The gimmicky yet strangely
moving new fright flick The Signal distinguishes
itself not through originality, but by smartly integrating just about every
popular trend afflicting contemporary horror films. From countless J-horror movies
and American remakes, it borrows the technophobic notion that technology is
great, except when it transforms people into crazed monsters. From the current
spate of undead romps, it borrows a zombie-like plague that turns ordinary
people into unthinking killing machines. It isn't a remake, but it nevertheless
contains an awful lot of Evil Dead and
George Romero in its DNA. Even its central hook—the film takes the form
of three interlocking "transmissions," each written and directed by a different
filmmaker—smacks of the tag-team genre filmmaking of Grindhouse.
The timeless story of a boy, a
girl, and the zombie-style apocalypse that stands between them, the film casts
Anessa Ramsey as a whiskey-voiced, unhappily married woman who returns from a
tryst with her lover to discover that a mysterious transmission has transformed
huge chunks of humanity into senseless thrill-killers. The second
"transmission" marks a distinct shift in perspective and tone, as jangled
nerves and raw tension are replaced by gory black comedy. Ramsey's obsessed,
violent husband (A.J. Bowen) thrusts himself into a New Year's Eve party thrown
by an oblivious hostess who isn't about to let something as silly as a complete
breakdown in social order get in the way of a swell shindig. The slightly
overlong film loses its way a bit in the final transmission, as Ramsey's
husband and lover race to find her.
The filmmakers do a fine job of grounding
the film in the concrete reality of an unhappily married woman grasping at a
rare chance at joy, before plunging viewers into a hellscape of unimaginable
horror. They similarly excel at interjecting bloody buckets of gallows humor
without sacrificing tension or atmosphere, which is no mean feat given a script
that involves a talking disembodied head and a clueless partygoer who doesn't
realize that mankind's impending doom may be more important than scoring a New
Year's Eve hook-up. Smuggled into theaters with little fanfare and less
publicity, The Signal looks primed to
die a quick death at the box office. But a richly deserved cult following awaits
on DVD.