Reaction & Review | Population 436

Welcome, one and all, to an all new Reaction & Review. Tonight, ladies and gentlemen, I'm gonna be covering a horror movie from 2006. That movie is "Population 436".

Now, I don't really know a whole lot about this movie. I skimmed over the details on the back of the DVD case, regarding the film's plot. And according to what I picked up, what the plot is about is that some town has remained the same for the past 100 years. And our main character is trying to figure out why that is, which, apparently, leads into some horrible discovery that he makes, and thus he has to try and set things right before it's too late. I don't really know much else beyond what I read.

But that's not what interested me in checking out this movie. What peaked my interest about it is the casting, specifically two members of the cast. One of them is Jeremy Sisto. I've talked about him before in a couple of my past reviews, where he had a part in movies such as "Dead & Breakfast" and "Justice League: The New Frontier". Both movies, I should mention, were both part of the same Top 5 list of films that I thought were absolutely amazing. So obviously, he was great in both of those movies. Now that's not to say that just because he's one of the leads in this movie, automatically means that "Population 436" is gonna be any good. But it does give me hope that he'll at least pull off something decent here.

Which then leads into the other leading cast member for this movie. That cast member goes by the name of Fred Durst. And in case you're not familiar with his work, he was the lead singer of a rock band known as Limp Bizkit. A band that was only known for one memorable song, and nothing else. That one song I'm referring to is "Rollin'", which was the Undertaker's theme song in the late 90's to early 2000's, back when he was still riding a motorcycle in the WWE. I have no idea if Fred Durst can even act, that's kind of sort of the catch here. I'll find out when I eventually watch this movie for myself.

And beyond that, I have no idea what to expect from this movie. I haven't bothered to watch a single clip, or even watch a trailer to this movie. So, I'm gonna go into this thing completely blind. And I'm hoping for it to at least be halfway decent. So the only way I'm gonna find out if the movie is any good at all, is if I shut up, and I push play, and I'm gonna do that right now. So, without further ado, it's time to kick back, relax, and check out "Population 436".

15 minutes later

Guys, I understand it's still early for me to be asking this, but is anything interesting gonna happen in this movie? So far, the only thing's that have happened is that some guy gets his car exploded after a chase from Officer Durst, which causes him to die. And then we have our main character, who's from the Census Bureau, getting into town, because of Government reasons, and...that's it. Our story hasn't really gone anywhere yet, and I'm kinda hoping it does go somewhere soon. But as of right now, we're off to a pretty slow start here.

20 minutes later

Seriously, guys, is ANYTHING interesting gonna happen in this movie? I understand that it's trying to go for a slow boil here, but there's a difference between building up your story and your film having a bit of a pacing issue. And this movie is falling straight into the latter category. This movie's pacing is going at a snail's pace, and I'm not sure if it's going to get any better within the next hour or so.

17 minutes later

OK, I have a question, and I know it's probably a stupid one, too, but I'm gonna ask it anyway. So Dr. Greaver here explains that anyone that tries to leave Rockwell Falls has the sickness, thus leading into people who will think that they are crazy, and that he and his team will try to do anything to cure them of their 'sickness'. And according to Steve, our main character, he's numbered the population to about 436 people living in the town. My question is that if someone actually dies, and that number suddenly goes down, does that mean, then, that all of the people living here would be suddenly wiped out as well? Better yet, since Steve works for the Census Bureau, don't you think someone at that agency would've contacted some higher ups to find out why exactly Steve hasn't gotten back to them at all? I understand that I'm probably putting way too much thought into this, but it's those kinds of lapses in logic that make this movie a little bit stupider than it already is.

9 minutes later

OK, so they just had a public hanging at this festival, because Steve is apparently the 437th person to, I guess, be a permanent resident of the town. OK, well, then that raises more questions. Why exactly does this town have to have 436 people living here? Is it because of the town sign that they have to abide that number to? Or is it because of some stupid curse that ties them to that particular number, thus is the reason why they can't have more or less than 436 people living here? I'm hoping that this movie explains some of this shit soon, otherwise, I'm gonna be a little bit pissed here, because that's something that shouldn't be left unexplained!

