In addition to the two reviews we posted from the Sundance Film Festival here, today we posted Tex's review of Magnolia Pictures' upcoming The Signal, which was directed by David Bruckner, Jacob Gentry and Dan Bush. A mysterious signal is being transmitted from all media devices in the city of Terminus, provoking murder and madness within the psyches of its inhabitants. In THE SIGNAL, one man battles to save the woman he loves from the vehemence of her crazed husband. But, in order to succeed, he must first determine who he can trust in a city where everyone appears to have succumbed to the violence of the signal--including himself. Read on for Tex's review and see if you have the crazies on August 10.
The Signal
Reviewed By: Tex Massacre
7/10 or 3 ½ Skulls
There are a lot of cautionary tales in cinema, and that sentiment echoes especially true in the realm of horror. One recurrent theme is man’s dependence on machine, which lends itself to one clear paradox. What would happen if the man was no longer master of machine? It’s a concept that could very nearly be traced back to Mary Shelley’s immortal Frankenstein, or at the very least H.G. Wells’ Time Machine. In the more recent decades this idea of sentient technological fear has peppered the science fiction genre with everything from viruses to judgment days.
In the 1978 fright-meister Stephen King gave readers his own version of a mechanized apocalypse with the short story Trucks which he later adapted into the film MAXIMUM OVERDRIVE. Other films followed including no fewer than three projects named PULSE—strictly speaking of course, the Japanese version is titled KAIRO. In one, electricity is the enemy, in the other two—an original and the U.S. remake—the idea is presented that the spirits of the restless can capture souls through a web of satellite coverage. Like those films and indeed like Stephen King’s 2006 novel The Cell, a trio of Atlanta filmmakers asks the question what if our means of communication was actually the means of our doom.
The Signal shares more than a few similarities with The Cell—which is currently in development from Dimension Films with HOSTEL director Eli Roth attached. In all fairness to the writers and directors behind THE SIGNAL, the film was already beginning post-production when King’s opus hit retail shelves. Still, the verisimilitude is striking.
In THE SIGNAL, television is the key, and if you thought the old adage that watching T.V. creates nothing but an army of mindless zombies, you’d be well on your way to understanding where this film is headed. As the story begins we are dropped into what appears to be a low budget slasher film, just as we begin to gather our bearings the picture starts to flicker and eventually the signal is eaten up by a flurry of white noise. The camera pans back to reveal a large plasma screen and a pair of sleeping lovers. This is the beginning of the end. All across the country the signal is beaming itself into homes and businesses, transfixing its audience and rewiring their brains into animalistic killing machines.
The film is designed to look at the aftershock of infection in three decidedly different vignettes. In the first segment we are introduced to Mya (Anessa Ramsey) who is currently having an affair. Jolted from her slumber by the static fuzz of the snowy television, Mya realizes she must get home to her husband Lewis (A.J. Bowan) before he starts wondering where she went. Unable to let her go, her lover Ben (Justin Welborn) begs her to forget Lewis and meet him at the train depot to leave behind this life and start together somewhere new. But post-coital promises don’t carry much weight and she is off to head back home and determine her own fate. When she arrives and her husband confronts her absence things go from bad to worse as the signal begins to take over his psyche. The rest of the film follows Lewis, Ben and Mya as they try and make their way through this unrelenting apocalypse.
By segmenting the story, the filmmakers each take an opportunity to address one portion of the story arc. The opening—titled Transmission One—is tense and immediate and director David Bruckner channels all of the rage and the fury of the unknown into a slice of cinematic pie that would stand solidly on its own merits.
The second transmission is the work of Jacob Gentry and it has a dry SHAUN OF THE DEAD style humor to illustrate its underlying theme of base human defense mechanisms in the face of unfathomable terror. This segment also introduces us to the films two most memorable characters, the slightly deranged party hostess Anna (DARK REMAINS’ Cheri Christian) and Clark (Scott Poythress) an unwitting party guest who delivers the most standout, jaw dropping, and immediately quotable line of dialogue I’ve heard in ages.
The concluding transmission falls to Dan Bush and follows Ben’s quest in meeting Mya at the platform to escape the madness and start fresh somewhere, anywhere that might still be sane. Though this segment suffers slightly from it’s need to deliver the tale it’s ultimate conclusion it still offers the viewer a glimpse into the underlying sentimentality with which this band of moviemakers have infused their film. If character is king when telling a tale, than Bruckner, Gentry, Bush and their well-cast array of thespians have delivered a monarchy of great characterizations for a peasants pay.
All similarities aside, THE SIGNAL is a pretty original thriller. It can’t be argued enough that genre filmmakers need to take a chance with their art, and this group of Georgia natives has shown a willingness to take that leap. The acting is exceptional for a project in this budgetary range and all though each segment bears a distinct tonal stamp; the direction is seamless proving that anthological storytelling can be fashioned in such a manner as to grossly encapsulate the viewer yet still allow for personal touches that don’t detract from the overall course of the saga.
Go catch cancer. This movie looks brutal, I've been looking forward to it since I heard of it.
You have to be logged in to comment! If you don't have an account register now for free! Your account allows you to post comments and reviews, upload videos and images, access or our forums, write personal blogs, and maintain your profile.
There are a lot of cautionary tales in cinema, and that sentiment echoes especially true in the realm of horror. One recurrent theme is man’s dependence on machine, which lends itself to one clear paradox. What would happen if the man was no longer master of machine? It’s a concept that could very nearly be traced back to Mary Shelley’s immortal Frankenstein, or at the very least H.G. Wells’ Time Machine. In the more recent decades this idea of sentient technological fear has peppered the science fiction genre with everything from viruses to judgment days. 
Print Story
Send to a Friend
