Driving west from Cambridge toward Pasadena, three friends (two male, one female) opt for a brief detour in Nevada to find "Nomad," a gifted, but mysterious computer programmer they have previously encountered online. At his secluded desert home, they hear an unusual signal and become disoriented. The trio then come to in an underground government laboratory. Answers prove elusive in this frightening, sterile environment as a team of scientists study them and pose ambiguous questions regarding extraterrestrial biological entities. The Signal is a neat and tightly crafted science-fiction mystery and horror film. It is best to enter without knowing very much because a significant part of the film's charm is its ability to distort viewers' perceptions and upend our expectations just as the characters find their world turned upside down, building to an old-school, Twilight Zone-style twist ending which put an enormous smile on my face. The experience is, I admit, not particularly profound or resonant (this is first and foremost a coldly teasing exercise in spectacle-on-a-budget style and mind-teasing plot curlicues), but it is definitely engaging and entertaining, buoyed by a perfectly deadpan performance by Laurence Fishburne as the scientists' authoritative, yet ambivalent leader.

B+

I thought it was interesting. Very nice looking visually. Didn't really understand it but thankfully David was kind enough to explain it to me.

7/10 (B-)