10 Genius Ways Zombie Movies Broke All The Rules
4. Infected By Language - Pontypool
Zombies spread their infection via biting people, everyone knows that. So, if you don't want to get turned, then don't get bitten. It's as simple as that!
Until it isn't.
Pontypool, which is sadly set in Canada and not Wales, was released in 2008 and centres on a local radio DJ played by Stephen McHattie. Grant Mazzy, a shock jock type, is broadcasting one day when, all of a sudden, a warning comes through about a group of cannibalistic rioters nearby. The warning is in French.
This is the genius of Pontypool. People don't become infected by being bitten or scratched or even touched; the disease travels via the English language. Only certain words or phrases are affected, but the main characters don't know that at the start of the film.
Weaponising something as simple as language, which most people use every day without thinking about it, is a surefire way to generate terror, and Pontypool certainly isn't short of that.
It also offers an interesting comment on how English is eradicating other tongues, which means it could actually have been set in Wales after all.