The Signal

I saw this for the first time in 2008 on a dvd which I own. I bought the dvd without watching the trailer or reading any imdb reviews. I found the poster cool n it has a very glowing review by aint it cool news.

When i saw this for the first time, i found it to be surreal n a different take on the "crazies". But aft revisiting it recently, i found it to be a bit lengthy with some irritating flickering lights n non linear approach and a not so cool ambiguous ending.

The film has lots of gore, some scary situations n a hilarious decapitated head talking scene.

I rented this flick hearing rumors it was good, damn was that an understatement. This movie was mind-blowing. Being an indie filmmaker myself, I was amazed at the simple creativity, style and thought that went into this gem. Being written and directed by three individuals had me a little skeptical, but it definitely worked in their favour.

First off, the begginning of the film got my attention right off the bat, It was quick, stylish and bold. The following first sequence was just as striking. It moved with lightening pace and with intensity. The middle section added some great dead-pan humour, that I found myself laughing out loud at, then literally jumping back into suspense and intensity. The last third of the film, rounded the story out in a realistic and grim style, that also stood out on it's own. I didn't want this movie to end.

The characters were very well developed throughout the story, and added to the humour and chills, slipping seamlessly from humorous situations, to the insane and horrific. The fx were excellent and not over used.

Overall, I'd have to say the story, though conceived before in other ways, worked soo damn well here because of the way it was brought about by the directors. Kudos to the filmmakers for a very sic, groundbreaking and inspiring piece of work.

The Signal is one story, broken into 3 specific acts. Each act is written and directed by a different person, which is neat, but it didn't quite work out. I enjoyed watching it, but I can't recommend it.

The idea is very cool, and the first two acts are solid. The first act feels like a tense horror film, which is what I expected. The second act was very funny and had a totally different tone, which was a cool change.

The third act, however, was a total mess. It honestly felt like the writer had a pretty tenuous grasp on what they wanted the story to be. They couldn't commit to what they wanted the signal to actually do, so some people were effected in a drastically different way than every other character had been previously.

Act 3 started fine, but quickly felt forced, and confusing in a non-mysterious way. Every character becomes an unreliable narrator, and you have no idea what's actually happening. That sounds cool, but it wasn't done well, so the entire ending feels like a chaotic mess. The answers you want aren't provided, and the story you get isn't good.

Additionally, Act 3 jumped the shark when it comes to over the top lighting. Expect every moment for the last 20+ minutes to be 90% bright, blinking lights, full of quick cuts to different bright, blinking lights and loud noises.

Although different from anything in the recent past I've seen, the structure does work a little bit against the movie. It does in the sense, that you do get three short movies, instead of one whole. That itself wouldn't be bad, if the short movies would be more coherent with one another. But as it is, the movies have a different feel (by choice), but also different quality (not by choice of the makers and I don't mean the video quality).

The middle part is the "funniest", with the other two being more disturbing. But the "mood" change isn't really fitting into the whole thing. Not to mention, that some jokes are just plain stupid. A shame, because the overall thematic (technological horror with social commentary -> TV) is a good one. But for a first-time movie it's still pretty good/impressive.

It's terrible to see a movie with a first act this good because I'm absolutely certain that if David Bruckner had been given his Georgian turn as writer-director of an entire feature you'd see a critical and commercial success in The Signal. As it is what we have is a brilliant third followed by a haphazard tailspin into mediocrity where the other filmmakers treat the source material like the film they ape at the beginning, a bad Horror movie. In Bruckner's hands this material becomes the best remake of The Crazies you'll ever see, not a zombie movie, and he does it from an objective standpoint. The other two try to probe, over explain, and choose antagonists for the audience to be afraid of when the real danger is absolutely every human being in Terminus; maybe the world. We almost had a Salo of the zombie subgenre (cruel social commentary that never backs down) but like all modern Horror it retreats back to it's comfort zone of nonsensical cliché. Too bad, this almost made Horror relevant again... Almost.