The Signal opens like one of those horror movies from the VHS era in which fresh-faced friends take a road trip where things go terribly awry, and that’s exactly what happens, except director William Eubank’s computer-savvy trio drives from Nevada into a bugfuck sci-fi scenario instead. Up-and-coming Aussie actor Brenton Thwaites (Oculus, Malificent) elicits sympathy as college freshman and computer hacker Nic Eastman, who suffers from a rapidly accelerating degenerative disorder, but the real star of the show is Laurence Fishburne and his magnificent voice. by Kathy Fennessy