Movie Review: Population 436
Written by: Ashtyn at 1:39 am
Filed under: Entertainment,Movies
If I learned one thing from the movie Population 436, it was not to work for the census bureau. There are some weird people out there and eventually you might be forced to become one of them. This is the dilemma in Rockwell Falls a town of 436 people. Sure, nothing may seem unordinary about a town of 436 people, but this one has had 436 people for 100 years.
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Steve Kady (Jeremy Sisto) is a census worker that is coming to check on the town. He soon realizes that the town is a little more odd than his hometown of Chicago. The people are so friendly it’s somewhat eerie. Everyone always seems to be watching Steve, and the mayor even tells him to mind their ways. While people put up with his presence, he isn’t able to make many friends. He does make one friend though, Deputy Bobby Caine (Fred Durst of Limp Bizkit). Through the course of the movie there are plans for a festival, a few residents get sick with the fever (a disease that only strikes Rockwell Falls residents), and even a brief moment of love. Despite being a population of 436, the residents want Steve to stay. In fact, they will do anything to keep him in town. The question is, will he become one of them, and if he refuses, what happens then? |
Population 436 ended up in my DVD player by accident. I went hoping to get two movies and neither of them were in at Blockbuster when I showed up. So, as I roamed the aisles looking for something to excite me, I picked this up. My one hope was that it would not suck. I know, it’s a lofty hope, but considering the amount of movies that do suck these days, it was not unwarranted.
I got something that does not suck. This movie is a lot of things, but bad isn’t one of them. An excellently crafted thriller, Population 436, looks at paranoia, cult-like behavior, isolation, medicine, and imprisonment. These are just a few of the things that are touched upon.
Despite being a thriller you will not find the blood or gore that is common in a horror movie and there is not enough action to be an action movie. It does keep your attention the whole way through, though. It is fast paced and entertaining. The most surprising thing in the whole movie is not the inventive plot. It’s the acting.
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I have never seen Fred Durst in anything, but a music video. As I watched the slightly chubby, clean shaven, nice guy police officer, at first I did not even recognize Durst. Then I spent a little while asking myself if that really was him. He has one of the bigger parts in the movie and he plays it extremely well. Together with Durst and Sisto in lead roles, the main parts are handled beautifully. The rest of the cast plays a supporting role, if that, and most of them tended to blend depressingly into the background, like drones in a small town should do. While their acting performances were on key, their names and their character names are forgettable. |
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Bottom Line: Population 436 is probably a movie that you have never heard of before. Regardless, if you like thrillers it is a movie that you need to see. It offers a semi-original storyline, good acting, and an overall good time. Watch it first before you buy it though, because this is one of those movies that will be brilliant to only a select few. However, if you decide that you love it, then you will want to add it to your collection, for sure.
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Written by Ashtyn - Visit Website
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Ashtyn Evans is a writer, advocate, free thinker, and all around cynical person. Always quick to find the negative in anything pop culture, she loves being a part of that which she despises. Ashtyn and Dominick own numerous blogs together, as well as a full-time writing business. In her spare time she is a full-time college student studying History and Psychology. She plans to one day give up her freelance career and be a full-time blogger, novelist, and domestic goddess. She can be contacted for writing projects, fan mail, or just to say hi. She really is friendlier than we make her look.
Population 436 was a decent film; a mediocre suprise once rented. It has a bit of the WICKERMAN vibe to it along with an ending that is a sort of horror movie staple of bad luck. However, even with the predictable climax I pretty much agree with this review.