The Signal (2007 film)

Last updated
The Signal
Signal2007 poster.jpg
Directed by David Bruckner
Dan Bush
Jacob Gentry
Written byDavid Bruckner
Dan Bush
Jacob Gentry
Produced byJacob Gentry
Alexander A. Motlagh
Starring A. J. Bowen
Anessa Ramsey
Justin Welborn
Edited byDavid Bruckner
Dan Bush
Jacob Gentry
Alexander Motlagh
Music by Ben Lovett
Production
companies
Distributed by Magnolia Pictures
Release dates
  • January 22, 2007 (2007-01-22)(Sundance Film Festival)
  • February 22, 2008 (2008-02-22)(United States)
Running time
103 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$50,000 [1]
Box office$401,462 [2]

The Signal is a 2007 American horror film written and directed by independent filmmakers David Bruckner, Dan Bush and Jacob Gentry. It is told in three parts, in which all telecommunication and audiovisual devices transmit only a mysterious signal turning people mad and activating murderous behaviour in many of those affected.

Contents

The film's three interconnected chapters ("transmissions") are presented in a nonlinear narrative. Each of them manifests elements of (besides the overall genre of psychological horror), respectively, splatter film, black comedy, and a post-apocalyptic love story. The Signal was met with a mixed but largely positive critical reception.

Plot

Mya is cheating on her husband Lewis with Ben. Ben asks Mya to leave the city with him, but she remains noncommittal. As Mya exits, Ben turns the television on and watches a bizarre, psychedelic sequence of images. Mya listens to a compact disc given to her by Ben, but she is menaced by men who are acting strangely in a parking garage. When she reaches her apartment building, she finds more people behaving strangely. Unknown to Mya, a static-like interference coming through communications media has amplified people's negative emotional traits, causing them to act irrationally and, in most cases, violently.

Transmission 1: Crazy in Love

Written and directed by David Bruckner.

Once inside her apartment, Lewis and two friends, Jerry and Rod, attempt to fix the TV, but Lewis beats Jerry to death over a minor argument. Mya flees in panic, leaving Rod and Lewis in a struggle, but finds the whole building in chaos. Mya hides in a nearby apartment until morning. When she re-enters her home, she finds Lewis unconscious and bound to a chair. He awakens to see her leave while listening to Ben's compact disc. Mya encounters Rod, who drags her into a janitor's closet and tells her of his struggle to survive. It becomes evident that the signal affects each person differently, and Rod may also be crazy, though he seems to largely have control of his judgment. Together, they escape and attempt to drive to safety. But after being shot by a policewoman and almost left behind by Mya, Rod becomes more violent and attacks Mya, who crashes the car. Rod is incapacitated and trapped in the vehicle, while Mya flees, telling a stranger named Clark that she is going to the train station.

Transmission 2: The Jealousy Monster

Written and directed by Jacob Gentry.

Ben finds Lewis duct-taped and loosens his bonds. Lewis knocks Ben unconscious and puts him in the back of a pest control van. At a nearby apartment, a woman named Anna has killed her husband in self-defense but has continued planning for a party as if nothing has happened. Clark, Anna's neighbor and a conspiracy theorist, soon arrives. The two attempt to understand what is happening, and Clark admits that he decapitated Rod after Rod violently attacked him. Eventually Lewis arrives at the apartment after seeing Mya's crashed car. At first, Lewis befriends Anna and Clark, and they convince themselves that none of them have been affected by the signal. Lewis' violent and paranoid tendencies cause him to kill Anna's niece, Laura, who arrives seeking help. He dismisses the act as defending Anna, but Clark convinces him not to attack the next arrival, Jim, who is apparently oblivious of the situation. While Anna hallucinates that Clark is her husband, Lewis hallucinates that Jim is Ben, taunting him. He beats Jim to death, pins Clark to a chair using kitchen knives, and blinds Anna with insecticide. Convinced she knows nothing about Mya, Lewis forces Anna to ingest the poison. He exposes Clark to the signal interrogates him. Ben, having woken up and freed himself from Lewis's van, enters the apartment and knocks out Lewis.

