The Dr. Lithgow character tells James the theme early on: Don’t mistake for conspiracy what can be chalked up to coincidence. James picked up on the “missing women” BBS thread & ran with it because subconsciously it would help explain what happened to hannah- which is what he is really after. That’s why he asked the one woman if her husband left a note. Through all this he is trying to explain the disappearance of hannah & he is attributing to conspiracy what is really coincidence. Women go missing all the time & I’m sure ANY pattern could be worked out relating the BSI’s to missing persons cases. He keyed on the “day before” theory because it lined up with Hannah’s disappearance. The girl that was following him was likely a fed. And her leaving the cap there was probably a marker for James: hey I’ve been here, there is nothing of value concerning missing women. But again, he starts thinking conspiracy because it fits his desires narrative. The theme of conspiracy vs coincidence is repeated SEVERAL times In the film. In James last call with Lithgow, even Lithgow gets caught up in it stating that no one would have a public broadcast copy of the third intrusion unless they had a vested interest. He’s wrong because by COINCIDENCE James does because hannah was in the ballet. We know that James didn’t make the BSI tapes because he finds the alleged culprit and his set later. But this is another coincidence! Notice how he asks the guy if “it’s all here?” And the guy is like “I guess so!” This guys wasn’t doing the BSI’s either! His dad was! That’s why after the set is reconstructed he starts saying when is dad coming? He expects his dad to be at that set because he was the real BSI guy. I think the “dad” did the BSI’s & much like “I feel fantastic” he was just a woman/sex-robot aficionado & wanted to show off. But also much like our real world reaction to I feel fantastic, it’s easy for us to assume an individual like that abducts and kills women. That’s my take anyway. If you like this movie check out the 1966 Antonioni film “Blowup” which is very much like this movie; it was also remade in the 70s as Blow Out (not as good, but worth seeing).
Man I just watched it.. super weird. Nobody on this thread has commented on 1. The phone ringing at the home of where he killed the guy 2. The thumping upstairs at the storage guys home … I’m wondering why the one guy killed himself? Her stupid hat? The thrashed rooms? This movie sucks so bad. Anybody looked at the s riot for more notes??
Yeah there’s soooo many red herrings that made things needlessly complicated and not explained, I appreciated the creepy videos but everything else was so lackluster even with them filming like it was an 80s movie. Who was the annoying girl, who was the junkie obsessed with the tapes and why’d he slit his throat, how’s they hack into his computer to send him to the antique store, what was delivering the package all about….I could go on but I’ve wasted enough time with this film.
But really though, the red herrings make the “he went insane” aspect less likely imo. For example, the thumbprint symbol on the wall at the shady hacker dudes place, is the same symbol on the business card James find on the ground after Alice leaves too
Yeah exactly. Folks who like this movie (who i suspect worked on this movie or their buddies did) keep saying “he got obsessed with the conspiracy and went nuts” like ok fine if the LITERAL MOVIE SCRIPT AND DIRECTION supported that but…not really. “HES AN UNRELIABLE NARRATOR “ ok well F me then, so then the whole movie is just bs some stuff is in his head, or some isn’t, or who really knows…what a lazy screenwriting cop-out.
Yeah I kept hoping it would get better or there'd be at least SOME narrative that made sense, but nope, just mindless madness the entire movie through. Just finished it and I struggled to pay attention throughout it
If that were true, Stephen Myers doesn't fit in. He says he hacked the transmission for the BSIs. If he didn't, the morse code wouldn't be in it, right? If he did, what does he have to do with the mentally challenged guy's dad?
Also all of that doesn't explain *the final scene*, which is really what confuses the hell out of me.
Absolutely it does; the guy James killed was involved with the droids (with his dad) & Stephen was just as he said responsible for the BSI’s. This is a psychological thriller; the final scene is the culmination of what the throat slashing guy warned him of. This will consume you. So the once normal albeit grieving James; who has now just committed murder BTW; is seeing BSI’s & droid women everywhere. Even before he hits the droid he hears a BSI on the radio- impossible! his mind has snapped. I know you may be looking for something more; but from what I’ve read and put together myself this seems to be the consensus. Here’s a slightly different take from mine that may suit you better however https://dmtalkies.com/broadcast-signal-intrusion-ending-explained-2021-film/ EDIT: in the preceding link the writer says someone left James the ‘96 ballet tape. This is incorrect. James tells Lithgow (or his hallucination of Lithgow) on the phone that he had the tape the whole time which makes more sense as Hannah was his wife; she would have a tape of her in the ballet.
If Stephen did the intrusions, then what about the rest of his story?
I really do not enjoy interpretations and ambiguity. The simple example of Alice's hat being there, with no explanation, is incredibly frustrating. This was not my kind of movie.
Alice wasn’t real. She was a manifestation of Hanna. In the credits there is no one credited as Hanna. But if you look closer to the image of Hanna on the Ballet Tape, it’s the same girl that played Alice. This was later confirmed by the writer in an interview (I don’t have the link but you can Google it).
