In The Signal, it's New Year's Eve in the super-conformist Terminus City. Ben is trying to convince his lover Maya to leave her husband Lewis, but then all the televisions and cell phones turn themselves on and start beaming an electronic buzz. It takes away people's inhibitions and makes them murderous, or just plain wacko. Ben and Lewis both search the city for Maya, but they have very different ideas in mind for her. Here's what Bruckner and Gentry had to say about their movie, opening Feb. 22.

So I read that each of the movie's three directors wrote and directed a separate segment of the film. Does it have a coherent story, or is it just like an anthology?

Gentry: The idea is that you're watching one continuous story. It's not a segmented or fragmented narrative. It's actually kind of fairly unique. Episodic television would be the closest approximation of what we did. It continues and it's sequential and linear but we shift the point of view of the story, if that makes sense. Instead of following the one guy (Ben) through the whole thing trying to get the girl (Maya), you follow the girl leaving the guy, and then you live with the antagonist (Lewis) through the middle of the movie and that really just allows us to understand better what the Signal does to people, while still moving the story forward.

Bruckner: It's actually the story of a love triangle. Maya's husband Lewis, he is the subject of the second story. Ben and Lewis are both looking for her in this environment. [and Lewis goes nuts due to the Signal.] but the signal is a weird thing, you know. Our philosophy is it affects everyone, it just affects people differently.

And Ben is immune to the effects of the Signal?

Bruckner: Ben is not immune, he has a way of managing it. It affects everybody differently and to different degrees. It amplifies people's desires and fears in a way, and that they rationalize their way around that. The Signal doesn't have to push people too far to change the nature of society. It's like a domino effect.

Do we find out what the signal comes from?

Bruckner: I would never tell you. You have to see the movie. I think that'll come as a bit of a surprise if you watch the film.

Gentry: The signal is a very powerful thing and the source of it is definitely something to be discussed. That's what we hope you walk away with, is trying to understand where the signal comes from, if anywhere. Toledo, actually. It comes from Toledo.

How was it working with two other directors? How did you coordinate to keep everything consistent?

Bruckner: We wanted to turn around a horror film and do it really fast, and we all had our pet projects we were working on. I don't think any of us had really made a horror film. We thought, "Well, what's a way to get a low budget movie made really quick?" and the idea was, Let's divide into three segments and we'll each do one segment. We all knew we'd bring different styles to the table because we're different filmmakers and we just made peace with that. And just said, "Let's just have fun. It's a low budget horror film. Chances are it's just going to get sold overseas and nobody's ever going to see it, so let's just do what we want to do." There's very different distinct styles between the three, and we found a way to make that work for the story. You probably heard that the second segment (directed by Gentry) is sort of a comedy. And then the third one is very much the spiritual core of the film that kind of explores the meaning of it all in a way. There are also differences in acting style from segment to segment.

Why do you think there are so many movies about technology being evil or driving people berzerk?

Gentry: I think it has a lot to do with the fact that our technology's ahead of us, meaning that the rate that technology evolves is exponential, so every day it's compiling new things on top of new things and we don't necessarily have hindsight or understanding.

Bruckner: You're probably going to see more indictments of technology. You're going to see a lot of scifi that goes back to that place of, "What are we messing with that we don't understand?" Technology has outrun culture. There's a fear that we're moving quickly and we don't understand what the effects of all this are going to be.

What were your influences in making this movie?

Bruckner: I looked at a lot of Spielberg. I think he's exceptional at sequencing and giving you a sense of time and space. The thing that really drives me nuts with movies right now is they get so flashy with the cuts the high impact stuff and the spectacle that you don't generally have an idea of where someone is relative to the sense of danger and therefore you can't willingly suspend your disbelief because you just don't have any idea what's going on.

Gentry: I did the middle chapter, what's been considered the comedy chapter, and for me it was really doing the movie The Shining as a Noel Coward play. Any kind of physical comedy of errors where you're trapped in a situation, and [people try to retain their] social etiquette. A lot of movies quickly abandon that, when I think we would hold on to that a lot longer. I don't think we just instantly turn into primal warriors, I think we would still try to figure it out. For me it was like having a bunch of people take hallucinogenic drugs for the first time and try to act like they're not intoxicated. I sort of equate comedy and horror in a lot of ways. I think they function on the same kind of mechanisms, very similar between the two, it's all about anticipation and suspense.