Transmission 3: Escape from Terminus

Written and directed by Dan Bush.

Lewis wakes up and follows Ben and Clark. He attempts to kill them in a tool shed, but they fight him off and escape. Ben convinces Clark the signal is a lie, breaking its effect on him, and Clark informs Ben where Mya was headed. Ben and Clark run through the now mostly-dead city and arrive at the train station. There, they find Mya tied to a chair, being forced to watch the signal by Lewis. Lewis attacks them and strangles Clark to unconsciousness. Ben uses Lewis's own paranoia against him, tricking Lewis into believing that their roles are reversed. Lewis punches a signal-broadcasting TV in a frustrated rage, electrocuting himself.

The story ends ambiguously. Ben, Mya, and Clark stock up on supplies, then Clark leaves. However, the next scene reveals Mya still tied to the chair, seemingly catatonic. Ben places Mya's headphones on her, and she closes her eyes, a tear rolling down her cheek.

Cast

Production and release

The Signal was created by four filmmakers who have been collaborating since 1999 in Atlanta, Georgia and each of its chapters of which had different directors during shooting. The film was completed for the 2007 Sundance Film Festival on a budget of only $50,000 and shot over the course of 13 days. [3] The film premiered January 22, 2007 at the Sundance Film Festival, where it was acquired by Magnolia Pictures, [4] and released on DVD and Blu-ray on June 10, 2008. [5]

After long delay due to the search for a song to replace an unlicensed cover of Lou Reed's "Perfect Day" by Jon Thomas Hall in the soundtrack, the film was theatrically released on February 22, 2008. [6] The song finally used is a cover of Joy Division's "Atmosphere" by Ola Podrida. As a promotion for the film, a new short podcast was released bi-weekly through a horror film news site Bloody Disgusting. [7] On February 23, 2008, it was reported that two men were stabbed by a stranger in a Fullerton, California movie theatre during a showing of The Signal; one of them suffered non life-threatening injuries to his arm, while the other suffered a lung puncture. [8]

The home media release includes an audio commentary from the directors, deleted scenes, the making-of featurette, the complete short film The Hap Hapgood Story that was shown on TV in the introduction sequence of The Signal, as well as three short (each around four-minute long) additional "transmissions" featuring entirely different new characters and locations ("Transmission 14: Technical Difficulties", "Transmission 23: The Return", and "Transmission 37: Crosstown Traffic" by Jacob Gentry). [5] [9] [10] Gentry, who also directed the second part of the film, shared his bonus featurette on Vimeo. [11]

Reception

Not content to go the usual "zombie apocalypse" route (where the narrative follows a band of survivors coping with hordes of crazies), the creative triptych have broached larger, more philosophical ideas. (...) It's chilling because there are no simple "heroes and villains" on these terms, not even "Us vs. Them." If psychosis and paranoia were communicable in this manner, "Them" could be "Us," and we would have absolutely no way of knowing. [12]

–Aaron Gillot, Filmmaker

The Signal received 59% positive reviews at Rotten Tomatoes, with the website's consensus states, "The Signal is gruesome, funny, and has big thoughts about society, but those disparate elements fail to come together convincingly." [13] Its average rating at Metacritic is 63/100 (generally favorable reviews). [14] In 2012, Total Film included it on their list of the best independent horror films, noting that if The Signal had a bigger budget "it would have had more room to explore its big ideas." [15]

In a review for The Boston Globe , Wesley Morris wrote that while the film's episodes vary in their quality (he opined that the first is "by far the most impressive"), "the filmmaking stays sharp and the acting maintains its ferocity." [16] On the other hand, Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly called it a poor mix of Poltergeist , Invasion of the Body Snatchers , Re-Animator , Shivers and Shaun of the Dead . [17]

Karen Kemmerle of Tribeca Film recommended this "surreal, primal, unexpected and unsettling journey through a society gone mad", and stated that "the style of the film is reminiscent of those great 70s horror movies—it's raw, grainy and insanely visceral," and its raw and low budget feel "only draws to its appeal." [18] According to Aaron Gillot of Filmmaker , "for such a modest movie ... The Signal is creative, intelligent, and one of the few movies that truly immerses the viewer in the terror of madness. Any fan of horror should seek it out. [12]

