Three young friends track a mysterious computer hacker to a shack in the middle of nowhere, but it turns out to be the epicenter of an alien life force and all hell breaks loose; when they wake up, they’re all prisoners of a government agency that wants to monitor their biological exposure to the invader. This sci-fi puzzler by cinematographer-turned-director William Eubank often recalls the work of Shane Carruth (Primer, Upstream Color) in its low-budget resourcefulness and creeping, gnawing paranoia, though the fascination with the mechanics of the human body connects it to a much older sci-fi tradition. Laurence Fishburne, as much of a genre icon now as Leonard Nimoy, contributes his usual stern impassivity as the scientist studying the three subjects, and the interrogation scenes, played out in a blindingly white room with the witness in a frail hospital gown and the scientist encased in a hazmat suit, are so chilly you might want to bring a sweater. With Brenton Thwaites, Olivia Cooke, and Beau Knapp.
The Signal
PG-13 • 1 hour 37 min • 2014
