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"The Signal is a trick." And a damn good one at that. The film, which saw a limited theatrical run last fall, has finally received its home video DVD treatment courtesy of Magnolia Home Entertainment as of June 10. The story, which is separated into three separate parts or "transmissions" (each one helmed by the film's three different directors), centers around three different characters on New Year's Eve in the fictional city of Terminus. Without warning, a bizarre pulse or "signal" is broadcast over every form of mass communication (televisions, phones, radios, etc.) causing any and all who experience it to turn to murder and madness.
The first transmission, aptly named Crazy in Love, was written and directed by David Bruckner, and follows the character Mya Denton (Anessa Ramsey) as the signal begins to spread throughout the city. Mya begins by leaving her lover Ben Capstone (Justin Welborn), and returns home to her husband Lewis (AJ Bowen), but the signal is spreading fast and it isnít long before Lewis gets "the crazy" and Mya finally makes the choice to leave her husband for good as she tries desperately to get to the train station in order to meet up with Ben and leave Terminus forever.
The second transmission, entitled The Jealousy Monster, was written and directed by Jacob Gentry. It is this second act that truly takes the film from the tired post-apocalyptic zombie/crazy person formula of recent genre entries to completely new heights and thus raises the bar considerably for all of those that follow. This transmission takes us inside the shattered minds of those who have experienced the signal. Lewis continues the search for his wife, and encounters Anna (Cheri Christian), who has killed her husband and is still trying to prep for her New Yearís party, and Clark (Scott Poythress) who is just trying to maintain and survive. The filmís mood switches from straight-up horror to the blackest of black comedies as these "crazies" try to justify their actions and attempt to maintain any sort of social norms.
The third and final transmission, Escape from Terminus, was written and directed by Dan Bush. This final act brings us back to the survival horror mood of the first piece, but still carries some of the black humor from the second act. This piece follows Ben, as he desperately tries to avoid the crazed Lewis, and find Mya before its too late. No spoilers here, but I promise that the film leaves off on such a note that it actually jerked three tears from my own eyes.
As a whole, The Signal is truly a marvel. A horror film that takes formula and flips it on its back, only to smash its face in via a giant pole with kitchen knives attached. The pace never falters. The story is genius. The mood switches from heartbreaking to horrifying to humorous on a dime. Ramsey, Welborn, and Bowen all turn in magnificent performances in their respective roles. Also worthy of mention is Scott Poythress, whose portrayal of Clark is one of the best male performances in a genre film that I have seen in a long time, and Chad McKnight is also remarkably funny as the ever unfortunate Jim Parsons.
The DVD package also boasts some great special features. The directors' commentaries are presented separately, and by that I mean that each director talks solely about their own individual transmission. I understand and respect the decision to do it this way, but noting that all three directors were there on each individual shoot I would have liked to hear the input of the other two directors as well. To each their own, I guess. There is also an interesting "Making Of" documentary entitled Inside Terminus, which features several cast and crew members and shows how they did some of the great sequences in the film (car crash, shadow decapitation, etc.). Also included are three shorter transmissions that you could probably find on You Tube which play out like "What If" situations. These transmissions take place in a television studio, a "Best Buy" sort of store, and the last takes place in a car, when the signal first begins to spread. Also featured is the short film "The Hap Hapgood Story" of which a portion is featured at the very beginning the film, but is presented here in its entirety.
Also worth noting is that Best Buy has also released a 2-disc special edition, whose second disc features a whole slew of additional features that tracks the history of the Signalís crew as well as following the film from idea to screenplay to shooting it to the visual effects and finally to Sundance and beyond. Definitely worth nabbing if you are a DVD fanatic or just a really big fan of this film.