Related Research Articles

<i>Candyman</i> (1992 film) Film by Bernard Rose

Candyman is a 1992 American gothic supernatural horror film, written and directed by Bernard Rose and starring Virginia Madsen, Tony Todd, Xander Berkeley, Kasi Lemmons, and Vanessa E. Williams. Based on Clive Barker's short story "The Forbidden", the film follows a Chicago graduate student completing a thesis on urban legends and folklore, which leads her to the legend of the "Candyman", the ghost of an African-American artist and the son of a slave who was murdered in the late 19th century for his relationship with the daughter of a wealthy white man.

<i>Stepmom</i> (1998 film) Film by Chris Columbus

Stepmom is a 1998 American comedy-drama film directed by Chris Columbus and produced by Wendy Finerman, Mark Radcliffe, and Michael Barnathan. The screenplay was written by Gigi Levangie, Jessie Nelson, Steven Rogers, Karen Leigh Hopkins, and Ronald Bass. The film stars Julia Roberts, Susan Sarandon, and Ed Harris. Its plot follows a terminally ill woman dealing with her ex-husband's new lover, who will soon be their children's stepmother.

<i>The Amityville Horror</i> (2005 film) Film by Andrew Douglas

The Amityville Horror is a 2005 American supernatural horror film directed by Andrew Douglas, and starring Ryan Reynolds, Melissa George, and Philip Baker Hall. It also featured the debut of actress Chloë Grace Moretz. Written by Scott Kosar, it is based on the novel The Amityville Horror by Jay Anson, which was previously adapted into the 1979 film of the same name, while also serving as the ninth film in the Amityville Horror film series, and was also served as inspiration for The Conjuring 2, which documents the experiences of the Lutz family after they move into a house at 112 Ocean Avenue, Long Island. In 1974, real-life mass murderer Ronald DeFeo Jr. killed six members of his family at the same house in Amityville, New York.

<i>The Descent</i> 2005 film directed by Neil Marshall

The Descent is a 2005 British horror film written and directed by Neil Marshall. The film stars actresses Shauna Macdonald, Natalie Mendoza, Alex Reid, Saskia Mulder, Nora-Jane Noone and MyAnna Buring. The plot follows six women who enter an uncharted cave system and struggle to survive against the monstrous cannibals inside.

<i>When a Stranger Calls</i> (2006 film) 2006 American thriller film by Simon West

When a Stranger Calls is a 2006 American psychological horror film directed by Simon West and written by Jake Wade Wall. The film stars Camilla Belle, Brian Geraghty, Katie Cassidy and Clark Gregg. Belle plays a babysitter who starts to receive threatening phone calls from an unidentified stranger, played by both Tommy Flanagan and Lance Henriksen. It is a remake of Fred Walton's 1979 film of the same name, which became a cult classic for its opening 23 minutes, which this remake extends to a feature-length film.

<i>American Psycho</i> (film) 2000 film by Mary Harron

American Psycho is a 2000 satirical horror film directed by Mary Harron, who co-wrote the screenplay with Guinevere Turner. Based on the 1991 novel by Bret Easton Ellis, it stars Christian Bale as Patrick Bateman, a New York City investment banker who apparently leads a double life as a serial killer. Willem Dafoe, Jared Leto, Josh Lucas, Chloë Sevigny, Samantha Mathis, Cara Seymour, Justin Theroux, and Reese Witherspoon appear in supporting roles. The film blends horror and black comedy to satirize 1980s yuppie culture and consumerism, exemplified by Bateman.

<i>The Messengers</i> (film) 2007 film

The Messengers is a 2007 supernatural horror film directed by the Pang Brothers, and produced by Sam Raimi. It stars Kristen Stewart, John Corbett, William B. Davis, Dylan McDermott, Carter Kolbeck and Penelope Ann Miller. The film is about an ominous darkness that invades a seemingly serene sunflower farm in North Dakota, and the Solomon family—the owners of the farm—are torn apart by suspicion, mayhem, and murder.

