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This film is a throwback, almost an homage,
to those early straight-to-video horror films
of the 80's that used to run for months and
months on Showtime and Starz and other cable
movie outlets. The big selling point here, for
most people too young to remember those films,
is that Fred Durst of Limp Biscuit plays a secondary
role as a small town sheriff's deputy.
All in all, "Population/436" is kind of odd
yet typical, a strange combination. There's
definitely an interesting plot here, which owes
a debt of gratitude to Shirley Jackson's "The
Lottery" and "The Steppford Wives" as well as
all those old 80's horror flicks. The plot is
pretty typical: New guy comes to a new town
and discovers that the eccentric locals who
live there are really up to some sinister shenanigans,
usually based in some local mythology that has
been in place since the days of witches in Salem.
The film begins with Census Bureau worker Steve
Kady coming to the charmingly named Rockwell
Falls, Illinois, one summer day to investigate
a mysterious anomaly which finds the town having
the same population, 436 people, over the past
few decades. I think you can guess what happens
next.
The cast creates the perfect amount of niceness
and creepiness including Durst who actually
displays some acting chops in his work. Kady
is played by Jeremy Sisto ("Six Feet Under")
and even though I have seen him in a few other
films, he seems brand new here. He seemed perfect
for this role, as if Tom Wopat and the late
Tom Villard somehow had a bastard test tube
baby who grew up to want to horror films like
his daddies did. The love interest, played by
Charlotte Sullivan, however, looks too much
like Jennifer Connelly's little sister and it
gets distracting.
With special effects that waver from awful to
bad, there is little to recommend for die hard
horror fans. It's all taken seriously, but the
seriousness only seems to help up the camp factor
into the stratosphere. There is one cool aerial
shot of the town which shows it to be isolated
and rural (which doesn't seem to be an CGI effects
shot) that is really cool and helps us believe
the plot could actually take place in such an
quarantined setting.
"Population/436" is one of those guilty pleasures
that makes you feel ashamed for liking it a
little. And even if the end just makes the film
seem even seem more silly and over-the-top than
it was before, in the long run, the fun factor
far outweighs the shame.
Note:
Directed by Michelle MacLaren who is probably
most noted as a producer on "X- Files" and of
the "Moment of Truth" TV movies (which seem
like they are probably Lifetime network fodder).
Filmed in Canada.
This film has been picked up by Sony who have
not announced a release date to the best of
my knowledge. The print I saw had the Destination
Films logo at the front.
Almost every source I can find lists the title
without the slash between Population and 436
but that is how it appears in the actual movie
print that I saw and thus that is how I am presenting
it here.
Viewed at the Alamo Drafthouse Downtown during
SXSW in March of 2006 with the filmmaker (sort
of) in attedance. Notes on the screening are
on the Day
7 page.
Report
Card
Script:
C-
Acting:
C+
Cinematography\Lighting:
C+
Special
Effects\Make Up: C-
Music:
D-
Final
Grade: C-
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