December 31, 2015

I’m not sure why this is, but it seems to be inherent in all horror fans that once a holiday fast approaches, we must celebrate by revisiting any and all horror movies that take place on said holiday! Sadly, there aren’t a tremendous amount of horror titles that take place on New Year’s Eve. And while I’m sure a lot of you will be ringing in the New Year with NEW YEAR’S EVIL (and I don’t blame you!), might I also suggest another indie cult classic that you might’ve forgotten takes place on the evening of December 31st, THE SIGNAL.

Not to be confused with the 2014 movie with the same title, the 2007 version of THE SIGNAL, which came to us courtesy of the fine folks over at Magnolia Pictures (right before they launched their genre sub-label, Magnet) is not only a terrific, unique and original horror movie, but the starting point for a lot of incredibly talented filmmakers and performers. It’s fun now to look back in retrospect.

THE SIGNAL is structured just like any other traditional movie with 3 acts, all set on a New Year’s Eve where a mysterious and ominous signal begins broadcasting on television sets across the state. Anyone that stares long enough at the signal will suddenly have the uncontrollable urge to murder everyone around them. But it’s not as simple as just catching a case of “the crazies.” Each act of the movie is shifted and seen from the perspective of one particular character, all of them sharing one thing in common; a bizarre love triangle that would even confuse New Order. We meet Mya (Anessa Ramsey) and Ben (Justin Welborn) in bed together at the opening of the movie, obviously very much in love. Problem is Mya is married to Lewis (AJ Bowen) and on the verge of running off with Ben to restart their lives. That’s when “the signal” begins transmitting. Once back home, Lewis has a few friends over to watch the ball game and is understandably upset that his wife is MIA without any explanation. Whatever jealousy he may have secretly harbored before becomes amplified once he’s influenced by the signal as he immediately lashes out and murders one of his friends when he thinks he’s swinging his baseball bat a little too close to Mya’s head. (In actuality, Mya is an entire room away.)

Once that initial murder happens, Mya stumbles out into the hallway, and that level of pandemonium has exploded everywhere. Not just in her apartment complex, but in her parking lot and out in the streets. She is racing to be with Ben. Ben is on his way to her. And Lewis, is frantically looking for his wife, unaware of anything else going on, including his potential ailment. And that’s where the fun comes in.

The first act is seen from Mya’s perspective and is helmed by David Bruckner, who would go on to direct one of the most notable segments in the first V/H/S anthology “Amateur Night” as well as a piece in the upcoming flick SOUTHBOUND. This first segment introduces us to all the characters, sets up the premise and then pushes the tension and suspense to an all-time high. It’s definitely the scariest of the bunch and immediately puts us on edge as we try to assimilate to the fictitious town of Terminus for the next hour and a half.

Jacob Gentry, director of three of MTV’s MY SUPER PSYCHO SWEET 16 movies, as well as the upcoming SYNCHRONICITY, shifts gears and places the perspective in Lewis’ mind for act 2. Lewis is completely unaware that he’s (for lack of a better term) gone psycho. When we see it from his point of view, we can empathize with the fact that he’s worried sick about his wife and will do anything to protect her. Anything. And that includes bashing someone over the head with an extinguisher if he thinks they mean him or her harm. This portion of the movie is a pitch perfect black comedy and my personal fave section of THE SIGNAL. Part of it is because my tastes tend to fall on the gory lunacy of the EVIL DEAD franchise. Another part is the top notch acting from AJ Bowen and his cohort Clark (played by Scott Poythress) who take front and center for this middle part of the film. Granted, everyone in the movie delivers terrific performances across the board, but it’s hard not to be smitten by the comedic timing of “Lewis and Clark” during their shining segment in the movie.

Also, this middle segment features one of the funniest scenes that ties directly into the New Year’s Eve holiday. Chad McKnight plays Jim Parsons, a partygoer that arrives early for a New Year’s Eve bash completely unaware of the bat-shit craziness going on out in the world. He just wants to hopefully meet someone and get laid.

Last but not least, the movie takes an emotional and dramatic shift when we see the 3rd act from Ben’s perspective with director Dan Bush at the helm. It’s where everything comes to a head and all our characters converge upon the Terminus train station in an attempt to leave town.

Back when I caught an early theatrical screening of THE SIGNAL in late 2006, I was immediately blown away by all the confident voices on display from these 3 directors, as well as all of these actors that really helped embellish this great material. It was a Sundance hit and even got a killer quote from “Master of Horror” Wes Craven who said “it will leave you breathless.” Ain’t It Cool News wrote, “this film will explode, mark my words. It has cult classic written all over it.”

Hot on the heels of this tremendous festival buzz, the movie was suddenly delayed by a major legal issue regarding a cover of Lou Reed’s song “Perfect Day,” which originally was featured prominently in the movie as the song that Mya listened to whenever she’d pop on her headphones. I don’t want to over-exaggerate here (because when it comes to movies and music, it’s all subjective), but I felt that version of “Perfect Day” was to this film what “(Don’t You) Forget About Me” by Simple Minds was to John Hughes’ THE BREAKFAST CLUB. It’s hard to imagine that film without that song, and hence when Lou Reed objected to the use of his song because he didn’t “like horror,” it took a while for the filmmakers, producers and Magnolia to all find and agree on a suitable replacement.

(Side note: Years later, “Perfect Day” ended up being used in the YOU’RE NEXT trailer, a horror movie distributed by Lionsgate which also starred THE SIGNAL’s AJ Bowen.)

The film opened to select theaters in February of 2007 where a lot of horror fans just couldn’t find it; though it did a healthy life at the tail end of the DVD boom. The Best Buy exclusive version of the DVD offered a bonus disc chock-full of additional interviews and behind the scenes material, and while it appeared on a number of horror best-of-the-year lists, it fell quietly into cult status never fully reaching the wide audience it should have.

Years later, the movie still holds up beautifully and remains one of my absolute favorites. For the leads, AJ Bowen went on to do THE HOUSE OF THE DEVIL, THE SACRAMENT, YOU’RE NEXT, A HORRIBLE WAY TO DIE, HATCHET 2 and he reunited with his SIGNAL co-star Anessa Ramsey in RITES OF SPRING, who herself went on to appear in FOOTLOOSE and YELLOWBRICKROAD. Justin Welborn appeared in DANCE OF THE DEAD, THE CRAZIES remake and THE FINAL DESTINATION. All 3 directors David Bruckner, Jacob Gentry and Dan Bush continue to make interesting genre-bending films, but their work together on THE SIGNAL deserves another look, especially on New Year’s Eve because, let’s face it, this is the best New Year’s horror movie we’re probably ever going to find. And that’s just fine!