The Signal (2007)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | The Signal |
| Original title | The Signal |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 2007 |
| length | 103 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 18 |
| Rod | |
| Director |
David Brucker (Transmission 1) Jacob Gentry (Transmission 2) Dan Bush (Transmission 3) |
| script | David Brucker Dan Bush Jacob Gentry |
| production | Jacob Gentry Alexander Motlagh |
| music | Ben Lovett |
| cut | David Brucker Dan Bush Jacob Gentry |
| occupation | |
| |
The Signal is an American horror film from 2007 by David Brucker , Dan Bush and Jacob Gentry .
action
The film is divided into three parts (called transmissions ), each of which was directed by one of the directors. Before the first part, scenes from a horror film are shown, which then merge into the actual signal, which consists of a kind of picture and sound noise. This noise can be seen on the television of Ben, with which Mya is cheating on her husband Lewis. Mya tries to call her husband to inform him that she is late, but the phones only get a noise.
I. Transmission ("heavily in love" in the original "Crazy in love")
Mya drives home and on the way already sees the first people who are acting strangely. When she arrives home, her husband Lewis confronts her about where she was. Lewis just invited two friends, Jerry and Rod, with whom he was going to watch a sporting event on TV, but his TV only broadcasts the signal. Finally, an argument breaks out among the three friends, in which Lewis kills Jerry. Rod is able to tie up Lewis, meanwhile Mya flees to the neighboring apartment, where her neighbor was also murdered. The next morning she wants to leave the house, but is caught by Rod. However, she can convince him that she has not gone mad. Rod tells her that madness has struck the whole town. Mya and Rod want to flee with the car, and Rod is shot. When he reveals while driving that he has also gone mad and attacks Mya, she drives the car into an obstacle and flees. Before that, she tells a resident (Clark) who is hurrying to help that she is on her way to the train station.
II. Transmission ("The jealous monster" in the original "The jealousy monster")
The part of the film begins with a married couple (Anna and Ken) making the party preparations. Ken, who saw the signal on the television, tries to kill Anna. However, she can defend herself and kills her husband in self-defense. Clark from Transmission I, the landlord of the two, saves the injured Rod from the car, but is attacked by him. He beheads Rod and then flees to Anna and Ken's apartment. Lewis, who found his wife's damaged car in front of the house, also intrudes into this. Lewis is delusional and kills a friend of Anna's who is also looking for help in the apartment. Finally, Jim also comes into the apartment, who apparently has not noticed anything outside and just wants to go to the party. After further delusions, Lewis first kills Jim and then tortures Anna, who is supposed to tell him where Mya has gone. Since she doesn't know, she is killed too. Finally Lewis puts Clark out of the signal until it tells him that Mya is on his way to the train station. The transmission ends with Ben knocking down Lewis.
III. Transmission ("Escape from Terminus" in the original "Escape from Terminus")
A flashback shows that Ben also came to Mya and Lewis' apartment that morning and freed the tied up Lewis. He recognizes him as his wife's lover, beats him unconscious and locks him in his van. Ben wakes up and is able to free himself and knocks Lewis down in Anna and Ken's apartment. Ben also asks Clark where Mya is, but Clark doesn't pretend to know. In the meantime, Lewis wakes up and follows the two of them, who are able to flee to a tool cellar. There Ben finds out from Clark, who is now also suffering from delusions, that Mya is on the way to the train station. The two of them can hang out on Lewis and flee to the train station by car. There it turns out that Ben is already delusional, but not violent. The two find Mya, who is sitting in front of a screen in a kind of trance and is exposed to the signal. Lewis comes in too and fights with Ben. However, Ben tricked Lewis, whereupon Lewis kills himself. The film ends with Ben Mya putting on the headphones and she starts crying.
Reviews
- Filmreporter.de writes “Despite the stylistic diversity, the three parts of" The Signal "form an impressive unit. Black humor, uncompromising violence and straightforward dynamics characterize the style of all three parts. "
- Rotten Tomatoes gives the film 55% on the tomatometer and sums up his criticism as follows: "The Signal is gruesome, funny, and has big thoughts about society, but those disparate elements fail to come together convincingly."
Production details
The film was shot in Atlanta and grossed just over $ 400,000 worldwide with a production cost of around $ 50,000. The release of the film was initially delayed due to licensing issues with a song used and was finally released in theaters on February 22, 2008, after being shown at the Sundance Film Festival a year earlier .
Nominations
- 2009: Independent Spirit Awards (John Cassavetes Award)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Film review on filmreporter.de ( Memento of the original from September 5, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Criticism on rottentomatoes.com
- ↑ Numbers on Box Office Mojo (Retrieved September 4, 2011)
- ↑ Biography of Jacob Gentry on his homepage (accessed September 4, 2011)
- ↑ Message about the film on BD Horror News ( memento of the original from December 10, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Retrieved September 4, 2011)
- ↑ 2009 Spirit Nominations ( Memento of the original from November 19, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Retrieved September 4, 2011)
Web links
- The signal at the Internet Movie Database (English)
- The Signal in the online film database