13 minutes later

Well, guys, I can confirm this much, so far. I asked earlier if Fred Durst could actually act, and...he can't. I can see that he's trying, but he's not really trying hard enough. Thankfully, there's about less than 20 minutes to go before the movie ends. So the less time that I have to put up with his shitty acting, the better. You know what I mean?

The Review

Well, guys, that was "Population 436". Let's shut the movie off here...OK. Well, um...what to even say? I guess I was expecting something decent here, but unfortunately, that may have been me asking for too much, because this movie was just shit.

Let's just dive right into this thing by talking about the writing. I asked earlier as to why this town was fixated on keeping their population at exactly 436? Was it because of some curse that they have to abide to? Or was it because of something else entirely? Well, the answer to all that is kinda stupid, really. It's explained after Steve goes nuts during the festival when he saw someone getting killed at a hanging. The person who was hung, I should mention, is gleefully happy about being sacrificed so that she could contribute to the town's festival. But anyway, Steve is being taken captive by some of the locals in the town, which includes a couple of officers, doctors, and a couple of other residents. And one of them explains to Steve that the reason why this town is 436 is because everyone living here liked each other and the whole town was happy. And then some guy came into town about 8 years prior, and ruined it...somehow. I don't remember what it was exactly. So because of this, this town is always hellbent on trying to keep the population number at 436 people. And anyone who tries to leave the town has to be 'cured' by these doctors, because anyone who opposes this way of life are somehow the bad people, and that nobody actually leaves Rockwell Falls. So yeah, if you wanted to know why the population number was like that, well...ta-da, there's your poorly explained answer. In fact, you know what? To prove how stupid this movie actually is, I'm gonna have to spoil the ending here. Because once you hear the ending to this movie, the explanation is even stupider than how I tried to explain it. So if you have any interest in watching this movie, then you may want to skip the next couple of paragraphs, because I can't get around this without talking about how terrible this ending actually is.

So, towards the end of the movie, one of the other residents who came into town like Steve did, has been forced to live here for about 8 years. It might be the same guy from my earlier explanation, but the movie doesn't exactly confirm that. So anyway, this guy helps Steve find a way out of town, to which there is only one way. Anyone who comes in through out of town are truck deliverers, and they always follow an exact route out of town, which helps them bypass the whole 436 rule for this town. So Steve comes up with a plan to distract the townsfolk by setting a fire to a nearby barn (I'll talk about that fire later), and he decides go to the doctor's residence, in which he tries to save a child by the name of Amanda. Who's one of the only other people there who the doctor's are trying to cure, because she's 'sick' and actually has some common sense. So he takes her out of there, and tries to save a woman that he's had a forced relationship with. But it's too late for her, because she was 'cured' by the wacko doctors. So Steve and Amanda are outrunning the two officers that are going after them, and they are soon stopped by Officer Durst and some other cop. And the other cop yells at Durst to shoot and kill Steve. Durst is hesitant, and instead shoots the other officer in the head, thus killing him. This leads to Steve and the little girl escaping the horrible town, and are just driving down the open freeway. But then there's suddenly a thunderstorm brewing, and that distracts them both JUST enough for a semi-truck to run them down and kill them both.

