'Signal' DVD offers second shot at a hit

The made-in-Atlanta horror movie "The Signal" arrives Tuesday on DVD, and Mojo hopes it follows the exact path of "Donnie Darko" to cult fame status.

"The Signal," like "Donnie Darko" before it, failed in theaters due in part to poor marketing strategy from its home studio. Once fans found "Darko" on DVD, it became a hit.

Intelligent, scary, bloody, ultra-violent and often ultra-funny, "The Signal" is a story of mental mayhem from Atlanta-based POP Films told in three parts by three directors — David Bruckner, Jacob Gentry and Dan Bush.

The DVD includes deleted scenes, directors' commentary and three Webisodes that extend the story and the horror to three other locales — a TV station, an electronics store and inside a moving car.

Other extras are a 15-minute "making of ..." documentary that includes behind-the-scenes looks at creating realistic violence on an extremely small budget.

The movie involves a mysterious signal that interferes with normal communication and incites individuals toward murder.

The DVD's cover quotes horrormeister Wes Craven: "Will leave you breathless."

That's accurate. It's also a complicated film where sometimes what you see is only what a character imagines he or she is doing.

"I think one of the worst things you can do as a storyteller or performer is give a specific answer and leave no option for possibility," actor AJ Bowen says in one of the DVD extras. "The interesting thing about filmmaking is opinion and the subjectivity of it, and there can be five people watching something and they get five different things out of it."

SHOOTING A SHORT

The annual 48 Hour Film Project is gearing up with participating film teams from metro Atlanta making their shorts June 27-29 and then screening the works at 7 and 9:30 p.m. July 1-3 at Landmark's Midtown Art Cinema. Winners will compete against winning films from other cities across the globe. To date, more than 30 metro Atlanta film teams have signed up to compete. www.48hourfilm.com/atlanta.

EAT AND WATCH

Forget dinner and a movie. What's new is breakfast and a movie. Steve Myers' VIP Breakfast & a Movie will screen Boris Kodjoe's "All About Us" on June 14 at Movies ATL, 3760 Princeton Lakes Parkway. A full breakfast will be served at 8:30 a.m., and the movie screening is at 9:30 a.m. Tickets are $20 at www.allaboutusthemovie.info.

Breakfast & a Movie is designed to provide a theatrical outlet for African-American straight-to-DVD films.

POSTER BOYS

Jack Black is not in "You Don't Mess With the Zohan." And Adam Sandler is most certainly not a part of "Kung Fu Panda." But you can't tell that by looking at the films' posters. In an odd bit of coincidence, Po the Panda and Sandler's Zohan strike almost the same pose in their posters. Even more bizarre, both films arrived in theaters Friday.