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Movie Review: The Signal
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The Signal Movie PosterThe Signal
Written & Directed by David Bruckner, Dan Bush, Jacob Gentry
Starring Anessa Ramsey, AJ Bowen, Justin Welborn, Scott Poythress, Sahr Nguajah
Rated R
Release date: Feb. 22, 2008

Imagine if every fleeting paranoia or subconscious concern you’d ever entertained had been instantly ratified as true in your mind. Further imagine that any inhibitions you might have regarding doing harm to another human being had been completely removed. It’s New Year’s Eve in Terminus City and all communication devices have spontaneously begun to emit a chaotic visual and sonic pattern which does just that to its residents. Nearly everyone within range of this unknown broadcast spontaneously becomes homicidally insane and begins indiscriminately killing whomever raises their ire. Traditionally, New Year’s is a time of shrugging off old ways and welcoming new beginnings, but for the people of Terminus, it is instead likely to be their last day on earth. This new year brings the Signal and with it, complete and total madness.

This is the backdrop on which our story is set. I’ll save you some trouble right from the start and let you know that we never really find out the true nature of the titular signal, or what caused it. But that’s okay. For the purposes of this film, the ‘why’ is entirely irrelevant. The signal is the macguffin, which in this case is nothing less than the harbinger of a sunrise apocalypse. It’s the facilitator of a signature chaos that permeates the very celluloid of this film.

The Signal is presented as a disquieting narrative with a love story at its heart — Maya (Anessa Ramsey) is married to Lewis (AJ Bowen), but she’s in love with Ben (Justin Welborn). This story of a love triangle set amidst the end of sanity, and the apparent end of the world, unfolds throughout three ‘transmissions’ — Crazy In Love, The Jealousy Monster, and Escape From Terminus, written and directed as thirty-minute vignettes by David Bruckner, Dan Bush, and Jacob Gentry, respectively. Each arc has its own unique perspective on how events such as the maddening of the entire world might unfold, but the cohesiveness of the film as a whole remains intact. For a movie with such a sparse concept these three gentlemen have done a stellar job creating a distinct tone for each of their segments while keeping the narrative consistent.

The movie opens with a bit of herky jerky handicam footage straight out of an art-school horror film. Unnamed victims are seen attempting to escape an obviously gruesome end somewhere out in the woods. At first I thought I the projectionist had put on the wrong movie, but the faux realism of this claustrophobic cabin scene instantly drew me into the moment. I was quite actually instilled with dread at the thought of ever being caught in a situation like this. Then, unexpectedly, the entire movie screen is overtaken by a disconcerting eruption and color and sounds, and as the camera pulls back through the ‘fourth-wall’ it reveals an LCD television in a modern bedroom with this ominous visual scramble playing on it. Whether the previous few moments of art-school horror was the television program broadcasting just prior to the the signal’s commencement or was a sort of manifestation of the signal’s ‘message’ is unclear and ultimately left unexplained. Whatever the intent, a strong undercurrent of unpredictability is set.

Every time I take a seat in a darkened theater I hope for a movie like this — a movie that immediately knocks the audience off-balance, and reasserts my belief in horror as a cinematic art-form. It’s too often that I leave unsatisfied after having been subjected to yet another homogenized piece of emptiness created for the sole purpose of ROI (return-on-investment). The trend lately feels more like a smash & grab for the loose change of a particular genre target audience with entertainment as an afterthought. There are shitty waste of time movies that I won’t bother mentioning by name here where people are tied up and beaten, and then there’s The Signal. This movie is an uncompromising bastard of a film with only one true target audience — those who have a true appreciation of horror films.

Who the fuck knows how this one is going to be received. I’ve seen that it’s being marketed as a member of the sci-fi genre, but in my opinion, other than the signal itself being seemingly technological in origin and the events taking place in a fictional city called Terminus (very Asimov sounding), this movie is a crooked-hooked horror with well-placed comedic tension breakers — a perfect example of what attracts people to horror films in the first place. In fact, I’m willing to go so far as to award it the top spot in my newly created horror classification, NWOIHM (New Wave of Indie Horror Movies…a riff off of NWOBHM — look it up).

Those who don’t take kindly to depictions of intensely horrific murders (that actually show very little gore) will be quick to write The Signal off as a crude addition to murder-porn genre. But first they would have to overlook the amazing balancing act of maintaining a coherent narrative throughout a film where EVERYONE is completely insane, then dismiss the clever subtleties that riff on the absurdity of commonplace human interactions, and finally completely ignore the empathy one can develop for a love story buried beneath a world of criminal insanity.

Every frame of The Signal is a love letter to the horror genre. It’s the current frontrunner for the 2008 NWOIHM Horror of the Year award and my favorite horror movie in quite a long time. I don’t know what else I can say other than fucking do yourself a favor and see this movie.

2 Comments »

  1. Sounds like a good one to me.
    Excellent review.

    Comment by Jerry — February 22, 2008 @ 7:30 am

  2. A very concise and interesting review — I wanted to see this BEFORE I read your review and I REALLY want to see it now.
    But WILL it be the “cult film” of the year?
    It seems to have a solid story, strong performances and excellent cinematography and enough quirky elements to generate an audience that will see if over and over again.
    If it isn’t THE cult film this year, it certainly seems like a strong contender.

    Comment by T.E. Pouncey — February 22, 2008 @ 6:39 pm

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