Get Ready For More PONTYPOOL!

Well, here's a nice bit of timing for you. With the US release of Bruce MacDonald's Pontypool - a film much loved and talked about in these parts, check the archive for coverage - just around the corner, speculation has been running high about whether the proposed sequels to the film would actually come to pass, a question I put to the producer in person yesterday. And here's the answer:

BRUCE MCDONALD RETURNS TO PONTYPOOL

CANNES - Acclaimed director Bruce McDonald returns to the director’s chair with Pontypool Changes, a sequel to his highly anticipated psychological thriller Pontypool.

Producer Jeffrey Coghlan confirmed rumors in Cannes today that the Pontypool sequel is scheduled to lens in early 2010, reuniting McDonald with Pontypool screenwriter Tony Burgess, who adapted the original from his book “Pontypool Changes Everything”.

Horror fan and blog sites are already buzzing and early reviews for Pontypool are calling the tensely intelligent thriller McDonald’s best film ever and one of the scariest films in years.

Pontypool, named after the small town in which it’s set, features veteran character actor Stephen McHattie, (Watchmen, 300, A History of Violence), as a cantankerous radio DJ trapped within the station’s walls as a deadly virus consumes the town, turning its citizens into cannibalistic zombie-like creatures. IFC In Theatres releases the film May 29th day and date on its VOD platform, which reaches more than 50 million homes in the US.

The early demand surprised Coghlan who said, “Fan and distributor reactions have been overwhelming, and the script for the sequel takes a whole new side to the story and really opens it up for more action, and more scares. It’s brilliant.”

Pontypool has it’s final marketplace screening in Cannes on Monday May 18 at 5:30 pm with worldwide sales being handled by Forward Motion Entertainment.