Pontypool

Hemmed in by theatrically bound staging, "Pontypool" is an overly inflated zombie flick that makes overtures to a weighty theme of social consciousness that the screenwriters are ill-prepared to fulfill. The talky action takes place within the cinderblock walls of a lonely AM radio station, in the snowy town of Pontypool, Ontario, where Stephen McHattie's grizzled radio announcer Grant Mazzy employs every baiting trick to keep listeners tuned in. Panicked reports of violent mob attacks around the epicenter of town instill fear in Grant, his show's producer Sydney (Lisa Houle), and her assistant Laurel Ann (Georgina Reilly) as they attempt to unravel the mystery closing in on them. The tone goes all horror camp when the viral implications of certain repeated words seem to point to the cause of the zombie infestation. What might have worked as an Off-Broadway play flails as a movie.     
Rated R. 96 mins. (C-) (Two Stars)