Population 436
Encyclopedia
Population 436 is a 2006
mystery
-thriller film starring Jeremy Sisto
, Fred Durst
, Peter Outerbridge
, and Charlotte Sullivan
.
), a US Census Bureau researcher is sent to the remote and seemingly idyllic village of Rockwell Falls to interview residents concerning the population. On the way to Rockwell Falls he is distracted by a woman falling off a horse and his vehicle hits a pothole and bursts two tires. He is eventually picked up by Bobby Caine (Fred Durst
), the Sheriff's Deputy, who drives him into Rockwell Falls and helps him find a place to stay.
During his stay, Kady notices a number of increasingly strange things about the town, people acting awkward, and strange. People make vague allusions to 'the fever', and several residents treat him as though he were not just a visitor, but has moved to Rockwell Falls permanently. His research reveals that the town's population has remained at exactly 436 for over 100 years. People who try to leave Rockwell Falls seem to meet with bizarre and deadly accidents, or just vanish, which the residents believe to be the work of God
. Kady also begins to have eerie dreams about a truck, a cross and a doll.
Kady becomes romantically involved with Courtney Lovett (Charlotte Sullivan
), a local woman and the daughter of his host, much to the chagrin of Caine, who is also in love with her. He also befriends Amanda, a young girl whose father was killed trying to escape the town and who is being held at Dr Greaver's clinic, on the pretext of treating her for schizophrenia
. Courtney and Amanda both express a desire to leave the town, but are afraid of the consequences of trying.
After stumbling upon some books on Biblical numerology, Kady realizes that the townspeople attach a mystical importance to the number 436 and are willing to go to extreme lengths to keep the population at exactly that number, including executing surplus residents. Anyone who expresses a desire to leave is treated for the 'fever' by Dr. Greaver, the town doctor, with electroshock therapy or in extreme cases, frontal lobotomy. It gradually becomes apparent to Kady that the residents of Rockwell Falls have no intention of allowing him to leave.
After witnessing the execution of a seemingly willing woman at a town feast, Kady becomes hysterical, and is taken to the clinic to be treated for the 'fever'. He escapes the clinic, and is sheltered by a sympathetic resident who reluctantly helps him plan his escape. After setting fire to the town garage as a diversion, Kady rescues Amanda from the clinic, but is forced to leave Courtney behind after discovering that she has been lobotomized by Dr. Greaver. As Kady and Amanda flee the town in a stolen tow-truck, a rainstorm is brewing and after a lightning strike, the cross from his dream appears in the truck hanging from the mirror. It is followed by the doll from his dream appearing on the dashboard with the next lightning strike. While he is distracted by these, the truck veers into the path of an oncoming semi-trailer truck, killing them both.
The film ends with one of Kady's co-workers (Christian Potenza
), who has come in search of him, being picked up by a police officer after his car hits the same pothole that Kady's did, blowing his tires, echoing the beginning of the film.
", published in New Yorker Magazine, 1948. This is particularly apparent in the sequence where the resident who is to be sacrificed to keep the population down is selected by drawing a name from a box full of slips of paper on which residents have written their names. It also shares a similar theme with M. Night Shyamalan
's The Village
, and Robin Hardy
's The Wicker Man as being a secluded small town stuck in a completely different era, both in custom and in dress.
The story also contains references to numerology
, in particular Biblical numerology. The residents of Rockwell Falls believe that the word 'solidarity' has a numerological value of 13, which is also the sum of the digits of 436, the town's population (There are also 13 letters in the town's name). (See digit summing). In Population 436, special meanings are also attributed to the individual numbers 4, 3 and 6.
2006 in film
- Highest-grossing films :Please note that following the tradition of the English-language film industry, these are the top-grossing films that were first released in the United States in 2006...
mystery
Mystery film
Mystery film is a sub-genre of the more general category of crime film and at times the thriller genre. It focuses on the efforts of the detective, private investigator or amateur sleuth to solve the mysterious circumstances of a crime by means of clues, investigation, and clever deduction.The...
-thriller film starring Jeremy Sisto
Jeremy Sisto
Jeremy Merton Sisto is an American actor. Sisto has had recurring roles as Billy Chenowith on the HBO series Six Feet Under and Detective Cyrus Lupo on Law & Order on television and also starred in the films Jesus, Clueless and Thirteen.-Early life:Sisto was born in Grass Valley, California, the...
, Fred Durst
Fred Durst
William Frederick "Fred" Durst is an American musician, director, producer and actor, well known as the frontman of the band Limp Bizkit.-Early life:...
, Peter Outerbridge
Peter Outerbridge
Peter Outerbridge is a Canadian actor, best known for his role as Dr. David Sandstrom in the TMN series ReGenesis, as William in Saw VI and his role as Dan Farmer in Happy Town.-Life and career:...
, and Charlotte Sullivan
Charlotte Sullivan
Charlotte Sullivan is a Canadian actress. Her first on-screen role was an extra in a Liza Minelli music video. She has had a starring role in The New Ghostwriter Mysteries and Harriet the Spy as well as smaller parts in How to Deal and Fever Pitch...
.
Synopsis
Steve Kady (Jeremy SistoJeremy Sisto
Jeremy Merton Sisto is an American actor. Sisto has had recurring roles as Billy Chenowith on the HBO series Six Feet Under and Detective Cyrus Lupo on Law & Order on television and also starred in the films Jesus, Clueless and Thirteen.-Early life:Sisto was born in Grass Valley, California, the...
