Population 436 (2006) Reviews

• Great little Mystery/Thriller...

  zarmazievex2006-09-17

  I was very surprised that this movie did not get a better rating compared to some similar titles that were very disappointing. Population 436 is a low budget but to its benefit as it doesn't play the usual visual and audio special effects. Actually, you don't even pay attention as it doesn't require a high-budget that would have ruined it anyway (i.e. The Wickerman - 2006).This movie has a good cast, good acting a very subtle creepiness. You will follow the main character inside a weird, cult society as with The Tenant, Rosemary's Baby, The Wickerman...If you like the genre you will like Population 436. Give it a try.

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• "Welcome to Rockford Falls."

  Backlash0072006-10-15

  Population 436 is a welcome change in the direct-to-DVD market. It's actually a good movie. Jeremy Sisto stars as census taker who stumbles into a town where the population has stayed the same for over a 100 years. To say anything else would be to ruin the movie. Let's just say it has a few elements from The Lottery but still remains its own movie. There are excellent twists and turns along the way and the ending is brilliant. There are two endings on the DVD, but the ending they chose for the film was the finale that I wanted to see. It's the perfect ending. And Sisto was the perfect choice for the lead. He's quickly becoming one of my favorite rising stars and he does a lot of genre work. The supporting players are all top-notch. Charlotte Sullivan is perfect, Peter Outerbridge has always been underrated, and Fred Durst can actually act. He's quite good, and that's a big surprise. If you are tired of wading through the trash that covers the walls of your local video store, pick up Population 436. It's a welcome breath of fresh air.

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• A pleasant surprise.....decent thriller with a good performance from Sisto

  srivastavag2006-05-25

  Do you ever watch a movie and are pleasantly surprised?? Doesn't happen often for me....but Pop/436 did the trick! A decent thriller with an unique plot, Pop/436 tells a story of a small town that through over 100 years has kept a constant population. The story is adequate, but a good background score and another excellent performance by Jeremy Sisto (who was excellent in Paranoia 1.0) is able to keep the audience interested for the 90 min runtime. Don't expect anything extraordinary from this movie, but in a day and age where over budget movie miss the mark time and time again, Pop/436 is a rare treat which is worth a view.

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• Mundane re-run of Two Thousand Maniacs, less the gore

  The_Void2006-07-28

  Population 436 was a point of interest for me because of its main plot line. The idea behind the film is definitely intriguing, and I've got to say that I did want to discover the mystery behind the film; but the plot is also the film's biggest problem. Writer Michael Kingston seems too content to let the film simply wallow in it's central idea rather than building it up, so what we're left with is a movie with a rather dry final third, as it soon becomes obvious that it's not going anywhere it hasn't gone already. The plot is fairly original in itself; but the handling isn't, as most everything about the film reeks of Herschell Gordon Lewis' classic 'Two Thousand Maniacs', only without the bloodshed. The plot focuses on Steve Kady; a man that works for a census-taking agency. He is dispatched to a small town called 'Rockwell Falls' in order to investigate why their population has been at 436 for the last hundred years or so. While there, several instances transpire and our man soon finds out that the town of Rockwell Falls isn't quite right; and the reason why the population stays the same is more than a coincidence. At first, I thought the reason why the residents of Rockwell Falls have opted to keep their population at 436 was so they wouldn't have to change their painted sign, and actually; the real reason isn't too far away from being that drab. The film starts off with a woman giving birth, inter-cut with a scene that sees a man killed in a car accident. I guess this would be a pretty good indicator for most people as to why the population stays at 436 right from the off, and the film makes a habit of not keeping it's cards close enough to it's chest as heavy hints are dropped often and by the time it gets to actually finding out the mystery, you already know. However, in the film's favour; it does feature an amiable lead performance from Jeremy Sisto. Sisto made his best film with 'May', and since then has also starred in that Dead and Breakfast rubbish, and some American TV shows. Population 436 is directed by Michelle Maxwell MacLaren, a director that has only worked on TV shows prior to making this; and it shines through, as the movie never feels any more ambitious than your common TV movie. Overall, Population 436 is not essentially 'bad' - but it's not very good either. Feel free to skip this one.

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• very good twilight zone style stuff

  windypoplar2006-09-21

  Being a huge fan of Jeremy Sisto, I had to check out Population 436. This was very good. It sort of plays like a twilight zone episode. Nice little town, what the hell is wrong with the people? Being a big horror fan, I was very pleased with this movie. Jeremy Sisto is such a great actor, He was really good here, just a simple everyman confronted with growing malevolence and secrecy. A surprisingly restrained Fred Durst also gives a nice performance as the deputy. Actually his presence almost kept me from getting this, don't worry, he's actually good here. Simply put these townspeople are really sick. I highly recommend seeing it on DVD as this includes a very interesting alternate ending. I actually thought this was good enough for theaters, I guess the lack of gratuitous violence kept it out. It's a thinking persons horror flick. With the terror more implied than shown. Very good. In fact to return to the always brilliant Sisto, I don't really think he's been in anything poor, OK Hideaway (96) comes close, but this is another feather in his cap. Lets hope NBC's "Kidnapped" is a hit so we can see more of this fine young actor.

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