The Signal
Rated: R
Runtime: 1 hour, 39 minutes
Directed by: David Bruckner, Dan Bush, Jacob Gentry
Starring:
Anessa Ramsey - Mya
Justin Welbornr - Ben
AJ Bowen - Lewis
Christopher Thomas - Ken
Scott Poythress - Clark
Cheri Christian - Anna
Chad McKnight - Jim Parsons
There's something to be said for a film that makes you wish there was a zombie invasion instead. And not the tame Dawn of the Dead, slow, shuffling zombie swarm. I'm talking the fast-moving 28 Days Later threat. That's a preferable option to the scenario posed by The Signal: something coming through the televisions, phones, and radio is causing people to go crazy and kill each other. I leave it to you to decide what about this set-up is most terrifying: that people know they're murdering other people and are doing it anyway; that no one knows who is infected and who isn't, not even the viewer; or that even if you aren't infected, the paranoia the situation presents puts you in a position where you're forced to behave as if you were infected.
Using a connected cast of characters, The Signal is told in three parts, each by a different director and each with a different tone. The first act is straight horror as the signal infects the city of Terminus (which is a great name because not only is it the original name of Atlanta where the film was made, but the name means “the end”) and the violence and paranoia overwhelm the viewer. After an intense thirty-three minutes, we ease up in the second act which is more of a dark comedy. Oddly, this act eventually returns to the horror roots of the first act before finally moving to the romance-story where we finally see some kind of hero emerge from all this madness. I'm not sure why the film is made this way as it doesn't seem to provide any thematic value, but the sensibilities of the directors are similar enough that the film is never completely jarring. Also, all three directors are quite talented with the gore and if anything holds the three acts together, it's a raging river of blood and guts.
The Signal is the good kind of horror: the kind that actually scares you. Yes, it feeds the bloodlust, but it makes sure to remember that these are ordinary people doing extraordinarily horrific things to each other. Films like this move the horror genre forward. To what? Well, that's for the next sick bastard(s) to figure out.
Words by
Matt Goldberg
1.24.08