Hey what's up guys
Today I'll show you a psychological thriller film: "Pontypool"
Spoiler ahead, watch out and take care
The movie begins with a recording of a radio host,
discussing a series of strange coincidences involving a woman with a French name, a bridge,
and a missing cat named Honey, that all add up to the town's name of Pontypool
The radio host describes this as a ripple effect,
or seemingly unconnected events or occurrences coming together to form the big picture
What he doesn't know is that strange fortuitous events will come to pass very soon;
and he will be at the center of them
The very same radio host is at the moment driving around Pontypool, in the middle of relentless snow
The road is dark; and there is no one else for miles
The host's name is Grant; and he is the star of the local radio station
He used to work for a bigger station;
but he was fired because of his bold, brash, and no-holds-barred commentary on air
This forced him to take a spot at the small radio station in Pontypool
While he's driving, he is shouting at his agent,
for not doing a better job of getting him plum gigs
Suddenly, a dark-haired woman comes out of nowhere, and bangs on Grant's car window
She keeps repeating the word "blood"; and he struggles to understand what she's saying
The woman disappears into the night; and only Grant's voice echoes through the chilly air
Grant arrives at the radio station, with the hail still hitting the town strong
The young female technical assistant is already at her desk; and the two share pleasantries
Before heading to his recording desk, Grant grabs a bottle of liquor, and adds some to his coffee
The broadcast starts; and Grant is his usual suave self on the air
His boss sits next to the assistant to oversee Grant's segment
He begins with an update on the snowy weather, featuring their weather reporter in a chopper
Grant announces the news of the police busting a local marijuana-growing operation
He then launches into a spirited commentary,
on how marijuana growers are using military-grade firearms
and explosives to protect their illegal crops; and the boss suddenly cuts off his broadcast
She explains that he can't just go into a baseless tirade
but Grant insists that his listeners love it when he does that
After a strict reprimand from the boss, Grant goes back on the air
This time, he tells his listeners about his strange encounter with the woman earlier
He then asks them if they would call the police if that happened to them
While Grant fields calls from his listeners,
the boss tells the assistant that it's weird that her sister hasn't called that morning,
since she calls the station every day
She also remarks that their other station employee hasn't come in yet
The assistant catches news of a hostage situation on the police scanner
She hurriedly calls the boss over; and the boss tells the assistant not to inform Grant,
until they're sure of what's happening
But her warning comes too late; and the assistant has already sent the news to Grant's screen
So he interrupts the current segment,
and announces to his listeners that two armed men are holding a van hostage in a nearby town
The van is reportedly towing a fishing hut
the boss quickly advises that Grant transition back to the weather reporter
But he continues to report on the developments,
such as that the police have already apprehended the two suspects; and they weren't actually armed
However, the people inside the van have already escaped
Grant jokes that it's just drunk townspeople getting rowdy, and even names two alcoholics in town
Grant finally ends his segment, and lets the weather reporter have the reins
the boss is furious with him for treating the hostage situation as a joke,
explaining that her ex-brother-in-law who is a notorious town drunk, is trying hard to keep his job
To further drive home her point that Pontypool is different from the big city,
she reveals that their weather reporter doesn't actually have a chopper,
but just sits on top of a hill to get an aerial view of their town
This humbles Grant; and his face is filled with remorse
In turn, he shares with the boss that he hates the long winters, and they're making him miserable
As the day goes on, Grant pours more liquor into his cup;
and the boss begins receiving increasingly-strange news
The local constable orders the boss to stop reporting on the hostage situation
The weather reporter also calls them in a panic,
and reports that a large group of people have gathered outside the office of the local doctor,
who has recently gone under fire for writing unnecessary medical prescriptions
The weather reporter announces in real time, that the people are getting more and more violent,
and the side of the office building has exploded
A convoy of military vehicles and two helicopters arrive, as people start dying
Grant urges the weather reporter to get to safety; and shortly after, his call gets disconnected
the boss and the assistant try reaching the weather reporter, but to no avail
They also are not getting any reports of the riot from other news stations