Which then leads into the final scene, where his friend, Frank, who ALSO works at the Census Bureau, gets a flat tire at the entrance to Rockwell Falls. Which was also the exact same way Steve got into town at the beginning of the movie, thus making part of this ending forced and contrived. But that's not the real issue here. Here's the dumbest part to ALL of this. The tow-truck that Steve was driving gets pulled back into town, and the cop explains to Frank that the reason why is because, and get ready for this answer...God willed it. Yes, according to the cop, God was the one who created the thunderstorm that killed Steve and Amanda. And apparently, twins were also just born in Rockwell Falls, thus keeping the number at 436 residents. Doesn't really explain about how they replaced the dead cop that Durst shot in the head, but I'm sure it might've been explained in the same way because 'God willed it', or some such shit. Which is basically this movie giving the viewer the tried and true answer of "Fuck you, that is why". In fact, that's basically how I can summarize most of the questions I had in this movie. Why exactly does the number need to be 436 residents? Well, fuck you, that is why. How is it exactly that the time has remained the same all these years, despite the fact almost no one ages a day in this town? Well, fuck you, that is why. The only question that I had which got properly answered was about someone from the Census Bureau finding out about why Steve hasn't gotten back to them yet. Somehow, the people at Rockwell Fells had sent a note to Frank at the Census Bureau, in which it's suppose to be Steve's writing, telling Frank that he's decided to stay in town and live life there. Which gets his attention, in which he tries to call Frank's cell phone number, in which he gets nothing but an answering machine message from Steve. Granted it's not much of an explanation, but it's still something resembling an explanation.

So, if you somehow managed to bypass all of what I explained about the ending, well, to give you a short answer, the ending sucks balls. But here's the funny thing about all this. There's apparently an alternate ending you could watch on the DVD menu screen, but I didn't watch it because, as per the rules of this series, once I see ending credits, I shut the movie off and I review the movie afterwards. With maybe one exception, I've usually stuck by that rule. So I tried to look up this alternate ending on YouTube, which I couldn't find. So I went to IMDB, and according to what it says, it's basically the same ending that I just described to you, except both Steve and Amanda survive from almost getting hit by the semi-truck. Which just leads into even MORE questions that I could have about this movie, but frankly, I've spent enough time talking about the ending as is. And no matter what, the ending to this movie sucks, regardless of which way this movie could've taken.

Now that I've gotten that out of the way, let's talk about the rest of the writing. Now you would think that a mystery about how a town has remained the same for the past 100 years would sound very interesting, right? Well, you'd be wrong. Because not only is this story boring as shit, but the pacing is also terrible as well. Because for the first half hour or so, nothing of interest happens. And I am not kidding about that, NOTHING literally happens for the first third of the film. It's basically Steve coming into town, because he's trying to get information about this town's population number, as per his job at the Census Bureau, and he's just getting settled into town while his car is being 'fixed'. Which really doesn't happen, because he's suppose to be the next permanent resident of this town, as per this town's stupid code of abiding to the number 436. And that's...kinda it, really. He moves in with Officer Durst, along with his mother and girlfriend that he plans to marry. Now you would think that this movie was trying to take this time to maybe develop it's characters, or maybe give some more background as to how this town came to be the way it is and how it eerily looks the same after all these years. But no, this movie does nothing like that. Outside of Steve trying to base everything on numbers, which is suppose to be a big theme for this movie, nothing itself about the town is interesting. And on an off note, for a town that claims to have 436 residents, it has about, oh, around 50 or 60 people that I could see. So yeah, that large number is also kind of a lie, but I'm not gonna bitch about that too much here.

What about our characters? Well, like I just stated, this movie does nothing to make you care about these characters. Steve, like I mentioned a few times before, is some guy that works at the Census Bureau. And apparently, he had a wife and daughter that ended up dying. How? I don't know. The movie doesn't do anything with Sisto's character beyond that, and thus he ends up being flat and boring. Fred Durst's character is an officer, who's name I THINK is suppose to be Bobby, but it was so unmemorable that I ended up just calling him Officer Durst throughout the entire film. He's suppose to have a girlfriend that he wants to marry, but that gets shot down, because, for no real reason, Steve and her end up having sex at a barn. I'm not kidding about that either, this relationship between the two comes right the fuck out of nowhere! These two have no chemistry with each other, so to have them having sex with each other is just another reason to say fuck you, that is why. I suppose it might've been there to create conflict between Sisto and Durst's characters, but there is nothing to be had there. It's just thrown in here for the sake of fan service, I guess. But again, I can just chalk that up by saying fuck you, that is why. And as for our other characters, well, what's to even say? Everyone else in this movie is just there to be a good-upstanding citizen for Rockwell Falls, so there's nothing noteworthy to mention about the rest of these characters.

