Bruce McDonald directs this unique take on the zombie film which was written by Tony Burgess, which he adapted from his own novel. The film is set predominantly in one location, the sound booth of a radio station, and features strong performances from Stephen McHattie, Lisa Houle, and Georgina Reilly.

McHattie, who is always a gruff delight whenever he shows up in anything, plays talk radio DJ, Grant Mazzy. Grant can be a bit of a tool, but he’s got a good heart, evidenced by the Valentine’s Day cards he leaves for the station staff. He talks a loud and disruptive game on the radio, he’s intent on stirring things up.

Houle plays Mazzy’s producer, Sydney Briar, who doesn’t like Grant’s take-no-prisoners way of radio and tries to keep him reined in, while Reilly plays Laurel-Ann, the show’s tech, and assistant.

As Mazzy begins his show, he is looped into a series of incidents, one of them seeming to be a large riot taking place at a doctor’s office. Mazzy starts to report on it, but can’t get any corroborating evidence, is someone pranking them?

It soon becomes evident that something truly terrifying is happening, a virus of some kind is spreading through the town. It’s not a virus of blood or a physical pathogen, it’s a virus that has found its way into certain words of the English language, spreading through speech, and understanding.

The story is tense, heightened by the narrative structure of keeping the story confined to the radio station, allowing the viewers and the characters to hear what is going on beyond the walls of the building.

But if they don’t know what words are infected, how can they stop the spread, will they be infected as well?

Watching the way the narrative unfolds, the story is nothing short of engaging, and thought-provoking, as we are forced to consider our words, the way we use them, and how sometimes we lose track of their meaning.

McHattie is fantastic, cementing my belief that he remains a great character actor, and his Mazzy is a tense, angry personality that hides his own fear, and emotions. Houle as his producer delivers a layered performance that sees her trying to balance her work obligations and her desire to be a good mother to her children who are in the city with her ex.

Reilly is always wonderful and the way her fate unfurls is heartbreaking and horrifying, it also puts a face on what is happening outside the station as things get closer and closer to Mazzy and his co-workers.

I can’t believe it’s taken me so long to see this one, but now that I have, man I love it. It’s a great piece of horror cinema, and a fantastic Canadian film.