3. Pontypool
The twist: Language is the zombie! While its originality is certainly to be celebrated, it's a shame that this Canadian curio cannot hold the weight of its own ambition. Considering himself too big for smalltown Pontypool, Ontario, radio announcer Grant Mazzy (Stephen McHattie) reverts to his former shock jock ways to reel in the ratings. Unfortunately, he is forced to compete with the breaking news of a riot outside a local doctor's office. The reports are initially disturbing - keeping both listeners and viewers in the dark is brilliantly eerie- but once the cause is identified, the film trails off into dead air. An unknown infection has grown from the riot, spreading to the studio through the broadcast itself. The doctor enters the studio and explains that while language itself is indeed the carrier, the way to survive is to reassign linguistic codes. French is safer than English, with terms of endearment proving to be especially subversive. The closest the film gets to resembling a conventional zombie story is when studio assistant Laurel-Ann (Georgina Reilly), seemingly entranced, repeatedly bangs her head into a bloody pulp against the sound booth window (above). From then, despite the early signs of a promising thriller, the film quickly descends into ridiculousness.