Review of The Signal (2007) by Fahed O — 04 Mar 2009
This is basically a love story disguised as a horror story, told in three different parts, by three different directors. Basically a signal is broadcast through every tv, radio, and phone that scrambles the listener's brain, making it impossible for them to distinguish between what is real and what is hallucination, and wires them to kill out of rage.
Two men are trying to fight the rage building inside of them to get to the one woman that they both share a love for. The first segment slowly builds to a frenzied pace, allowing an uneasy feeling to settle into your stomach before hitting you dead on and then never let you catch your breath.
I was really enjoying this tone and had no idea that there were three different perspectives to be had in this film. That said, the second part came along and had a dead-pan, absurdist humor POV. I was so confused at first I hated it, but then found myself really laughing.
The third part is a total mindtrip, distorting reality and not allowing you to fully understand what it is you're seeing. I know this all sounds like a mess, but I realized that was the point in doing this; The directors want us to feel what these characters are going through.
They do their best to make the viewer feel all of the control and sanity slipping away. By changing the tone three times, you never get a grip on any one idea or feeling, making it impossible to know where the story is headed.
Kudos to a horror film that refuses to follow the numbers, and totally goes all out to prove itself as different from the rest.
This review of The Signal (2007) was written by Fahed O on 04 Mar 2009.
The Signal has generally received mixed reviews.
Was this review helpful?
