The plot of new DTV horror movie Dark Signal might sound interesting, but sadly fails to connect with the audience on pretty much any level in practise. Stranded and terrified deep in the heart of the isolated Welsh valleys is single mother Kate (Joanna Ignaczewska). She isn’t alone though, as she is accompanied by the vengeful spirit of a murdered girl…
Meanwhile, across the valley at a local radio station, Kate’s friend Ben (Gareth David-Lloyd) and DJ Laurie (Siwan Morris) are midway through their last ever radio show. When they decide to invite medium Carla on air they find themselves able to communicate with someone, or something on the other side.
So why is Dark Signal so disappointing? Firstly the acting is sub-par. It feels cruel to say it, but there just doesn’t really seem to be much energy in any of the performances. But then they don’t really have much to play with as character development is rather anaemic. We’re told a few snippets about some of the characters, but the information that we get is either uninspired or has no bearing on what happens. Kate has an ill son and is behind on her mortgage, forcing her to help her boyfriend commit a robbery. Her involvement is simply to sit in a car in the middle of the woods and lie to anyone that might wonder why she is sitting alone in the woods. Surely the break in would work better were she was not around? Also she doesn’t really seem that enamoured with her partner as she spends her time flirting online with radio technician Ben.
Somehow her middle of nowhere vigil is actually really close to the radio station where Ben works and is recording the last late night analogue radio show for the station. DJ Laurie is a troubled woman, we know this as we’re told all about her plight, not that she ever acknowledges it herself. She can’t wait to be rid of her current job but doesn’t seem able to get another position as she’s deemed ‘too edgy’ which means that she eats crisps whilst on air and chain smokes like a trooper.
If the above sounds confusing, that’s because it is. The film feels very much like two separate stories which spend the duration competing for screen time. The characters don’t really seem to have a connection. More alarmingly, it feels like the team came up with two partial ideas that they couldn’t complete, and rather than spend the time working through the kinks and creating a cohesive story, they just rammed the two incomplete halves together. The result feeling very much like an impatient child ramming two wrong jigsaw pieces together.
With an ending that is straight out of a Point Horror novel Dark Signal will sadly never achieve much more than middle of the night Horror Channel reruns. Horror films are always hard to pull off and sadly Dark Signal has too many flaws to succeed.
Dark Signal is available to buy on DVD from Monday 30th May.