), a US Census Bureau researcher is sent to the remote and seemingly idyllic village of Rockwell Falls to interview residents concerning the population. On the way to Rockwell Falls he is distracted by a woman falling off a horse and his vehicle hits a pothole and bursts two tires. He is eventually picked up by Bobby Caine (Fred Durst
Fred Durst
William Frederick "Fred" Durst is an American musician, director, producer and actor, well known as the frontman of the band Limp Bizkit.-Early life:...
), the Sheriff's Deputy, who drives him into Rockwell Falls and helps him find a place to stay.
During his stay, Kady notices a number of increasingly strange things about the town, people acting awkward, and strange. People make vague allusions to 'the fever', and several residents treat him as though he were not just a visitor, but has moved to Rockwell Falls permanently. His research reveals that the town's population has remained at exactly 436 for over 100 years. People who try to leave Rockwell Falls seem to meet with bizarre and deadly accidents, or just vanish, which the residents believe to be the work of God
God
God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....
. Kady also begins to have eerie dreams about a truck, a cross and a doll.
Kady becomes romantically involved with Courtney Lovett (Charlotte Sullivan
Charlotte Sullivan
Charlotte Sullivan is a Canadian actress. Her first on-screen role was an extra in a Liza Minelli music video. She has had a starring role in The New Ghostwriter Mysteries and Harriet the Spy as well as smaller parts in How to Deal and Fever Pitch...
), a local woman and the daughter of his host, much to the chagrin of Caine, who is also in love with her. He also befriends Amanda, a young girl whose father was killed trying to escape the town and who is being held at Dr Greaver's clinic, on the pretext of treating her for schizophrenia
Schizophrenia
Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by a disintegration of thought processes and of emotional responsiveness. It most commonly manifests itself as auditory hallucinations, paranoid or bizarre delusions, or disorganized speech and thinking, and it is accompanied by significant social...
. Courtney and Amanda both express a desire to leave the town, but are afraid of the consequences of trying.
After stumbling upon some books on Biblical numerology, Kady realizes that the townspeople attach a mystical importance to the number 436 and are willing to go to extreme lengths to keep the population at exactly that number, including executing surplus residents. Anyone who expresses a desire to leave is treated for the 'fever' by Dr. Greaver, the town doctor, with electroshock therapy or in extreme cases, frontal lobotomy. It gradually becomes apparent to Kady that the residents of Rockwell Falls have no intention of allowing him to leave.
After witnessing the execution of a seemingly willing woman at a town feast, Kady becomes hysterical, and is taken to the clinic to be treated for the 'fever'. He escapes the clinic, and is sheltered by a sympathetic resident who reluctantly helps him plan his escape. After setting fire to the town garage as a diversion, Kady rescues Amanda from the clinic, but is forced to leave Courtney behind after discovering that she has been lobotomized by Dr. Greaver. As Kady and Amanda flee the town in a stolen tow-truck, a rainstorm is brewing and after a lightning strike, the cross from his dream appears in the truck hanging from the mirror. It is followed by the doll from his dream appearing on the dashboard with the next lightning strike. While he is distracted by these, the truck veers into the path of an oncoming semi-trailer truck, killing them both.
The film ends with one of Kady's co-workers (Christian Potenza
Christian Potenza
Christian Potenza is a Canadian actor born in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.- Biography :He has been in television since 1997, when he first appeared in the television series Riverdale as the character Jimmy....
), who has come in search of him, being picked up by a police officer after his car hits the same pothole that Kady's did, blowing his tires, echoing the beginning of the film.
Alternate ending
In the Alternate ending, Kady and Amanda survive, as Kady swerves to avoid the truck at the last possible moment, avoiding their grim fate.Cultural references
This movie carries a more-than-passing parallel/allusion to Shirley Jackson's classic short story, "The LotteryThe Lottery
"The Lottery" is a short story by Shirley Jackson, first published in the June 26, 1948, issue of The New Yorker. Written the same month it was published, it is ranked today as "one of the most famous short stories in the history of American literature"....
", published in New Yorker Magazine, 1948. This is particularly apparent in the sequence where the resident who is to be sacrificed to keep the population down is selected by drawing a name from a box full of slips of paper on which residents have written their names. It also shares a similar theme with M. Night Shyamalan
M. Night Shyamalan
Manoj Nelliyattu Shyamalan,known professionally as M. Night Shyamalan, is an Indian-born American screenwriter, film director, and producer known for making movies with contemporary supernatural plots that climax with a twist ending. He is also known for filming his movies in and around...
's The Village
The Village (2004 film)
The Village is a 2004 American fantasy-thriller film written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan about a end-of-the-19th-century village whose inhabitants live in fear of the creatures inhabiting the woods beyond it. The movie was shot in a recreation of a 19th-century village outside Philadelphia,...
, and Robin Hardy
Robin Hardy (film director)
Robin Hardy is an English author and film director. His most famous directorial work was The Wicker Man, and his latest project is a film adaptation of his book Cowboys for Christ, which has been retitled as, The Wicker Tree...
's The Wicker Man as being a secluded small town stuck in a completely different era, both in custom and in dress.
The story also contains references to numerology
Numerology
Numerology is any study of the purported mystical relationship between a count or measurement and life. It has many systems and traditions and beliefs...
, in particular Biblical numerology. The residents of Rockwell Falls believe that the word 'solidarity' has a numerological value of 13, which is also the sum of the digits of 436, the town's population (There are also 13 letters in the town's name). (See digit summing). In Population 436, special meanings are also attributed to the individual numbers 4, 3 and 6.