The Signal (William Eubank, 2014): USA

Reviewed by Rachel Donovan. Viewed at Antioch University. Part of the Santa Barbara Film Festival 2015.

Within ten minutes of the film, my first thought began along the lines of: “Great…another movie explaining how technology is ruining society.”

A few more minutes into the film, I realized how I was really, really mistaken.

Director William Eubank’s film, “The Signal” takes the audience through twists and turns of a road trip gone awry between three friends, Nic (Brenton Thwaites), Haley (Olivia Cooke), and Jonah (Beau Knapp).

After attempting to find a computer hacker disguised under the name “Nomad”, who has been finding his way into systems causing the three main characters many problems, they learn that trespassing into unknown territory may not be the smartest idea. Next thing they know, they’re surrounded by people in white, astronaut-like suits, and nothing but white walls and hallways for the eye to see.

As the audience is taken around the white building, we learn that Nic is in a wheelchair, Haley is in a coma, and Jonah is no where to be seen. Nic is being constantly questioned and interrogated by Damon (Laurence Fishburne) with simple questions such as, “Are you human?”, which adds to more of the mystery of the main question: where are they? Following Nic around during the film, the viewers are almost as confused as he is as to what is going on. However, everyone is still on the edge of their seat wondering what will happen next.

Towards the end of “The Signal” as the audience is realizing what could possibly be happening, a familiar face to those who enjoy horror movies pops up onto the screen. As soon as I saw actress Lin Shaye (who is known most recently for her roles in the Insidious franchise, along with Ouiji), I knew that something else either horrifying or terrible was about to occur. And the ending was something interesting for the viewer to witness.

Overall, the film was exciting, it had romance, it had tragedy, and it had mystery.

It was interesting to see the characters come together and attempt to get out of their nightmare together, but it still left me very confused.