Podcast | JOHNNY HAS THE KEYS

When disc jockey Grant Mazzy (Stephen McHattie) reports to his basement radio station in the Canadian town of Pontypool, he thinks it’s just another day. But when he hears reports of a virus that turns people into zombies, Mazzy barricades himself in the radio booth and tries to figure out a way to warn his listeners about the virus and its unlikely mode of transmission… the English language.

Pontypool (2008) is not your average zombie fare. It’s an ambitious, albeit unsuccessful, attempt at bringing a new spin to the well-trod path of the rapidly spreading infection-apocalypse subgenre of horror. Join us as we discuss the pros and cons of this relatively unknown Canadian import. Listen as Johnny has the Keys travels to the north country where on a snowy night something disturbing is happening in the small town of Pontypool.

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An unknown virus has wiped out five billion people in 1996. Forced to live underground, only 1% of the population has survived by the year 2035. A convict, James Cole (Bruce Willis), volunteers to be sent back in time to 1996 to gather information about the origin of the epidemic (supposedly spread by a mysterious “Army of the Twelve Monkeys”) and locate the virus before it mutates so that scientists can study it. Unfortunately, Cole is mistakenly sent to 1990, six years prior, and is arrested and locked up in a mental institution, where he meets Dr. Kathryn Railly (Madeleine Stowe), a psychiatrist, and Jeffrey Goines (Brad Pitt), the insane son of a famous scientist and virus expert.

We return to the world of time travel, a concept Bruce Willis should be well-acquainted with, considering he’s starred in multiple time travel movies—The Kid (2000); Looper (2012). This time, he jaunts the years via the brilliant insanity of director, and former Monty Python member Terry Gilliam. Join us as we discuss this often overlooked gem that spawned a successful television series… two decades later. Listen, as Johnny has the Keys time-travels somewhat recklessly to save the world, searching for the origins of man’s folly amongst fools.

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Seven (1995) is the story of two homicide detectives tracking down a sadistic serial killer (Kevin Spacey) who chooses his victims according to the seven deadly sins. Brad Pitt is Detective David Mills, a hopeful but naive rookie who finds himself partnered with veteran Detective William Somerset (Morgan Freeman). Together, they trace the killer’s every step, witnessing the aftermath of his horrific crimes one by one, all the while moving closer to a gruesome fate neither of them could have predicted.

Welcome back to the world of serial killers. We don’t land on this planet very often because, as David points out, there’s a fine line between a horror story and a thriller. David Fincher captures supreme dread in this gem with really no glimmer of hope at all (which is why Tim feels it falls into the horror category). Join us as we discuss the heavy-hitting roster of talent behind this film and the response of both critics and audiences to its grim perspective. Listen, as Johnny has the Keys escorts you to a dark, rainy, and nameless city, where violence and murder are common and you may easily become part of a sociopathic artist’s masterpiece.

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