Jeremy Sisto

(In French, On Cable TV, September 2021) There’s a moderately intriguing premise at the heart of Population 436 that, sadly, never gets fully realized. It’s right there in the title: a rural town in the American Midwest in which the population has remained at 436 inhabitants for a century. Jeremy Sisto plays an unlikely hero of a census worker sent over there to clear up the mystery when data analytics flag this consistency as suspicious. As it turns out, they have no idea how suspicious it is, because once our protagonist is stuck in town thanks to a car breakdown, he gradually comes to pierce together the horrible truth: that, through a mixture of supernatural phenomena or citizens taking matters into their own hands, the population is made to stay at 436. Unfortunately, the film doesn’t quite know where to go after that — maybe it’s a curse, maybe it’s a deal with the demon, maybe it’s folk horror, maybe it’s something in the ground, maybe it’s the inhabitants taking matters too seriously. Singer Fred Durst shows up in a minor role, but his performance feels like stunt casting in order to get the picture made more than an appropriate choice. Fortunately, the film remains interesting despite not going to the conclusion of its premise: there’s a nice rise of hysteria as the protagonist pieces together the occult conspiracy and it does conclude with a few shocks. Still, file Population 436 under intriguing premises with mediocre execution.