The Signal (2014)

On a road trip, Nic and two friends are drawn to an isolated area by a computer genius. When everything suddenly goes dark, Nic regains consciousness - only to find himself in a waking nightmare.

Director:

William Eubank

Writers:

Carlyle Eubank, William Eubank

Stars:

Brenton Thwaites, Olivia Cooke, Beau Knapp

1 win & 3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview:
Patrick Davidson	...	Boy Playing Claw Game
Brenton Thwaites	...	Nic
Olivia Cooke	...	Haley
Beau Knapp	...	Jonah
Jeffrey Grover	...	Gas Station Clerk
Laurence Fishburne	...	Damon
Roy Kenny	...	Hazmat 1
Timothy Holmes	...	Hazmat 2
Ricardo Campos	...	Hazmat 3
Drew Sykes	...	Hazmat 4
Lin Shaye	...	Mirabelle
Robert Longstreet	...	James

Storyline

On a road trip, Nic and two friends are drawn to an isolated area by a computer genius. When everything suddenly goes dark, Nic regains consciousness - only to find himself in a waking nightmare.

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Plot Keywords:

road trip | girlfriend in a coma | computer hacker | prosthetic leg | alien contact | 

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Taglines:

This is the signal. If you hear it, you have been chosen.

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Genres:

Drama | Mystery | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for some thematic elements, violence and language

Did You Know?

Trivia

Misdirection is a key ingredient in the film. Director Eubanks wanted the viewer to continually feel they nearly have a grip on where the film is going; only to have their notions fall apart when the direction changes again - all the way to the very end.

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Goofs

Whoever the double is who lent their hands for closeups for Nic's really, really needs to stop chewing their nails and give them a good scrubbing. Those stand-in hands are pretty gross.

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Quotes

Nic: The truth of the matter? What is the truth of the matter here? The only thing I know for certain is that you don't know what you're dealing with. You will be pulled from this shitty little shack you call a research facility so fast that the only thing relevant to be shown for any of this is the way it's all exposed, wrecked, and forgotten. You have *no* idea! You have no clue! Do you? Have any clue how fast dumb, lost little kids like me, Jonah, or Nomad could ruin a place like this? Have it ...

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Soundtracks

Piano Piece in A Major
Performed by Mark Gordon
Written by Franz Schubert
Arranged by Mark Gordon
Courtesy of Lofi Music

User Reviews

apart from the ending, an interesting failure at best

Here is another low budget movie that seems ultimately to have been made to ornament one or two fairly lavish setpieces. see for example skinwalker ranch and the banshee chapter which without one or two meretricious moments would not amount to much at all. and of course it is always hard to criticise low budget pictures which are also genre pictures. so in fairness we have a very skillfully shot film, nicely edited ( owing i felt a large debt to 'Primer' stylistically). and there is laurence fishburne who is good but he is only now and forever more morphius in the matrix for all eternity, more or less. unfortunately, the script is a mere cypher, merely to take you from the promising beginning, through the lacklustre and plot less main hour or so until you arrive at the climax where the largest part of the budget is spent. goodnight and thankyou. but think about this for one moment after and you will find a film which collapses under scrutiny. which is not the worst thing, after all some of the most entertaining movies i have see are ridiculous when analysed.. but apart from the million dollar effects shot this is a film that struggles to tell any kind of cogent narrative at all. it is similar in tone to chronicle, a superior film in it's depiction of humans becoming 'more than human'.. and it has very strong echoes to donnie darko. so kudos for the effort. next time try and develop character and plot a little more and you will come up with something quite good i am sure. as it is a sunny day i gives it 6 : )

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site [Japan]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

10 July 2014 (Germany)

Also Known As:

The Signal

Filming Locations:

New Mexico, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$4,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$155,642, 15 June 2014

Gross USA:

$600,896

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$2,595,622

Company Credits

Production Co:

Automatik Entertainment, Low Spark Films, Signal Film Group

Technical Specs

Runtime:

97 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital DTS (uncredited) SDDS (uncredited)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1