<i>Possession</i> (1981 film) 1981 film

Possession is a 1981 psychological horror drama film directed by Andrzej Żuławski and written by Żuławski and Frederic Tuten. The plot obliquely follows the relationship between an international spy and his wife, who begins exhibiting increasingly disturbing behavior after asking for a divorce.

<i>Bennys Video</i> 1992 Austrian-Swiss psychological thriller film by Michael Haneke

Benny's Video is a 1992 psychological horror film directed by Michael Haneke and starring Arno Frisch, Angela Winkler, and Ulrich Mühe. Set in Vienna, it centers on Benny, a teenager who views much of his life as distilled through video images, and his well-to-do parents Anna and Georg, who enable Benny's focus on video cameras and images. The film won the FIPRESCI Award at the 1993 European Film Awards.

<i>The Strangers</i> (2008 film) 2008 film by Bryan Bertino

The Strangers is a 2008 American psychological horror film written and directed by Bryan Bertino. The film follows a couple whose stay at a vacation home is disrupted by three masked intruders who infiltrate the home one night. It is the first installment in The Strangers film series. The screenplay was inspired by two real-life events: the multiple-homicide Manson family Tate murders and a series of break-ins that occurred in Bertino's neighborhood as a child. Some journalists noted similarities between the film and the Keddie cabin murders that occurred in Keddie, California, in 1981, though Bertino did not cite this as a reference.

<i>The Gore Gore Girls</i> 1972 film by Herschell Gordon Lewis

The Gore Gore Girls is a 1972 comedy horror splatter film directed by Herschell Gordon Lewis.

<i>Mirrors</i> (2008 film) 2008 American film

Mirrors is a 2008 supernatural horror film directed by Alexandre Aja, starring Kiefer Sutherland, Paula Patton, and Amy Smart. The film was first titled Into the Mirror, but the name was later changed to Mirrors. Filming began on May 1, 2007, and it was released in American theaters on August 15, 2008.

<i>Birdemic: Shock and Terror</i> 2010 film by James Nguyen

Birdemic: Shock and Terror is a 2010 American independent romantic thriller-horror film written, directed, and executive produced by James Nguyen, and starring Alan Bagh and Whitney Moore. Inspired by Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds, Birdemic tells the story of a romance between the two main characters as their small town is attacked by birds. It also was inspired by the environmental documentary An Inconvenient Truth, which led to the film having an environmental message.

<i>Insidious</i> (film) 2010 horror film by James Wan

Insidious is a 2010 supernatural horror film directed and co-edited by James Wan, written by Leigh Whannell, and starring Patrick Wilson, Rose Byrne, and Barbara Hershey. It is the first installment in the Insidious franchise and the third in terms of the series' in-story chronology. The story centers on a married couple whose boy inexplicably enters a comatose state and becomes a vessel for a variety of demonic entities in an astral plane.

<i>Patrick</i> (2013 film) Australian film directed by Mark Hartley

Patrick is a 2013 Australian supernatural horror film directed by Mark Hartley and a remake of the 1978 film of the same name. It had its world premiere on 27 July 2013 at the Melbourne International Film Festival and received a limited theatrical release on 14 March 2014, followed by a DVD release the following month. Its Canadian theatrical premiere was at the Lost Episode Festival Toronto on 5 July 2014.

<i>Mimesis: Night of the Living Dead</i> 2011 American film

Mimesis: Night of the Living Dead is a 2011 American horror film directed by Douglas Schulze, written by Joshua Wagner and Schulze, and starring Allen Maldonado, Lauren Mae Shafer, Taylor Piedmonte, and David G.B. Brown.

<i>Starry Eyes</i> 2014 American horror film

Starry Eyes is a 2014 American horror film written and directed by Kevin Kölsch and Dennis Widmyer. The film had its world premiere on March 8, 2014 at South by Southwest and features Alexandra Essoe as a hopeful young starlet who finds that fame's price is not always easily paid. Funding for the movie was partially raised through a successful Kickstarter campaign.

