Broadcast Signal Intrusion (2021) Review

Based on the phenomenon of the same name, Broadcast Signal Intrusion follows video archivist James (Harry Shum Jr) as he discovers a series of eerie video clips featuring a masked figure, which is incredibly jarring as they flash up and interrupt cheerful, innocuous clips from back in the day. Unsurprisingly, James is disturbed yet intrigued by these clips and decides to research them to find out what on earth is going on.

As his search continues, James discovers that these intrusions might be linked to local disappearances, where the whereabouts of several women remain unknown, including James’ own wife. Armed with this sickening information, he becomes even more determined to find out who made the tapes and why, and it’s so easy to become invested in the storyline due to the compelling yet terrifying clips that keep appearing throughout the film.

The tapes themselves are genuinely very scary, with a classic creepy mask which is bound to make anyone terrified of facelessness uncomfortable. They’re distorted, hard to understand, and brilliantly filmed. Seeing it on IMAX especially was a spine-chilling experience as you literally can’t look away from the screen, you’re seeing it on such a large scale which adds to the fear.

It also seems to give James a strange sense of purpose, as he’s living in 1999 Chicago, working the graveyard shift where he spends his working hours in a basement, doing a solitary job. This sense of isolation makes these tapes even scarier as he’s the only one there to witness the mysterious intrusions. Aside from a support group he attends, full of those who also have missing loved ones, he doesn’t seem to have much of a social life.

But he’s not alone for long in his investigation as he teams up with media studies professor Dr. Stuart Lithgow (Steven Pringle), who agrees to help him with the tapes yet advises him not to go too far down a rabbit hole in search of the truth. Later on, he also encounters a woman named Alice (Kelley Mack) who he meets in a bar, retro-tech geek Chester (Arif Yampolsky), and other minor characters who do what they can to assist him on his seemingly fruitless chase to find the culprit.

But ultimately, Broadcast Signal Intrusion is James’ story and as viewers we see him take quite the journey both physically and mentally. It’s a brilliant performance by Harry Shum Jr, and as an audience we want him to find what he’s looking for, and uncover the truth about his missing wife. We don’t know much about her, but that only adds to the mystery as we gradually uncover more and more.

Fans of films like Videodrome won’t want to miss this, as it has very similar themes of obsession and paranoia, making for a very uncomfortable watch. Director Jacob Gentry has also revealed that he was inspired by creepypastas and videos such as Tara the Android, as well as real life broadcast signal intrusions such as the 1987 Max Headroom signal hijacking.

The ending might not be satisfying enough for some viewers, but it worked for me and had me asking myself questions once the credits rolled. It’s definitely the kind of film you’ll want to debate with people, as its ending doesn’t spoon feed you and allows you to draw your own conclusions which felt appropriate in my eyes.

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