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David Bruckner, Dan Bush, and Jacob Gentry, The Signal

by Chris Flippo
10/30/2007

The Signal is frustrating because, in fits and starts, it is one of the best horror films I’ve seen in years. However, the film falls short due to inconsistent plotting and an uneven tone. If it had stayed the course of its brilliant second act, The Signal would no doubt be one of the best pieces of genre film making this year.

The plot is standard zombie/slasher fare, but it has some neat twists on a familiar story. One night, a mysterious transmission is played on the televisions of an industrial city referred to as Terminus. Whoever sees these images begins to have wild hallucinations which, most of the time, cause them to turn against friends and family. Think of it as The Ring Redux. The story is told as an anthology of sorts, and each episode (or “transmission” as the film prefers) revolves around a particular member of the film’s central love triangle.

The first transmission starts off with the usual horror standards: the anti-hero, the jealous lover, the comic relief. It’s a solid start to the film, but it’s really nothing out of the ordinary. We have seen all this before in countless zombie movies and, in the beginning, The Signal does not do much to separate itself from the pack. This section is far too obedient to the horror genre to be any fun.

However, we do start to have some fun with the second transmission, where the dread of the first episode gives way to some black comedy. The characters in this second episode are far livelier than the solemn, grave ones that inhabit the first installment. They are such twisted caricatures that I could not help but enjoy spending time with them and, eventually, this even gave way to some empathy.

This was where I enjoyed The Signal the most. There are loads of pay-offs (both in horror and comedy) in this second installment. Here, instead of falling victim to genre clichè, it embraces it and mines it for laughs. Sure, there have been probably thousands of deaths in the horror genre, but how many have died by air pump? To go a little bit further, how many of the departed are fitted with party hats in hope the day will continue as planned? It’s small touches like these that horror fans cherish.

In contrast, the third transmission is a major letdown. We are asked to invest in relationships that are only barely outlined, and the film suffers from an excessive amount of dialogue in the end. Sure, many films do not shy away from verbosity, but this comes off as rather anti-climatic in what had been up to this point a gory horror-comedy. This is one of the few horror films in recent memory where the characters talk their problems out.

Of course, all this goes to show the problem I have with most anthology films. The stories seem to be almost in competition with each other. Instead of comparing the film with other entries of the genre, the audience has to pick and choose which sections of the film are better. Many anthology films collapse for this reason and rarely do we get a product that is more than the sum of its plots. Most of the time the films are inconsistent and never form into a satisfying whole. As viewers, it is best that we pick the film apart and enjoy it on a scene-to-scene basis.

In the future, I’d like to see them take what worked in The Signal and make a feature that is even better. There is some great material here, but a couple of problems with the tone and plotting keep it from becoming a completely satisfying entry in the horror genre. In any case, these are three exciting young directors who will doubtless make a large splash in horror film making. I feel like The Signal is just their warm-up.

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