The Signal
by Dan Bush, David Bruckner, Jacob Gentry
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DVD details
Actor: AJ Bowen, Anessa Ramsey, Justin Welborn, Sahr Ngaujah, Scott PoythressDirector: Dan Bush, David Bruckner, Jacob Gentry
Brand: Magnolia Pictures
Writer: Dan Bush
Writer: David Bruckner
Writer: Jacob Gentry
Producer: Alexander Motlagh
Producer: David C. Ballard
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); Spanish (Subtitled); English (Original Language)
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.78:1
Running Time: 103 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2008-06-10
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Model: 10104
Studio: Magnolia
Product features:
- It s New Year s Eve in the city of Terminus and chaos is this year s resolution. All forms of communication have been jammed by an enigmatic transmission that preys on fear and desire driving everyone in the city to murder and madness. In a place once marked by conformity but now sent into complete anarchy, the rebellious Ben must save the woman he loves from the bedlam in the streets as well as h
DVD Reviews of The Signal
DVD Review: Do Not Attempt to Adjust Your Set--We Are in Control
Summary: 4 Stars
"The Signal" is the work of natural independent filmmakers, and it shows because they focus on actual storytelling instead of unimportant details. You watch it without analyzing anything--you just let the story happen, and you take it for almost everything it's worth. The surprising thing is that it achieves all this despite being a supernatural thriller, a genre notorious for trying to explain everything; here's a story that explains virtually nothing yet still manages to be both understandable and frightening. The basic idea seems unnerving enough, if a little too reminiscent of Stephen King's "Cell": in the fictional city of Terminus (whose very name must be symbolic), a signal sent through television sets on New Year's Eve makes anyone watching it irrational, paranoid, psychotic, and homicidal. This signal, wherever it came from, distorts perceptions of reality and makes the victim see things that aren't there and understand things that make no sense. As a result, people kill each other left and right for no apparent reason. They have The Crazy in their heads.
In the midst of this chaos are three main characters caught in a bizarre love triangle, and this is fitting since the film is divided into three distinct sections, or in this case, transmissions. The first, called "Crazy in Love," introduces us to Mya (Anessa Ramsey) and Ben (Justin Welborn), who are secretly having an affair. Ben awakens in the middle of the night and notices his TV, which he thought had been turned off; not only is it on, the screen shows nothing but patterned white static, as well. Then Mya awakens, and when she realizes what time it is, she hurriedly dresses and heads for home. She knows something's wrong as soon as she enters the building because almost everyone is awake, and they argue with one another as they wander the halls. When she enters her apartment, she first sees two of her husband's friends struggling to fix the TV's reception (they want to watch the baseball game). She then faces her husband, Lewis (AJ Brown), and at that point, we immediately know two things: (1) Lewis has already been affected by the signal; (2) his need to domineer was amplified--but not created--by the signal.
The second transmission is called "The Jealously Monster," and it's the weakest because it relies on quirky comedy instead of subtler moments of satire. This is when we meet Anna (Cheri Christian), and we immediately see that she has killed her husband. We also see that she's disappointed over not being able to throw a New Year's Eve party; as her husband's body sits across from her, she tells him that, when the guests arrive, she'll just tell them to leave. Her neighbor, Clark (Scott Poythress), stops by before long, as does Lewis, who uses his profession as an exterminator as an excuse to enter. Lewis is now on a mission to recapture his wife, a mission so obsessive that he doesn't trust anyone. He also sees Mya in place of Anna and kills almost anyone who comes near her. Even when he realizes who's who, he remains convinced that Anna knows where Mya has gone. He also has a powerful influence over Clark, who shifts between understanding the signal and being its unwilling pawn.
The third segment is called "Escape from Terminus," and if you think that title gives away the ending, you've got another thing coming. This segment wisely veers away from intentional humor, focusing once again on the desperate situation the characters are in. There are two notable exceptions, and while I won't describe them in detail, I will say that one involves aluminum foil and the other involves a severed head. By now, Clark and Ben are trying to intercept Mya before Lewis can, which will be difficult since all three men have been affected by the signal to a certain degree. It's really a question of will power, of knowing what to focus on and how to push irrational thoughts aside. Clark and Ben theorize that the signal is a kind of programmer, sending messages that trick the brain into believing what it shouldn't believe. It's pretty likely that this is a social commentary on television in general. Let's look at the obvious example of reality shows: they influence viewers into a primal state of competition, encouraging votes for the best singer, or the best dancer, or the best model.
It's also pretty likely that the film is a commentary on the state of humanity in general. Consider the fact that it opens with footage of a schlocky exploitation film, much like Wes Craven's "Last House on the Left": we slowly begin to realize that the needless violence of that footage is being echoed in the plot of "The Signal," with numerous, brutal murders that are justified only in the minds of the Crazies. The only way this film departs from films like "Last House on the Left" is that it focuses more on the aftermath than on the actual killing. Yes, violent deaths are featured, but we see more spilt blood than blood being spilt, if you get my drift. I suspect that the three writers and directors--David Bruckner, Dan Bush, and Jacob Gentry--did this on purpose, which is fine by me; lingering shots of blood and gore may be fun to look at, but they don't really add much as far as the story is concerned. But story is exactly what "The Signal" focuses on, making for one of the more original thrillers of recent memory. Instead of going for obvious, cheap thrills, it's ambitious enough to be unnerving and unpredictable. That's exactly the way a supernatural thriller should be, even with the occasional lapse into unnecessary comedy.
Description of The Signal
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