The Signal Broadcasts A Creepy First Trailer, Poster, And Viral Site
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I never really considered Laurence Fishburne to be one of science fiction’s more prominent actors, but ever since Event Horizon, the esteemed thesp hasn’t gone more than two or three years without diving back into the genre in one way or another. (Unless The Matrix never happened and I’m just part of some robot’s memories or something.) He’ll next be seen in the techno-savvy thriller The Signal, the second film from director William Eubank, and we now have our twisted first look at what this potential freak show has to offer. Hint: it’s probably glitches.
The above teaser, which is one of the most intriguing clips I’ve seen for a film in a while, was actually a way to get people to head over to the film’s mysterious website, RUAgitated.com, which I spent about five head-scratching minutes on before giving up and moving on. (I’m sure it isn’t that hard to figure out, but I made my coffee this morning with water from my dog’s bowl, and nothing has been right since.) In any case, it was all leading up to the release of the film’s first full trailer, which is even more of a doozy than the one above.
Plus, it actually tells us what this film will be about. Sort of. Fishburne plays some kind of an authority figure named Dr. Damon, who is tasked with interrogating Nic Eastman (The Giver‘s Brenton Thwaites) about a signal he may or may not have heard. You see, if you can hear the signal, that means you’ve been accepted, and maybe aliens are communicating. Maybe it’s not aliens, but the use of the question, “Are you from Earth?” in the teaser and Nic’s assertion that he’s from Earth in the trailer make me think this could get otherworldly. This is all totally messing with Nic’s happy-go-lucky lifestyle with his girlfriend Haley (Olivia Cooke), but there isn’t much he can do to stop it. Open your ears and eyes and check it out below.
This flick had some great buzz coming out of Sundance, and I’m pretty blown away by how big the film looks, even though it was probably made with a limited budget. It’s right around that halfway point when things start to get absolutely nuts. What are they doing with that cow? What does his “2.3.5.41” tattoo mean? Why does everything start floating around in slow motion? And why is he so dirty? I love a film that inspires this many legitimate questions, instead of making me wonder why it was made in the first place.
Let’s hope it’ll provide some answers to match those questions when it hits theaters for a limited run on June 13. But before you go, check out the new pixel-heavy poster and a couple of stills from the film. And maybe get some earplugs, just in case that signal is being transmitted into your own home.
