By MICHAEL GINGOLD
The long-mooted follow-up is closer to being a reality.
In 2008, the Canadian film PONTYPOOL offered a new and unnerving variation on the zombie/infection genre. Set entirely within a radio station in the titular small town, and scripted by Tony Burgess from his novel PONTYPOOL CHANGES EVERYTHING, it stars Stephen McHattie (pictured) as a DJ who slowly becomes aware that a strange aural virus has caused certain spoken words to turn people into crazed, cannibalistic killers. A sequel has been discussed for a number of years now, and now it’s quite a bit closer to happening. Following a PONTYPOOL screening yesterday at Montreal’s Fantasia International Film Festival, where McDonald (pictured below with Fantasia’s Carolyn Mauricette) was given the Canadian Trailblazer Award, McDonald revealed that the follow-up screenplay is ready to roll.
“Tony and I just finished the script a few weeks ago,” he says. “The working title is TYPO CHAN, which are letters found in PONTYPOOL CHANGES. It’s set in a rehab center where they’re attempting to rehabilitate the victims of the virus to be able to speak properly again and act normal, and kind of reverse the day of the viral outbreak in the town. They’re doing the work in a public school, and the transmission, the radio broadcast itself, is being kept under lock and key, because the transmission is the virus.
“Like the first one,” he continues, “it’s a bit of a love story. There are three central characters: a doctor, and a couple who went through the virus together. We’re now in talks with a few companies to see who’s going to come on and play.” We’ll keep you posted on further developments!
