Gruesome Signal a Giddily Terrific Horror Transmission

When a mysterious transmission starts invading the world’s televisions, radios and telephones, the big bad city suddenly becomes much, much worse as people either get psychotically crazy or they become victims of the psychotically crazy. Trying to survive amidst this madness are Mya (Anessa Ramsey), Ben (Justin Welborn) and Lewis (AJ Bowen), each of them growing increasingly affected by this seemingly unstoppable electronic invader.

Anessa Ramsey in Magnolia Pictures' The Signal

In other words, the end of the world is seriously nigh, and if you don’t yet have the crazy you sure as heck had better find a way to get out of Dodge or the safe bet is you soon will. And if you don’t? Well, lying somewhere in the street cut to bloody pieces is probably not a thing anyone would necessarily recommend waiting around for.

Made on a shoestring budget by Atlanta filmmakers David Bruckner, Jacob Gentry, and Dan Bush, The Signal is a seriously retro mind-f**k born from the same school that made horror maestro’s like George A. Romero, John Carpenter, Brian DePalma and especially David Cronenberg kings. It is a terrifically grotesque and unapologetically silly apocalyptic thriller almost impossible for fans of the genre not to adore, and even if it all doesn’t necessarily work or hang together watching it is just so much fun I doubt anyone will care.

The flick is split into three pieces, each handled by a different writer/director, Bruckner, Gentry and Bush all having their own 30 minute (or so) piece of their satirically grotesque nihilistic puzzle to construct and bring to life. What’s surprising is just how well this ends up working, each of the sections working in tandem in far better symmetry than I ever would have anticipated.

With that said, it goes without saying some sections work better than others. The opening bit is solid if familiar Carpenter-esque end-of-world bloodlust, while the final scenes are like some Kubrick-Cronenberg amalgamation nightmare that feels like it should be more engagingly devastating then it actually is. Ramsey and Welborn are particular good in this last section, however, their last moments together richer and more emotional then I thought they would be.

It is the wildly chaotic and loony middle section where The Signal truly achieves a level of out-of-control B-movie brilliance. The film manufactures a wildly unsettling Romero meets Monty Python vibe that’s deliriously monstrous. The second act features one of the most outlandishly unexpected deaths I’ve ever seen, Bowen lording over everything as if he we were the king, lord and master of this entire corpse strewn no-man’s land.  

I really hope people get the chance to check this one out. It’s flying a bit under the radar, yes, but ever since I got a look at it back in June 2007 at the Seattle International Film Festival I’ve been telling friends and fans of the genre to keep a look out for it. I still feel the same way, and with so many horror films being so run of the mill and more of the same, the fact The Signal is a giddily macabre transmission out of left field is a thing I’d trumpet no matter what the risks to my sanity.

Film Rating: êêê (out of 4)

Additional Links:

-  Interview with filmmakers David Bruckner, Jacob Gentry and Dan Bush by Sara Michelle Fetters (coming soon!)
-  The Signal Theatrical Trailer