THE SIGNAL
The Story:
It’s New Year’s Eve in the city of Terminus and chaos is this year’s resolution. All forms of communication have been jammed by an enigmatic signal that preys on the fears and desires of everyone in the city. Though Terminus was once a city defined by conformity, any semblance of order in this concrete jungle has now been replaced with screaming, bloody chaos.
David Bruckner's Transmission One:
Crazy In Love
Mya (Anessa Ramsey) is cheating on her husband Lewis (AJ Bowen) with a man named Ben (Justin Welborn). They plan to escape from the city of Terminus (the old name for Atlanta) on a train together that night, which is New Year's Eve. As Mya exits, Ben turns the TV on, showing a bizarre, psychedelic sequence of images. Mya begins to listen to a CD given to her by Ben, but is menaced by men who are acting strangely in a parking garage. When she reaches her apartment building, she finds people acting strangely in the halls as well.
Jacob Gentry's Transmission Two:
The Jealousy Monster
Once inside her apartment, Lewis and two friends, Jerry and Rod (Sahr Ngaujah) attempt to fix the TV, but Lewis, the first to react to the signal, beats one of them to death with a baseball bat. Mya escapes in panic, leaving Rod and Lewis in a struggle. After escaping, she finds the hall in chaos with people killing each other. Mya hides out in the apartment across the hall until morning. When she decides to leave and re-enter her home, she finds an unconsciouss Lewis, bound to a chair with duct-tape. He awakens only to see her leave him behind and exit into the hall listening to Ben's CD, only to be ripped away when she enocunters Rod once more. He then tells her of the night he spent trying to survive in the apartment complex, creating a possibility that Rod is also crazy, but has the better of his own judgement. Together, they escape, and attempt to drive to safety, but Rod turns on the radio, exposing himself to the signal, and goes insane. He attacks Mya, who crashes the car and Rod becoming incapacitated.
Dan Bush's Transmission Three:
Escape From Terminus
Ben, who finds the duct-taped Lewis and loosens his bonds. Lewis renders Ben unconscious and puts his body in the back of a pest control van. At a nearby apartment, Anna (Cheri Christian) is setting up for a new years party, when Clark (Scott Poythress) comes in. The two begin attempting to figure out what is happening, as Anna had to kill her husband, and Clark had decapitated Rod who was in the car with Mya. Eventually Lewis makes his way to the apartment as a pest exterminator and attempts to befriend the two. Together they wait, and Lewis kills a girl at the door. They meet up with another man, whom Lewis eventually also kills. Afterwards, Lewis attacks Anna, by spraying her with insecticide until she is blind, and once he realizes she knows nothing about Mya, forces her to ingest the poison. He then exposes Clark to the signal in order to get him to tell him where Mya is, as he had previously heard from Mya, that she was heading to the train station. Ben comes and attacks Lewis with the pesticide canister.
Ben and Clark try to escape, but Lewis follows them. After Ben convinces Clark that the signal is a lie, thus breaking the signal's effect on him, Clark informs Ben where Mya was headed. Ben and Clark get to the train station, to find Mya tied to a chair, being forced to watch the signal. Lewis appears and strangles Clark. Ben eventually convinces Lewis that he is Mya's husband, and reverses the signal's effects on him. Lewis then destroys a signal-broadcasting TV, electrocuting himself. The story ends ambiguously. A series of scenes showing Ben and Mya escaping with Clark, stocking up on supplies, then going their separate ways suggest they've succeeded. However it then shows Mya, seemingly lost due the prolonged exposure to the signal. Ben then places Mya's headphones on her and she closes her eyes, a tear then falling from her face. Whether this is a flashback from their departure or the final outcome is unclear, though the latter ending has been generally found less popular.
Starring:
A.J. Bowen, Anessa Ramsey, Justin Welborn, Scott Poythress, Sahr Ngaujah, Cheri Christian, Matt Stenton, Suehyla El-Attar, Christopher Thomas, Lindsey Garrett, Chadrian Morris.
Directed By:
David Bruckner, Jacob Gentry, Dan Bush
Release:
2008
Watch the Trailer:
