Lively, entertaining reviews of, and essays on, old and newer films and everything relating to them, written by professional author William Schoell.

Thursday, January 1, 2015

THE SIGNAL (2014)

THE SIGNAL (2014). Director: William Eubank.

Nic (Brenton Thwaites), and his friends Jonah (Beau Knapp) and Haley (Olivia Cooke) decide to track down a computer hacker who seems to be everywhere, even invading the cameras in their laptops. The trio track a signal to a dilapidated old house, but all of them wind up in a secret scientific-military base where they, especially Nic, are subjected to tests and persistent questioning. The movie is meant to be creepy and suspenseful one supposes, but it's actually tedious and uninvolving, despite basically good performances by Brenton Thwaites -- what a moniker! -- and the other young cast members. Laurence Fishburne [Event Horizon] is cast as the lead interrogator in the base, and is (deliberately?) weird. Although you more or less get the explanation for what's going on at the very end, it's not worth the trip. Ultimately this is an old comic book -- or shaggy dog -- story.

Verdict: A signal you should probably ignore. *1/2.

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