The Signal (film)

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The Signal
Directed by David Bruckner
Dan Bush
Jacob Gentry
Written by David Bruckner
Dan Bush
Jacob Gentry
Starring A. J. Bowen
Anessa Ramsey
Justin Welborn
Release date(s) February 22, 2008
Country Flag of the United States United States
Language English
Budget $ 50,000.00
Official website
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

The Signal is an independent horror film written and directed by David Bruckner, Dan Bush and Jacob Gentry -- three directors who have been collaborating since 1999 in Atlanta. The film premiered January 22, 2007 at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival[1], where it was acquired by Magnolia Pictures. 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[2]. As a promotion for the film, a new short podcast will be released bi-weekly through bloody-disgusting.com, a horror film news site.[3]

Contents

[edit] Synopsis

A science fiction horror film told in three parts in which electronic devices broadcast only a mysterious transmission, turning people crazy. The film is broken up into three "transmissions" each of which had different directors during shooting. Each part manifests one of the following genre: visceral thriller, black comedy, and mystery-love story.


[edit] DVD release

The Signal was released on DVD June 10, 2008.

[edit] Plot Summary

The film opens, showing that Mya (Anessa Ramsey) is cheating on her husband Lewis, with a man named Ben. They plan to escape from Terminus (a fictional name for Atlanta) 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 the 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. 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, loosens his bonds and abandons him, chasing after Mya. Lewis escapes and 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 and disguised as a pest exterminator attempts to befriend the two. Together they wait, and Lewis kills a girl at the door. They meet up with another party guest, who Lewis eventually 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. The two escape, 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 gives Mya her walkman exposing her to the music, and breaking the signal's grip on her, the two escape, though it is unknown if this part is reality or a hallucination.

Rating

The signal is rated R for strong brutal bloody violence throughout, pervasive language, and brief nudity

[edit] Cast

  • Justin Welborn
  • A. J. Bowen
  • Scott Poythress
  • Anessa Ramsey
  • Sahr Ngaujah
  • Cheri Christian
  • Chad McKnight

[edit] 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.[citation needed] [4]

[edit] Movie Theatre Stabbing

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. [5]

[edit] References

  1. ^ http://festival.sundance.org/filmguide/popup.aspx?film=4734 Retrieved 2007-09-13
  2. ^ BD Horror News - Magnolia Pictures' 'The Signal' in February '08
  3. ^ BD Horror News - Special Transmission & New Still From 'The Signal'
  4. ^ CinemATL Magazine - Cover Story: POPfilms
  5. ^ cbs2.com - 2 Stabbed During Horror Movie In Fullerton

[edit] External links