Dipped into my unwatched cheapie pile with mixed results
Pontypool - a pleasant surprise. Why was this lumped in with the glut of late naughties zombie cash ins? In no way is this a zombie film - it's a more of a David Cronenberg type effort in the Shivers mould - an inexplicable virus mutating through words, producing a kind of cross between accelerated Parkinson's and rabies. Nowhere do dead people rise. Instead you get some pretty cerebal ideas - imagine not being able to speak in case your sentence contained an 'infected' word, imagine a Magritte type scenario where we need to change the meanings of words, our way of seeing things. Can you speak different languages and be OK? If this makes it sound like a boring communication studies experience, it isn't, there's plenty tension, gore and laughs. A great Poundland pick up.
Frogs - sorry guys, I know we try to keep it positive on here but this was just utter utter shite, an unbearable 93 minutes of cutaway shots of lizards, Ray Milland looking like Alan Partridge in his fat suit and ridiculous tension free deaths (eg a greenhouse filed with jars of lethal poison (!) which some geckos (!!) proceed to push off the shelves) The Long Weekend (original)made this animals revenge scenario work through a surreal atmosphere and intense interpersonal focus, Squirm did it it through sheer tongue in cheek fun. This has neither, it's po faced , joke free and with no depth beyond a vague ecological nod . Avoid like a plague of frogs.
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