For fans of psychological horror films with a darkly comic twist, David Bruckner, Jacob Gentry and Dan Bush’s The Signal is a must-see of the first order. Told in three parts, each directed respectively by Bruckner, Gentry and Bush, the film measures a love story against a pesky frequency transmitted through the television and radio; it forces humans to evaluate their inner truth and consequently drives them to kill. In the insuing chaos, disenchanted working wife Mya (Anessa Ramsey) attempts to escape her husband Lewis’ (AJ Bowen) control and run away with her lover Ben (Justin Welborn.) The resulting escape attempt only leads to more chaos as both Lewis and Ben go in search of the woman they jointly love.

While CinemATL critic Charles Judson commented that the film, despite its technically superlative structure, lacked strength in story, it’s difficult to imagine The Signal falling into a more cerebal or explanatory narrative track. Half the fun of the film relies on the confusion and ambiguity of the moments between characters, and moreover, it’s not entirely necessary that certain logical questions be answered about the signal, where it came from and how it’s effecting others. The film simply follows one group of people dealing with their fears and insanities; to pull into a macroscopic view would only pinpoint the socio-political statements of the film and thereby detract the audience from the humor and pathos of characters whose quirks are oddly endearing.

The stand out segment of the film by and large is Gentry’s foray into satire; it stands out not only for its witty writing but also for its introduction of perpetually chipper housewife Anna (Cheri Christian) and the brillant but paranoid Clark (Scott Poythress). Both Christian and Poythress pull out of their bag of acting tricks a seriousness that allows for perfectly-crafted comic moments.

All this is not to say, however, that Bruckner and Bush do not also shine in their directorial standpoints. Bruckner’s cinematographic lyriscism and borderline romantic composition adds greatly to defining Mya’s mindset while Bush’s work with the Ben character allows the audience to connect with the primal fears of the characters.

Already picked up for distribution, The Signal, as many critics have already touted in the wake of the Sundance Film Festival, may earn a spot as a cult classic. One can only hope that the well-deserved recognition extend farther than cult and into the mainstream, at least that is for a wide release theatrical run.

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