12 Most Overlooked Science Fiction Films Of The 2010s

This independent film is an atmospheric and claustrophobic take on alien invasions and alien technology, approaching the topics from a more scientific angle than many other science fiction pieces.

Starting out as a poignant drama, this William Eubank film quickly turns into something that is literally out of this world.

On a road trip, three MIT students (Brenton Thwaites, Olivia Cooke, Beau Knapp) run into NOMAD, an elusive hacker who had first made contact through their school servers. After tracking NOMAD down, the trio appears to get sucked into a light vortex.

When one of the students comes to, he finds out from a doctor (Laurence Fishburne) that there was actually an alien being at NOMAD’s location… but nothing is as it seems.

The fun part of The Signal is that the audience follows the action and discovers the film’s puzzles along with Thwaites’s protagonist. The sterile, oppressive atmosphere and the near-lack of color adds to his and our disorientation; this is a world that we have never encountered before. The palpable sense of mystery and intensity is only deepened through organic effects and some truly wild action sequences.

To top the context off, emotional undertones contribute to our investment in the characters, who are presented as three-dimensional people caught in the middle of an incomprehensible situation.

The Signal shows a level of ingenuity that many of today’s films could use more of.