seen, outside.
So that's it loyal fans - why now is the perfect time for a sequel to 2008's Pontypool. Got any better ideas? Drop them down below in a comment.
DESCRIPTION:
In 2008 a very original Zombie was released from Canadian shores: Pontypool. Victims fell to a virus like no other, turning them to shallow imitations of human life - a virus, spread through language. In today's world of global communication, where ideas can reach all corners of the globe at insane speeds, now is the perfect time for the next chapter in the Pontypool saga.
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DATE UPLOADED:
15/07/2018