<i>The Trust</i> (2016 film) 2016 film by Alex Brewer and Ben Brewer

The Trust is a 2016 American crime drama film directed by Alex and Ben Brewer, written by Ben Brewer and Adam Hirsch, and starring Nicolas Cage, Elijah Wood, Sky Ferreira, Jerry Lewis, Kevin Weisman and Steven Williams. The film was released on DirecTV on April 14, 2016, before being released on video on demand and in theaters on May 13, 2016, by Saban Films. Although Max Rose was released after The Trust, this film marks the last role that Jerry Lewis filmed before his death in 2017.

<i>Southbound</i> (2015 film) 2015 horror anthology film

Southbound is a 2015 American horror anthology film directed by Radio Silence, Roxanne Benjamin, David Bruckner, and Patrick Horvath. Produced by Brad Miska and Roxanne Benjamin, the film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 16, 2015, and was given a limited theatrical release in the United States on February 5, 2016. The film was included on numerous Best Horror Films of 2016 lists including those by Rolling Stone, BuzzFeed and the Thrillist.

<i>The Innocents</i> (2021 film) 2021 film by Eskil Vogt

The Innocents is a 2021 supernatural horror film written and directed by Eskil Vogt. The film premiered in the Un Certain Regard section at the 74th Cannes Film Festival on 11 July 2021.

References

  1. ↑ Mark Hughes (October 30, 2013). "The Top Ten Best Low-Budget Horror Movies Of All Time". Forbes . Retrieved December 27, 2014.
  2. ↑ "The Signal – Box Office Data, Movie News, Cast Information". The-numbers.com. Retrieved 2014-01-20.
  3. ↑ CinemATL Magazine – Cover Story: POPfilms
  4. ↑ Talk of the Nation (2007-01-25). "'The Signal' Director Describes Success at Sundance". NPR. Retrieved 2014-01-20.
  5. 1 2 "The Signal (Blu-ray) : DVD Talk Review of the Blu-ray". Dvdtalk.com. Retrieved 2014-01-20.
  6. ↑ BD Horror News – Magnolia Pictures' 'The Signal' in February '08 Archived 2007-12-10 at the Wayback Machine
  7. ↑ BD Horror News – Special Transmission & New Still From 'The Signal' Archived 2007-12-17 at the Wayback Machine
  8. ↑ cbs2.com – 2 Stabbed During Horror Movie In Fullerton, CBS 2/KCAL 9, Feb 25, 2008.
  9. ↑ "Blu-ray Review: The Signal (2007) | High-Def Digest". Bluray.highdefdigest.com. Retrieved 2014-01-20.
  10. ↑ "Signal, The (DVD) | Horror Movie, DVD, & Book Reviews, News, Interviews at Dread Central". Dreadcentral.com. 2008-06-09. Retrieved 2014-01-20.
  11. ↑ Jacob Gentry Plus (2010-03-12). "The Signal Transmission 37: Crosstown Traffic on Vimeo". Vimeo.com. Retrieved 2014-04-12.
  12. 1 2 "Hidden Horror: The Signal". Filmmaker Magazine. 12 January 2014. Retrieved 2014-04-12.
  13. ↑ "The Signal Movie Reviews, Pictures". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved February 28, 2020.
  14. ↑ "The Signal Reviews, Ratings, Credits, and More at Metacritic". Metacritic.com. Retrieved 2014-01-20.
  15. ↑ Winning, Josh. "50 Greatest Indie Horror Film". TotalFilm.com. Retrieved 2014-01-20.
  16. ↑ "Fierce acting gives 'The Signal' its power - Boston.com". Articles.boston.com. 2008-02-22. Retrieved 2014-01-20.
  17. ↑ "The Signal Review". EW.com. 2008-02-20. Retrieved 2014-01-20.
  18. ↑ Kemmerle, Karen (2013-10-07). "31 Days of Horror: 'The Signal' Should Be On Your Watchlist | Tribeca". Tribecafilm.com. Retrieved 2014-04-12.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.