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.

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!!!

Was drawn into seeing 'Dark Signal', with as said for many films seen an intriguing and reasonably creative premise and as someone with a general appreciation for horror. That it was low-budget, which from frequent personal experience is rarely a good sign due to that there are so many poor ones out there, made me though apprehensive.

'Dark Signal', simply put, turned out to be a disappointing film and waste of potential with a few fairly small positives and so much done catastrophically wrong. Not one of the worst films ever seen, not even close, but 'Dark Signal' is a classic example of how not to do a premise deserving of a film that does it justice.

Lets start with the positives. The scenery is atmospheric and the music fits nicely and has eeriness.

A few decent twists and there is a passion for horror at times though it only comes in spurts when too much of the film is undone by the mediocre at best and often bad execution of everything else.

However, the story does feel over-stretched and some of it feels vague, under-explained in the last third where the film especially became duller, more predictable, more senseless and less scary. Too many characters are too sketchy and with nowhere near enough to make one want to endear to them. Their irritating and illogical decision making and behaviours frustrate. Making the film feel bland and forgettable with not enough heart put into it. The acting is pretty bad to put it lightly, particularly from agreed Joanna Ignaczewska spending the entire time looking unsure and bored, and the effects are ropy at best.

Dialogue can be stilted and rambling, not to mention far too exposition-heavy, while the pace is uneven, dragging in a lot of the first half, which goes on forever and fails to get going, and never is it exciting after a truly irrelevant beginning. Found too many the supposedly shocking moments not surprising or scary and the supposedly creepy atmosphere dreary, due to the excessive obviousness and the lack of tension and suspense. Too many elements are introduced, and then dropped, barely explored or don't go anywhere, sometimes even all three.

A lot of the film completely fails to make sense, both in underdeveloped plot elements and often nonsensical and confusing character motivations. There is a lot of choppiness and lack of coherence. The threat is poorly used and poses very little threat. The film completely peters out with an ending that felt like an afterthought.

All in all, very mediocre at best. 4/10 Bethany Cox

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.