Jeremy Sisto plays Steve Kady, a Chicagoan census taker sent to the incredibly small town of Rockwell Falls to...take the census. On his way, he's picked up by Deputy Bobby (Fred Durst) after his tires are damaged by a couple of conveniently placed potholes, allowing for a lengthier stay than he intended.
What he finds is a warm, welcoming community in a seemingly idyllic town completely devoid of crime or even hatred. But once his job is underway, he notices that something is a bit off; the town's population has always remained at the exact same total and the creepy townsfolk are obviously hiding something. When a beautiful, mysterious girl fuels his suspicions, he realizes Rockwell Falls isn't the perfect town it appears to be and his life may actually be in danger.
Rather than exploiting gore and nudity as most modern horror films do, Population 436 goes for a much more low-key approach, relying heavily on mystery and atmosphere to keep us entertained. And though it is very refreshing to see a film that's not afraid of taking this less traveled old-school route, first-time filmmaker Michelle Maxwell MacLaren isn't quite up to the task to make it work to its full potential.
Getting stranded with a strange little religious community out in the middle of nowhere is a great set-up for a horror movie, but with such a strong resemblance to the basic themes of The Wicker Man and even The Stepford Wives, we're ultimately left with very little surprises or thrills and, instead, are treated to lots of underdevelopment. All of the characters and ideas presented in the film are so paper-thin that it was nearly impossible to feel any real connection or threat. Take for instance the character of Courtney (Charlotte Sullivan) who tries to warn Steve of the town. Her whole purpose in the story, it seems, is just to look beautiful and say ominous, vague things that accomplish absolutely nothing. How can we take the threat seriously when she's being so subtle about it? And considering how vague and useless her character is, it's obviously a little baffling when Steve ends up falling in love with her about fifteen minutes after meeting her.
The town itself, while certainly appearing to be out in the middle of nowhere, looked a bit too phony to me, and though most of the residents were passable as small town folk, some of them stuck out like sore thumbs, altogether making Rocking Falls a very unconvincing town. I mean, how much belief can be put into a town where Fred Durst is a deputy?
However, I have to give Population 436 its due credit. Although you'd be hard pressed to find much originality here and plenty of questions remain unanswered by the film's end, it's certainly not a bad way to spend an hour and a half. As a fan of the classics, I appreciated the slow-burn style it meant to achieve and I admit it definitely has its moments. As a direct-to-DVD release, Population 436 is a fairly good film for it's kind, leaving us with just enough to keep us entertained, but not quite enough to actually elevate this above b-movie status.
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