Why set your movie in the fictional Terminus City? Why not set it in Atlanta, where you really live?

Bruckner: I think we wanted to originally fictionalize the world into something more specific. We wanted to amplify the technology and the sense of a marketed culture. Like everybody's got a flatscreen TV. There are sort of these huge condo boxes going up everywhere in Atlanta, and these little planned corporate complexes where they built condo boxes and they built the shops and the grocery store into one big unit and they are providing everything you need for the way you live. If you say Atlanta, there's such a tradition to it and such a big idea, and we wanted Terminus to be that vision of Atlanta.

Gentry: Terminus is the original name for Atlanta, in the 1800s. Atlanta was originally a terminus for all the railways, the ending point for all the trains. In the original original idea, when it was a kernel, we had this city called Terminus, which Is where all the railways end up. The terminus for all the railways, you can get into Terminus but you can't get out. All media, all communication, all trains, all trucks, they all end up in this archetypal type of city.

Why is Terminus City so conformist? Is there a lot of backstory there in the movie?

Gentry: We don't actually get a lot of info in the movie about what the city is like. We've also created some webisodes that we shot recently. In the movie we have transmission one, two and three. The webisodes are transmissions 37, 23 and 55. These are just three other smaller stories that are happening concurrently with the stories in the movie. And we continue to build the world around that. We're really continuing to develop what this city is and who are the inhabitants, and as we continue to do more Signal movies, we're going to continue to expand and deal with all facets of the city.

You're doing a sequel?

Gentry: We're not announcing that right now. But depending on what the demand is for it, we definitely have ideas and stories that go well beyond the first movie. We haven't officially said that we're doing it. We definitely, as storytellers, have expanded the world way beyond the movie itself.

Slashfilm said your film has an important social message. What do you think it is?

Bruckner: I think it's about choice. I think it's about what you choose to do in this situation. The people doing the violence (in the movie) have reasons for what they choose to do. The film kind of explores how you get around that, how you make the right choice.

Movies we're looking forward to:

The Signal (Feb. 22). A weird signal takes over TVs, radios and cell phones, and makes everybody lose their shit. The tagline is "Do you have the crazy?" and it's become our new standard greeting. The buzz about this horror/SF hybrid from Sundance was pretty exciting. Divided into three segments, with three different directors, the stories of people driven berzerk by mass communications include killing sprees and demented sex. In the neopolis of Terminus City.

Outlander (early 2008). Okay. Alien versus Vikings. If that doesn't thrill you, your heart is made of dung. In a nutshell, Jim Caviezel (Passion of the Christ) is an alien whose spaceship crashes in ancient Norway. He soon realizes the crash had another survivor, a rampaging monster called the Moorwen. So Caviezel has to convince the feuding Viking clans to work together to destroy the best. It's like Beowulf, with space guns.

The Incredible Hulk (June 13). Ang Lee has lowered our expectations to the point where any Hulk movie that doesn't feature mutant poodles will thrill us. But it also sounds as though this version will stick to monster-movie basics. The Hulk's daddy issues will be in the background where they belong. And Edward Norton gives good man-with-monster-inside, judging from American History X.

The Dark Knight (July 18). Batman Begins wasn't perfect (Ra's Al Ghul was a boring villain) but it did have the right pulpy feel. And Knight could be the rare sequel that improves on the original, thanks to Heath Ledger's angry-nerd Joker. The viral Gotham Times site, with details on the crime war, overcrowded mental institutions and families fleeing Gotham, makes us feel director Christopher Nolan's Gotham is a real place, not just a fantasy backdrop.

CJ7 (Jan. 31). Stephen Chow is veering into science fiction after a string of kung-fu hits. This story of a semi-homeless guy who scavenges a toy for his son (played by a girl) will probably drip with sentimentality, but it also looks inventive and crazy as hell. The junkyard toy turns out to be an alien dog, which could kick Wall-E's ass in a cuteness contest. And then the boy/girl gets transported into space, and (judging from the trailer) things get kind of trippy.

Movies we're cautiously optimistic about:

Iron Man (May 2). The suit looks cool. We're glad they're keeping the storyline of Tony Stark being a weapon-mongering asshole who learns a lesson. But it also looks seriously cartoony, and it's from the director of Elf and Zathura.

