Terrific little low-key horror movie...
Tipping its hat to Stephen King and Richard Matheson, POPULATION 436 is a terrific little low-key horror movie. Yes, it has similarities to THE WICKER MAN and Shyamalan's THE VILLAGE but unlike the latter it doesn't overplay its hand. The story is simple and strong - a census-taker arrives in the small town of Rockwell Falls in the American South, and discovers that the town's population has remained exactly 436 for the last 150 years. The reasons are gradually and skilfully revealed, so that at the one-hour mark, the film is still able to shock and surprise.
It's good, old-fashioned storytelling, sometimes rather shakily directed but adroitly edited, and unusually pacey for a paranoid suspense story. Comparable to such low key pictures as NIGHT OF THE EAGLE, LET'S SCARE JESSICA TO DEATH and Herk Harvey's CARNIVAL OF SOULS.
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