THE SIGNAL

In the city of Terminus, chaos suddenly breaks out. A mysterious signal interrupts all audio and video frequencies of communication media, causing an unstoppable impulse of violence in those who consume it. Witnesses to this catastrophe are lovers Ben and Mya: she is married but has a relationship with Ben, with whom she wants to escape from Terminus; but when her husband Lewis discovers his wife's infidelity, already blinded by the rage infused by the signal, he will do everything to eliminate his rival and reclaim his wife. "The Signal" began as an experiment: its working title was "Exquisite Corpse" and was a challenge that three friends directors set for themselves, namely one of them starts a story and the other two bring it to completion by passing the script and the camera alternately. The final result is, in fact, "The Signal" an unusual feature film composed of three parts (called thematically "Transmissions") that tell a single story with the same characters but from three different points of view – one for each of the main characters - and with three different styles. All in all, the film can be considered successful even if not all the parts that compose it blend perfectly. The starting point is not very original, since the madness that envelops the masses until it pushes them to destruction has already been explored several times in the cinema world starting from "The City Will Be Destroyed at Dawn" by Romero, passing through "Impulse" by Baker, up to the more recent "28 Days Later" and its sequel; even the triggering cause of madness has some predecessors, this time in print, in the recent novel by Stephen King "Cell" and especially in the issue #5 of Dylan Dog "The Killers". The originality of the plot, therefore, does not certainly reside in this film, but rather what can be of greater interest is the aforementioned semi-episodic structure and some themes that are intrinsically addressed. If the criticism of the pervasiveness of communication media and their "hypnotic" power is quite obvious, and moreover it does not seem to be at the center of the authors' interest, what emerges with more force is the reflection on the crisis of the couple and the determining role that paranoia plays in this. Marriage is the first bond to collapse, even before madness takes over, thus writing an epitaph on the institution that is at the base of the family; a seemingly happy marriage but destined to break up is also at the beginning of the second segment and in this case too, death, betrayal – wanted or not – and the fragility of the relationship looms over every feeling of love. Love, therefore, does not reside in everyday life, dominated by bad mood and violence, and can be reached by the protagonists only by physically fleeing the bonds that cement them to a gray life that tends to persecute them. At this point, it is paranoia that plays a determining role because it is the primary engine that drives the villain of the turn to undertake a crusade against the two lovers and it is also the inhibitor brake that is broken by the "signal". As we are told, in fact, the signal does nothing but accentuate the paranoid nature inherent in each of us, triggering nightmares and hallucinations that push the "infected" to alter the state of events based on their own fears/obsessions, then reacting defensively. It is then interesting to structure the entire story into three transmissions, even if the three segments do not always manage to connect naturally and effectively. The story is introduced by a short film with a very "indie" look and reminiscent of certain 1970s cinema ("The Hap Hapgood Story" directed by Jacob Gentry, one of the trio), which anticipates in a very marked way the violence and torture that will follow, accentuating, indeed, its gratuitousness. The first transmission ("Crazy in Love") is directed by David Bruckner and can undoubtedly be considered the most successful. Here, certain apocalyptic cinema mentioned above is openly cited, focusing a lot on the relationship between the characters and introducing the intimate dimension of the story. Probably the job of "starting" the story was the easiest, but Bruckner, without inventing anything, manages to make the stereotypes his own and rework them with a certain effectiveness. Something that is missing, however, in the second transmission ("The Monster of Jealousy") by Jacob Gentry, who immediately dives into the buffoonish tones of a semi-demented comedy. The sudden shift in tone, however, is so sudden that it feels intrusive in the story and does not blend at all with the general apocalyptic tone; if a couple of gags are still successful and the use of violence is tempered by the grotesque situations, this can be safely considered the least successful segment. The most difficult role, however, is given to Dan Bush ("Escape from Terminus") who not only had to close the story in a satisfactory way, but also had to return to more serious tones. The transition this time is less abrupt and the story concludes in the way that we all expect with a final climax entrusted to a verbal rather than physical confrontation: a transmission without infamy and without praise that does not surprise but does not disappoint either. What disappoints the most in "The Signal" is that, despite the alternation of three people in the direction who also adopt different "genres" of communication, the change behind the camera is never really noticeable visually and unfortunately, from this point of view, the film offers a rather flat, almost TV movie-like result, probably due also to the limited budget. In conclusion, "The Signal" is a film that is pleasant to watch, does not surprise too much but can be appreciated for the desire to experiment on a well-worn theme like the one addressed here. The vote is rounded up.