The Signal is rare horror film that is told in three different perspectives by three different directors. The film has played in various film festivals including the 2007 Sundance Film Festival and the 2007 South by Southwest Festival.

The film takes place on New Year’s in the city of Terminus where everyone is gathering to ring in the New Year. Everything is all well until a mysterious signal of communication begins to jam all forms of communication. Soon the peaceful city is turned into a town filled with rage and chaos, when the signal starts to change the way people act and think. Amidst all this, Ben, a rebellious person (Justin Welborne) is trying save a woman (Anessa Ramsey), whose husband (A.J Bowen) has been acting very violent since the signal begin transmitting. During this, he begins to have trouble trying to figure out, whom to trust or not trust by trying to uncover the signal’s true temperament and stop it. The Signal is a horror film that explores the darkest things that man might be capable of.

After watching this film, I was happy to finally to see a film that is a Cult Classic in the making. The Signal is the one of the great horror films of 2008. This is one of the most original zombie films that I’ve seen in a while. I liked how they weren’t the flesh eating kind of zombie that’s seen in most of these zombie films. This film is very violent and gory. It has this Pulp Fiction/Videodrome feel to it both structurally and violently. Their (David Bruckner, Jacob Gentry, Dan Bush) screenplay was very good overall. It’s a unique style of storytelling that’s not used in many horror films. The three directors bring their own apocalyptic vision to the film, in their direction and writing of their act, as the film has three parts or transmissions as it’s called in the film. The transitions to each of the acts were very good. The first act severs as a very good introduction to the characters and the events of the film. The first act focuses on a woman who’s coming home from having an affair with another person, then witnessing her husband go crazy. Once the introduction was done, it was creepy and suspenseful. The second act, I won’t tell you what happens because it’s a continuation from the first act. The act felt a little weird to me in the beginning, but it’s one of those things that’s good for the movie because it slows the action down a bit and makes it feel like more of a roller-coaster ride. The climax of the film in the last act was very good. The final act kept me on the edge of my seat, as it was suspenseful and entertaining. Overall as a horror and independent film fan, these three filmmakers should be congratulated for making this great film under the budget constrains they had.

The acting in the film was also very good. The actors were very into their roles here. I liked how they bring their own style to their character. Another amazing thing with this film (according to imdb.com) was the fact two of the three main actors (Anessa Ramsey, A.J Bowen) only had a couple of film roles to their credit, before this film and they were both great. The standout performances in the film, was from A.J. Bowen. He manages to balance his performance very well as he totally two different people into one. One minute he’s this normal person that you see in the second act then the next minute, he’s a complete psychopathic brainwashed murderer. This is done very well, as it contributes to the paranoid state of the film.

Gorehounds and Psychological film fans, I highly urge you to rent or buy this film.  The Signal is what the horror genre is supposed to be. Horror fans need to support this film. I want to see more films like this instead of the needless remakes/mindless PG-13 movies.

Five Stars