10 Zombie Movies That Broke All The Rules

Pontypool is a film that knows how to smartly portray an idea on a low-budget. Stephen McHattie also gives powerhouse performance as the lead, carrying the film effortlessly through each twist it throws at the viewer.

The film takes a page from Orson Welles War of the Worlds by having it's fearful situation be portrayed mostly through audio in a believable way, as a radio host is drip fed stories of the ongoing apocalypse on air to the world. That is until the dead come knocking on the studio doors.

The second thing this film does so well is the zombie virus itself. In this incarnation it is not spread specifically through bites, but via speaking in English. This was also 6 years before Metal Gear Solid 5 had a similar viral strain and it's weirdly ingenious, lending itself to some of the films humorous moments as well as holding your attention as you wonder how they'll survive such a difficult predicament.

Many zombie films like to have their scares as one-note jumps with the biting, gnashing teeth of the undead threatening our heroes. This films flips that idea on its head with a deliberately held back style to enforce psychological fear.

There's few films really like Pontypool as it goes against the established mold to deliver a compelling, slow building horror with plenty of new inventive twists and rules to add to the genre.