Dark Signal

This is a fairly forgettable film. It has some interesting ideas, but mostly fails. Some of the camera-work is good, and the lead actresses are good, but the director seems to think that sticking in a jump shock every few minutes constitutes good horror filmmaking. To make matters worth, each of these shocks is punctuated by a loud musical screech. In the hands of a talented director, these types of shocks can be very effective, but here they are just annoying and actually interfere with the flow of the story.

This movie frustrated me. The footage was really well done, very effective use of dark shadowing and an overall creepy, atmospheric gothic vibe. Had some genuinely scary section reminiscent of The Ring.

I thought the directing and editing was really well done.

But 'oh man' the acting was pretty bad, nearly everything was overacted. To be fair, it was mostly the lead female roles. When the lead blonde actress wasnt speaking, or crying, it was okay. When she was silent, she was okay. I just felt that this could have been a horror classic with better acting.

The twist was good, i didnt predict it, that helps.

Overall I loved the plot too.

It's rare I say this, because most most modern remakes arent wonderful. But PLEASE redo this with different actors.

A spirit contacts a radio station as people start to get killed.

I'm not a fan of supernatural horror and for the first half of the film I cursed myself for putting it on. However after a decidedly lacklustre first half the film suddenly springs into life and actually becomes pretty decent. It is fairly low budget and the acting isn't great apart from a good turn by Joanna Ignaczewska.

After the dull start there are some pretty creepy scenes and the film cleverly keeps you guessing as to what will happen next. There is a fair of gore here too but not overly excessive. The ending was well done and took me a bit by surprise.

For a low budget horror this is a pretty good effort and well worth checking out.

wow hard to fathom how people trash this actress! i found her believable and enchanting! from scene one she conveys her disturbed mental- emotional state. she follows through maintaining a mental disturbance that's subtle and quite genuine! being an actor and director myself i think i know what I'm commenting on. she plays crazed very well and shes beautiful. perhaps the critics here are JEALOUS? The film is shot with great lighting and stark minimalism. I love the isolation! the music is magnetic and it all drew me in to keep watching! ( Netflix is enticing to switch films non stop if boring) so i stuck with this having to see the outcome. its also SEXY dare i say! i dug it!!!

The special effects, the acting, the writing and the directing were nothing to write home about. On those levels this was probably on a par with some of the (worst) English lunch-time and early evening soap operas in the eighties. Though this is a lot more frightening and gruesome than they were.

Anyway, there are three leading characters, here; a cynical female DJ at a radio station that's on it's last show before being taken off air; her male colleague who is like a production manager at the station, and then there's a single mum who is desperately struggling to keep her head above water with the bills and rent, etc. On the same night that the radio station is airing its last show the single mum goes on a trip with her boyfriend, who is going to rob a football player's house in the countryside (not far from the radio station) because the player owes him £40,000. Meanwhile, at the radio station, they have a special guest for the last night; a top female psychic who comes in to do an interview, but they end up receiving a message over the airwaves from one of the victims of the Wedlock killer; a serial killer on the loose who's been killing newly wed women and cutting off one of their fingers for a trophy.

There you have the basics. I'm not saying anymore about what happens, but, although it's all done on a very low budget, the makers of this arranged the story and put it together very well. A rare and hard thing to do it seems, these days, in movies. I came away from it thinking that if this was made back in the eighties it may have become a cult classic; just for the sound effects, alone. I'm giving this 5.5/10 because I like how it ended...and it wasn't predictable.