The Signal (film)

Infobox Film
name = The Signal


image_size =
caption =
director = David Bruckner
Dan Bush
Jacob Gentry
producer = Alexander A. Motlagh
writer = David Bruckner
Dan Bush
Jacob Gentry
starring = A. J. Bowen
Anessa Ramsey
Justin Welborn
released = February 22, 2008
language = English
website = http://www.doyouhavethecrazy.com/
music =
cinematography =
editing =
production company = POPfilms
distributor =
runtime =
country = USA
language = English
budget = $ 50,000
gross =
preceded_by =
followed_by =
amg_id = 1:382559
imdb_id = 0780607

"The Signal" is an independent psychological horror film written and directed by David Bruckner, Dan Bush, Jacob Gentry and produced by Alexander A. Motlagh -- four filmmakers who have been collaborating since 1999 in Atlanta, Georgia. The film premiered January 22, 2007 at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival, [http://festival.sundance.org/filmguide/popup.aspx?film=4734 Retrieved 2007-09-13] where it was acquired by Magnolia Pictures. "The Signal" is rated R for strong brutal bloody violence throughout, pervasive language, and brief nudity.

Synopsis

"The Signal" is a science fiction horror film told in three parts in which all telecommunication devices broadcast only a mysterious transmission ("the signal"), turning people insane. The film is broken up into three "transmissions" (chapters) each of which had different directors during shooting. Each part manifests elements of one of the following genres: visceral horror, black comedy, and mystery-love story.

Plot summary

The film opens, showing that Mya (Anessa Ramsey) is cheating on her husband Lewis (A. J. Bowen) with a man named Ben (Justin Welborn). They plan to escape from Terminus on a train together that night, which is New Year's Eve. As Mya exits, Ben turns the TV on, showing a bizarre, psychedelic group of images. Mya begins to listen to a CD given to her by Ben, but is menaced by men who are acting strangely in a parking garage. When she reaches her apartment building, she finds people acting strangely in the halls as well.

Once inside her apartment, Lewis and two friends attempt to fix the TV, but Lewis, the first to react to the signal, beats one of them to death with a baseball bat. Mya escapes in panic and finds the hall in chaos with people killing each other. Mya hides out in the apartment across the hall until morning, when she meets another survivor, Rod (Sahr Ngaujah). Together, they escape, and attempt to drive to safety, but Rod turns on the radio, exposing himself to the signal, and goes insane. He attacks Mya, who crashes the car.

The story turns to Ben, who finds the duct-taped Lewis and loosens his bonds. Lewis renders Ben unconscious and puts his body in the back of a pest control van. At a nearby apartment, Anna (Cheri Christian) is setting up for a new years party, when Clark (Scott Poythress) comes in. The two begin attempting to figure out what is happening, as Anna had had to kill her husband, and Clark had decapitated Rod who was in the car with Mya. Eventually Lewis makes his way to the apartment as a pest exterminator and attempts to befriend the two. Together they wait, and Lewis kills a girl at the door. They meet up with another man, whom Lewis eventually also kills. Afterwards, Lewis attacks Anna, by spraying her with insecticide until she is blind, and once he realizes she knows nothing about Mya, forces her to ingest the poison. He then exposes Clark to the signal in order to get him to tell him where Mya is, as he had previously heard from Mya, that she was heading to the train station. Ben comes and attacks Lewis with the pesticide canister.

Ben and Clark try to escape, but Lewis follows them. After Ben convinces Clark that the signal is a lie, thus breaking the signal's effect on him, Clark informs Ben where Mya was headed. Ben and Clark get to the train station, to find Mya tied to a chair, being forced to watch the signal. Lewis appears and strangles Clark. Ben eventually convinces Lewis, that he is Mya's husband, and reverses the signal's effects on him. Lewis then destroys a signal-broadcasting TV, electrocuting himself. Ben imagines that he and Mya escape with Clark; though in reality, Clark was seemingly fatally strangled by Lewis and Mya seems to be lost due the prolonged exposure to the signal. Ben then places Mya's headphones on her and she closes her eyes. Some peopleWho|date=October 2008 believe that the music snaps her out of her trance, as she slowly starts breathing and stops twitching.

However, the ending is debated by many fans of the movieFact|date=October 2008. Many peopleWho|date=October 2008 believe that the "images" in Ben's mind about their escape, actually happen, but the scene is simply out of place. This scene is believed to be the actual final scene not a hallucination, occuring after Ben puts the headphones on Mya's head. Strong evidence for this theoryOr|date=October 2008 is that many flashbacks/forwards happen in the movie and are out of place in the plot.

Production

The movie was completed for the 2007 Sundance Film Festival on a budget of only $50,000 and shot over the course of 13 days. [ [http://www.cinematl.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=155&Itemid=37 CinemATL Magazine - Cover Story: POPfilms ] ]

Release

After long delay due to the search for a song to replace an unlicensed cover of Lou Reed's "Perfect Day" in the soundtrack, the film was theatrically released on February 22, 2008. [ [http://www.bloody-disgusting.com/news/10246 BD Horror News - Magnolia Pictures' 'The Signal' in February '08 ] ] As a promotion for the film, a new short podcast was released bi-weekly through bloody-disgusting.com, a horror film news site. [ [http://www.bloody-disgusting.com/news/9901 BD Horror News - Special Transmission & New Still From 'The Signal' ] ]

Reception

The film received 55% of positive reviews at Rotten Tomatoes, with consensus that "The Signal" is gruesome, funny, and has big thoughts about society, but those disparate elements fail to come together convincingly." [ [http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/signal/ The Signal Movie Reviews, Pictures - Rotten Tomatoes ] ]

Movie theatre stabbing incident

On February 23, 2008 two men were stabbed in a Fullerton, California movie theatre during a showing of "The Signal." One suffered non life threatening injuries to his arm, while the other suffered a lung puncture. [ [http://cbs2.com/local/Stabbing.Fullerton.The.2.662553.html cbs2.com - 2 Stabbed During Horror Movie In Fullerton ] ]

DVD release

"The Signal" was released on DVD on June 10, 2008.

ee also

*"Cell"

References

External links

* [http://www.doyouhavethecrazy.com/ Official site]
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* [http://festival.sundance.org/filmguide/popup.aspx?film=4734 "The Signal"] at sundance.org
* [http://www.bloody-disgusting.com/film/1507 "The Signal"] at bloody-disgusting.com
* [http://everydayyeah.com/content/interview-dan-david-and-jacob Interview with the directors] at everydayyeah.com
* [http://cinefantastiqueonline.com/2008/01/05/video-the-signal-question-and-answer-with-co-director-jacob-gentry Video Q&A with cast and crew]