Meanwhile, the cast of the local musical production arrive at the station,
for their scheduled guest appearance on the show
Grant finds this ridiculous, because they're sitting on a big story
But the boss is adamant that they find reputable sources to back the story up first
So he has no choice but to let the group sing a number from their musical
Suddenly, one of the kids in the cast, starts babbling incoherently
They find this weird; and the cast promptly leaves the station
the boss and the assistant still can't find any other news stories about the riot
but they do find several eyewitnesses on the scene
Grant calls the first eyewitness on air; but they just hear screams, and the line disconnects
Another eyewitness reports that he saw the mob passing through town,
and heading for the doctor's office
But this eyewitness drops the call too
Reports come in, saying that the members of the mob are babbling incoherently
the boss manages to get the constable on the line;
and he describes the scene that his officers arrived earlier that morning:
a wild crowd of people trying to get into an old senile woman's hospital room
She's talking about Hitler and a hurricane; and the crowd was repeating after her
Grant also brings up the other reports they received,
about another mob forming at the edge of the nearby forest and halfway between a car,
with a family inside trapped under a mountain of violent people imitating windshield wipers
A famous international news channel contacts the boss,
and requests that they go live with Grant regarding the developing story
Once on air, the news anchor insinuates that the insurgency is perpetrated by terrorist groups;
and the police have already set up roadblocks to block off their region
After the newscast, the weather reporter calls them again
He is scared, and has taken refuge inside a grain silo
The mob is coming after him;
and he describes them as acting like dogs, even going so far as to pull two people out of vans,
and ripping them to pieces with their mouths
The weather reporter is watching all this through a small hole in the door;
and with a shaky voice, he tells them that the mob is now biting themselves,
and wrenching their limbs from their bodies
One of them, a teenage boy, hears the weather reporter, and comes looking for him
The weather reporter crawls near the teenager;
so the people in the radio station can hear the gibberish the boy is muttering
Suddenly, the call is interrupted by a loud audio transmission in French
The assistant takes note of the phrase,
and translates it as a warning against using terms of endearment, rhetorical discourse,
and the English language in general
Lastly, the transmission also warns them not to translate the message
the boss gets a call, confirming that Pontypool is indeed under quarantine;
and they have to stay inside
The weather reporter calls them again,
and says that he managed to get some audio recording of what the teenager was saying
He describes the teenager as having bitten his arms off, and is now lying on the ground
The station receives the recording;
and it's the teenager asking for help in an eerie baby-like voice
Grant is shaken by what he's hearing, and enters a state of shock
the boss comes in, and informs him that the mob outside the doctor's office,
were holding up pictures of the missing cat Honey, which he talked about in that morning's broadcast
He starts hearing strange voices, and a cat meowing
He can hardly believe what is happening; and he gets the urge to escape, and find out if it's real
the boss tries to get his head back in the game
but Grant walks out the front door and into the blizzard
Fortunately, the assistant sees the horde of insane people coming toward them;
and she yanks Grant back inside, before locking the door
The horde bangs on the station's thick wooden front doors and glass windows,
strangely parroting the boss's words earlier
This freaks her out; and this time Grant is the one, who gets her head back in the game
The team persevere, and continue with their program
Grant goes through the list of the deceased townspeople, who have killed each other that day
There were a lot of names, and the deaths were brutal
Meanwhile, the assistant bandages the hand that the boss injured earlier
But moments later, she starts saying incomprehensible phrases,
and eventually just keeps repeating the word, "missing"
She walks away
Behind them, the tea kettle on the stove whistles; and the boss pulls it out
But the sound of whistling continues
It turns out that the assistant is inexplicably imitating the sound of the tea kettle
A window opens;
and the doctor, whose office was attacked by the mob that morning, crawls inside the radio station
He sees the assistant's strange behavior,
and comments to the boss that they need to get as far away from the assistant as possible,
because she is now infected by the same virus, spreading through their town
The two run inside the sound booth where Grant is
The doctor explains that the assistant will now be hunting for human sounds;
and when she doesn't hear any, she will take her own life
Sure enough, the assistant comes running to the glass door of the sound booth,