Guys, the writing in this movie is fucking terrible. The concept here could've maybe worked as a half an hour episode of "The Twilight Zone". But to drag this thing out to an hour and a half is what ultimately makes this movie boring as shit. What makes it even worse is the acting. Now again, as I stated earlier, I wasn't expecting miracles when it comes to Fred Durst in this movie. Now yes, he tried, BLESS him, he was trying. But like I said, he just didn't try hard enough. And yet, somehow, he's not the actor in this entire movie. No, that honor, unfortunately, goes to Jeremy Sisto. I really thought, going into this movie, that Sisto was actually going to pull out something decent here. But he doesn't. He sounds bored as fuck, and he really just phoned it in for the sake of a paycheck. Which I guess makes sense, considering that you can only do so much when you're given a script that is this fucking boring. Nothing about his performance here was any good, and it just proves, to me, that Sisto is capable of giving out duds every now and then. Everyone else here isn't all that better. The child actress that played Amanda really sucked. But then again, most child actors are terrible by default, so I'm gonna give her a little bit of a pass here. Everyone else ranges from kinda hamming it up to just sounding wooden as hell. So overall, the acting here mostly sucks, but Sisto was the real disappointment here.

Special effects in this movie are mostly shit. And I want to touch upon something that I said I was going to talk about later on, which was the fire that Steve started to serve as a distraction. Now why exactly am I bringing this fire up? Well, it's simple, really. The fire that Steve started by pouring kerosene in the barn is done in CG. And this has got to be some of the WORST CG fire effects I've seen in a long time. This may actually top the god-awful CG fire that I watched in "Rollerball". At least there, it was sort of brief, and it's possible that you may not have actually noticed it. This movie's fire effects, however, are way too god damn noticeable to not overlook. Now I totally understand that this movie was probably filmed on a low budget, but are you telling me that they couldn't afford practical fire for something as simple as that? It really boggles the mind on why exactly they had to use CG for the fire in that scene, because it looks so fucking fake that even a simpleton would notice something like that without even trying. So yeah, the special effects here are terrible, mostly thanks to the horrendous CG fire.

Camerawork here is OK. The lighting here is fine. The sound-mix is also mixed fine. Score and soundtrack really don't offer much of anything, outside of a couple of country songs. Which I guess makes sense, since this movie is suppose to take place in North Dakota. But honestly, these songs are nothing to write home about.

Ultimately, guys, when all is said and done, am I able to recommend "Population 436"? No. There's no way I can recommend this sort of movie, unless if you somehow find the idea of Fred Durst being in a film as the most hilarious shit to ever be conceived. But I can assure you, there's nothing good about his presence here. The movie is boring as fuck, and there's really nothing else redeemable about it. I can't even recommend this to anyone who likes to riff on bad movies with their friends, because there is almost nothing here to riff on. It's boring, dull, and it's so filled with plot-holes that I would be here for another half hour trying to explain all the bullshit that goes on in this movie. I'm kind of ashamed of myself for even having interest in watching this movie, mostly because of our two particular cast members. I expected nothing from Durst and got exactly that. But Sisto was the most disappointing. And because of that, I am never going to watch this movie ever again. So now, I gotta go and watch something better that'll rinse the awful taste out of my mouth from having to watch this thing. And since I mentioned "Dead & Breakfast" earlier when describing good performances from Jeremy Sisto, I'm gonna go and watch that next after I get done writing this review. And this movie can just go fuck itself for all I care.

Anyway, guys, with that, we come to the close of another Reaction & Review. Until next time, ladies and gentlemen, take care, and I will see you all later. Peace.