Franklyn (unknown). The sequences of Ryan Philippe in his spooky mask in the city of crazy religions sound awesome. The other stuff, about people in the here and now having emotional crises, sounds less awesome and more IFC-ish. But we trust director Gerald Morrow when he says all three storylines finally come together somehow.

Death Race (Sept. 26). A super-champion racer (Jason Statham) is convicted of a crime he didn't commit. His only hope is to race cross-country in a tricked out car with rocket launchers and shit, for the amusement of the multitudes. Another remake, plus another movie by Paul W.S. Anderson (Mortal Kombat). It'll probably be a guilty pleasure.

Cloverfield (Jan. 18) Better to think of this as a cheesy monster movie with an artsy twist (the handheld video cameras) than to build it up as a masterpiece in the making. The script from Drew (Buffy, Alias) Goddard will probably have some clever bits. And if Cloverfield rolls in enough clover, it could usher in a whole crazy new era of low-fi monster movies.

Speed Racer (May 9). It'll be a fun ride, judging from the trailer. But the Wachowskis are sticking too close to the source material's kiddie cartoon roots. And we're scared we'll have weird dreams about John Goodman's mustache after seeing this film.

Movies we're dreading in depths of our marrow:

Star Trek (Dec. 25) We've already explained our reasons why Star Trek should stay dead in general. But this movie, in particular, sounds horrendous. We lost all hope when they announced Leonard Nimoy is coming back as Spock. That means instead of a pure reboot, it has to be some sort of continuity-heavy restart. They'll have to use either time travel or flashbacks to justify Nimoy. But also, didn't we already go back to the beginning with the TV show Enterprise? We're predicting a very expensive flop that will make back its money overseas.

The Day The Earth Stood Still (Dec. 12) The words "Keanu Reeves as Klaatu" froze our blood. Keanu's biggest problem is his flat, stoner delivery, so having him play a super-bland alien might not be the best idea. But also, the original Earth Stood Still was such a product of Cold War anxieties that a remake will just feel like a nostalgia trip.

Babylon A.D. (Aug. 29). We love Vin Diesel and Michelle Yeoh, but this is just sounding more and more like a trainwreck. It had a troubled shooting, with delays, budget overruns and epic battles between Diesel and director Matthieu Kassovitz. Add in the fact that Kassovitz's previous film, Gothika, was universally panned. And the U.S. cut of Babylon will be 30 minutes shorter than the European release, so there's speculation our version may not even make sense.

Starship Dave (May 30). Pluto Nash wasn't enough. Eddie Murphy has to star in another kiddie SF comedy. And this one has a premise designed to lead to more slapstick than three Norbits put together. A group of tiny aliens led by Murphy travel to Earth in a spaceship disguised as a human (Murphy again), and they control him remotely. It sounds like an acid-induced remake of Steve Martin's All Of Me.

Hancock (July 2). The trailer confirmed our worst fears. After a string of serious roles, Will Smith is going to dust off his comedy chops to play a lame drunken superhero who falls for his image consultant's wife. There are two main problems right off the bat: Will Smith has done well in comedies where he's the straight man (Men In Black), but he's not so great at playing the fool. And superhero comedies like My Super Ex-Girlfriend usually don't have enough respect for the material to be funny.

• See some spooky-ass new pics from February's The Signal, about static that makes you kill-crazy. [Shocktillyoudrop]
• Tribbles, those furry fast-breeders from the original TV show, will make a pointless cameo in the new Star Trek movie. [TrekMovie]
• Jericho season two will feature more soldiers (real ones, not imposters) and the town will engage more with the outside world. [E! Online]
• On Smallville, the real Clark will return, and Pete will get superpowers from meteorite-laced chewing gum. No, really. [TV Squad]
• Meanwhile, Lost season three will look back at the island, and the crash survivors, from "vantage points removed in time and space." [E! Online again]
• Iffier Lost spoilers: Kate is on trial for murder after she gets off the island. And Michael gets in an alley fight with the supposedly dead Mr. Friendly and then heads back to the island. [Josh Brown]

Also The Signal has the best tagline ever: Do You Have the Crazy? I want that on a t-shirt.

The Signal [Bloody Disgusting]