and starts banging her head against it
The weather reporter calls again
This time, he is speaking in an eerily calm voice
He shares that he can't stop thinking,
and then begins babbling incoherently, just like the other infected people
The doctor confirms that the weather reporter is now far gone; and Grant sadly bids him goodbye
Meanwhile outside the sound booth, the assistant has chewed her own top lip
The doctor is puzzled as to why she is still waiting for them outside the booth,
when she can't hear anything
Grant posits that maybe she can read lips
The doctor realizes that the virus is spread not through blood, or other bodily fluids;
but through certain infected words
When someone speaks or hears the infected word,
and understands it, they are put into the same trance-like state,
and babble incoherent phrases until they infect other people too, and commit acts of violence
This corresponds with what the anonymous French audio transmission said,
about not using terms of endearment and other certain English words
When Grant used the name of the missing cat "Honey" in his earlier broadcast,
he unknowingly spread the virus, because the word is also a term of endearment
This is why the people rioting outside the office, were holding up posters of the missing cat
This leaves the team in a dilemma
If they do their duty and inform the public of what they discovered,
they would be risking their and others' lives
Grant ponders this; and they sit in silence
Meanwhile, the boss receives a call from her kids; and she emotionally sings a lullaby to them
However, the line disconnects
Outside the booth, the assistant goes berserk, and vomits a ton of blood, before she finally dies
The doctor explains that this is because she was not able to infect any other person
The horde outside the radio station break inside, and head toward the sound booth
Grant turns off the lights; and the three of them huddle behind the desk, struggling not to speak
They decide to use the loudspeakers outside the station to broadcast the phrase,
saying that the boss is alive on loop
so the horde will be lured outside; and they can escape that way
The recording initially works; and the mob rush outside
However, the doctor becomes infected from saying the word, "breathe";
and he starts to babble incoherently
But he stops himself, and switches to talking in the Armenian language instead,
after he realizes that only the English language is infected
He quickly warns Grant and his boss not to use English,
before he reverts back to speaking in Armenian, so he can stop the infection
the boss starts speaking in French instead, a language that Grant only understands a little
They leave the doctor behind in the sound booth, and make their way upstairs
The infected kid from the musical cast earlier, leaps in front of them and attacks the boss
With Grant's help, they kill the kid
Now, the two debate on whether or not they should kill the doctor,
who is stuck inside the sound booth, and is curiously not displaying signs of infection
Suddenly, the loudspeakers stop broadcasting the loop;
and a loud national anthem starts blaring from the speakers inside
This lures the crowd inside again; and Grant and his boss rush to hide
The doctor valiantly sacrifices himself by running outside, and luring most of the crowd to him
so the two can lock themselves inside the equipment room
Inside the room, the boss feels guilt for killing the infected kid
She pops upon a bottle of liquor, and feels hopeless about their situation
But Grant is still determined to find a way out of this
He begins thinking about what the doctor said about the infection,
starting once a person understands an infected word
the boss joins in, and speaks out loud about how to kill the meaning of words
Unfortunately, "kill" is an infected word; and she starts displaying signs of infection
Grant realizes that in order to stop the infection,
they have to change the meaning of the infected words in people's minds,
so the virus won't take hold anymore
He kneels in front of the boss, and tries to make her change her understanding of the word "kill",
by repeatedly saying that it now means "kiss"
the boss recovers from the virus because of that
Grant decides to broadcast to the world, that they need to change the meanings of the infected words
He starts by speaking confusing phrases,
which the boss shoots down since the people won't understand
He keeps trying to warn the public, as helicopters soar overhead and gunfire swells around them
The authorities warn them to stop their broadcast; but Grant defies them
As the military count down from 10, the boss goes inside the sound booth, and kisses Grant
A second later, the bomb drops on Pontypool
The town is eradicated; and the infection is stopped
However, as news spread all over the world about what happened in Pontypool,
it spread the virus too
The movie ends with Grant and the boss appearing to survive the bombing
They are now engaging in fantasy roleplay, to tweak the meaning of their words and stay safe
This's Daniel CC movie channel Stay safe and enjoy your day