The Signal (2007)

The Signal (2007)

Okay!

First of all, don’t confuse this film with The Signal (2013), which was made six years later and is a truly magnificent Portuguese film. Nor should it be confused with The Signal (2014), a film by William Eubank, whose credits include Underwater (2020), Paranormal Activity – Next Of Kin (2021), Land of Bad (2024) and Space Time (2011).

This film is pretty rubbish, though. The first few minutes already seem unbearable and I thought to myself that if the image and direction were like this throughout, I wouldn’t even last seven minutes. But it gets a little better for a while.

After about forty minutes, the film, which had started out ultra-dramatic and gradually horrific, suddenly switched to comedy. And there are two or three moments where I had a good laugh. But then it just got heavier and heavier.

Horror, thriller, science fiction and incomprehension! The film has no head or tail and we don’t get the explanations we’ve been waiting for all along. So what’s the point of watching such a piece of rubbish?

In fact, here we have 3 directors, 3 acts, 3 styles. The first third of the film is highly captivating and effectively staged. It’s reminiscent of 28 Days Later. Then the mood, the director and the style change, moving closer to Severance/Shawn Of The Dead, and at the end, under a new director, the film becomes harder again, but rather absurd. Unfortunately, this somewhat original approach doesn’t produce a truly satisfying result. The Signal is nonetheless worth the diversions, particularly for its first 30 minutes. And the last five minutes are nice, as is the music for the end credits. These are all reasons why I’m giving it this rating. Otherwise, I’d have given it a zero!

I don’t know if Wes Craven really liked this film or if he was paid to say that it ‘takes your breath away when you watch it’. I’ve got my suspicions, of course ;-D

In principle, reviews should encourage people not to buy this kind of rubbish, but unfortunately some did anyway.

The biggest fans of gore and horror will say that ‘This film has absolutely nothing to do with horror, no oppressive atmosphere, no suspense, nothing.’ But these people have been brainwashed for a long time. There are clearly acts of violence and disturbing scenes.

Many of us thought the ending would shed some light, but just as many of us were disappointed.

The most sensitive will say: “Don’t watch this film! Yuck! Poo!!!” and I can’t blame them.

To conclude and nicely conclude:

I wanted to turn it off after 5 minutes. Then I gave the film a second chance, alas! The story isn’t bad in itself, but the direction is lousy. Even paying 5 francs, 5 dollars or 5 euros is throwing precious money out of the window. The trailer promised too much!

Exactly: the film was promoted with far too much praise. And someone said ‘And I, in my blindness, even rented the version for a small fortune… when I might as well have thrown my money out the window!’

The Signal is pretty crazy, but far from Cult! It’s very weird, but just plain bad. Full of good ideas, but…

The film starts from a basic premise and is occasionally ironic, like a good satirical comedy, but the overall ending (not the five minutes I was telling you about) is pretty messed up.

One reviewer said: “A very stupid film! Didn’t like it at all!”
Another wrote: ‘Damn, I got screwed too…’
A third person added: ‘I hope REC will be better ;-)’.
So there… I don’t understand the link between these two films. Too bad for now!

You can write this film off without any embarrassment! You can call it ‘rubbish on every level’ or ask yourself ‘What the hell is this?’. A real waste of time, a failed purchase, there were several of us who were fooled. This mix of horror and black humour just doesn’t work for me.

That said, everything that is hated by the masses will be adored by some, as this comment shows: “Love to Death!
An intelligent and skilfully-crafted independent film, part horror, part sci-fi, part love story and part black comedy. Leaves plenty of room for interpretation.”

Another fan wrote: “Wonderful!
Weird, disturbing, funny in a way and always great.”

There really is something for everyone.
But you should know that ‘Night of the Living Dead, Zombie, 28 Days Later, Shaun of the Dead…’ are all much better than this one.

Decidedly, I’ve just found another review to end mine with. It repeats things I’ve already said, but comes with its own little addition:

“In this film, nothing is what it seems. The viewer is constantly being taken for a ride, but that’s great fun. You shouldn’t be put off by the way the story is told.
In the film itself, you’re never quite sure whether to laugh or cry. In any case, the second half is hilarious and I burst out laughing at times, but in the next scene the laughter stuck in my throat. If the film had continued as in the first part, it would have been a very dark film in the style of ‘28 Days Later’. But because the second half is so funny, you don’t really know how to classify the film and wonder whether it should be taken seriously.
The beginning is very funny with its super-cliché little gore film! Watch out for the music!

Worth seeing, but know that it’s a dud!”