Director: Bruce McDonald
Year: 2008
Country: Canada
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Zombie
Plot:
Taking on his normal shift, a radio announcer and his staff witness a viral outbreak that turns its victims into general raving maniacs who are supposedly looking for blood in the community and must keep their wits about themselves to keep the information flowing about the situation.
Review:
There’s not much to like here, as this has just way, way too many flaws in here. The main factor dragging this one down is that the wholesale creativity of using everything as if it were a stage play by staying inside the radio station the entire time renders this one insanely bland and one-note. Relying on the idea of him and staff staying in one place and relying on calls from guests, station reporters, news outfits, and generally misguided interpretations of what’s going on around them, yet the whole thing being done through conversation and dialogue rather than on-screen action of what’s happening in just the same location over and over again. That all makes for such a highly off-putting idea that starts fine at first when the first few incidents are reported from the field about the situation, but once it remains and they keep continuing to discuss what’s going on, creating a generally unappealing feel the longer it continues.
The other issue here is that, for all the work it does trying to build up some kind of imposing threat in the first half, there’s little actual fear in this one. The main threat is supposedly a virus haunting the English language that turns those who become afflicted by it into these ravenous ghouls while trying to come to terms with a specific word in the language, which becomes inherently stupid when you realize it’s a language like English that’s been around for so long it makes no sense why it would happen at this point. The solution to everything is just as goofy and illogical, and it fits everything else here when trying to deal with the zombies themselves, from the fact that there’s nothing at all scary about the creatures, which aren’t on-screen at all and are so unlike normal zombies that to be able to put these pathetic creatures against films is an utter insult. These all manage to drive this one down.
This one doesn’t have much going for it at all. Most of the positives are scattered around the admittedly intriguing central premise where it tries to tie in a unique and wholly original idea for an unstoppable virus spreading through the world at large. Despite how it’s accomplished, the idea of this remote group of figures discovering that a virus has infected the English language through the ability to truly understand the meaning of a specific word and the incomprehensible nature of what’s going on turning them feral makes ofr a truly interesting take that this could’ve had a lot of fun with once it got past the beginning and let them develop the different calls into the radio station and try to make sense of the unfolding chaos that’s heard about but never seen. That’s some of the more interesting aspects it could’ve done something with, and serves as some of the main likable elements to this one.
Overview: 0.5/5
A laughable excuse for a zombie film, while this one does score points for originality, not having that change produce anything remotely related to quality is a massive misfire. Give it a shot if you’re intrigued by what’s going on or aren’t truly bothered by the flaws on display, but most others out there should skip this one wholeheartedly.
This review ran as part of our coverage of the 2026 edition of the Fantasia Film Festival. Click here to follow the rest of our articles about the festivities!
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