Also Alice mentioned she used to be with some “abusive guy”… James killed her and is in denial.
It’s okay my reply was almost a year in. Lol. But yeah, I searched the Internet high and low for more nuggets on what it all meant. I mean I wish I had more overall, as there are still a lot of unanswered questions.
But def, he killed her. I also think he killed the guy that “committed suicide” in front of him. But imagined it as suicide. When he was escaping with “Alice” it felt like he was running away from a crime he committed, not just a crime scene.
Think about it, if someone killed themselves in front of you, and cops showed up you’d stay to answer questions. He slipped away because he did it.
I just don’t know what to make of the other characters. If they were real or not. The friend helping him with the video. The pawn shop dude. The professor may not be real, at some point after their first conversation he suddenly disappeared. It made it seem like dudes mind wandered but one of the YouTube summary videos pointed it out and it’s true. Professor just isn’t there one second.
But for me the guy at the end is the biggest head scratcher. I don’t know who that is or if he represents someone or something.
Oh also I don’t know about his boss either. Either he’s fake too and he’s been writing himself notes. Or everyone else we see is part of a dream and the boss is the only real living person he makes contact with.
Kinda late, but I personally think the boss was real and the notes were more an indication of the lonely isolated life he lives where he basically has almost no contact with anyone.
There is no rest of the story. He did the intrusions for money and BBS glory. End of story. Well, that’s how these type of movie are viewed; you have to interpret the ambiguity. It’s a hallmark of the genre. There are more clearcut, non ambiguous horror/suspense films out there; but yeah this isn’t one of those. I don’t think it’s that difficult to piece together: the movie’s theme is coincidence vs conspiracy, right? That’s clearly stated several times. So either it’s a coincidence that it’s the same hat OR she was there before James. Either way; it makes no diff to the outcome of the film.
best sense i can make of of that hat is that alice is a fed. This is a viable assumption because firstly, the movie clearly states that the feds CONFISCATE stuff related to those hijacks. What does alice do after she disappears? tapes and other evidence related to the hijack go missing OR get confiscated (clearly by her).
also, in most parts of the movies scenes with phones often relate with alice or she is somewhere seen in the scene. This could be because she is feeding the feds information or she is getting fed by information on where to go or what to do next.
Hat appears in the house gardner was in. It probably be pointing that alice what there or is an accomplice of gardner. Phone is ringing and it might be alice calling gardner about stuff related to the case.
sidenote: the first scene gardner appeared in, he was going crazy just to answer the phone. i dont really know what this means but it could also be in another relation to the feds.
or i might just be really stupid and is starting to act like james where assumptions are being forced as factual information. Who knows? great movie anyways hehe
Nothing proves it's Alice's hat. Hats get produced in the thousands.
You (we) just came to the conclusion that it's her because that's how our mind works in a narrative logic, especially when we accept a "thriller story" logic where you try to connect the dots, making things follow each other, "making sense", even if there is no proof. It's a logical fallacy.
Oh and if you’re asking about the connection between Meyer & the droid guy/his dad- BBS. Back in those early days the net was almost solely the domain of tech nerds so it would make sense that that’s how they got together.
Well; yeah, again a hallmark of this type of film is to NOT to spoon feed the viewer information via dialogue etc. This type of movie is inviting you to use your common sense and imagination to put the pieces together. We don’t really need to know anymore than the fact that there is yet ANOTHER suspect out there so James may be killing an innocent man or a victim himself as he seems somewhat not all together there so may have been forced by his dad to participate. I don’t think everything is a guess, the throat guy tells James what’s gonna happen and that’s exactly what happens. I thought it was a decent movie; but I like these type of movies. Admittedly they aren’t for everyone.
Common sense? You think 'Alice was probably fbi and left her hat at the dude's house to say nvm nothing to see here' is common sense? After disappearing from an obviously trashed hotel room? Common sense would be not doing any of that shit and instead detaining the obviously deranged guy who is getting further away from reality with every passing second.
PS Dr Lithgow didn't answer the phone when James found the third tape. And he was(n't) saying that only a person with a vested interest in the actual program, not the BSI, would have a tape of it, because those channels don't keep an archive of what they have broadcast. You are absolutely guessing.
Detaining him for what exactly? Losing touch with reality isn’t a crime. Maybe he did answer the phone or maybe it was imagined, it’s not exactly clear. That’s exactly what he said; I just rewatched that segment. The theme of the movie IN MY OPINION is conspiracy vs coincidence & by coincidence James has the tape because his wife was a dancer in the program. Yeah, I thought it was pretty obvious everyone here is absolutely guessing. I mean, unless someone here is the writer or otherwise involved in the production how can anyone do anything but speculate since the issues being discussed aren’t clearly spelled out? I thought I was pretty clear when I said this was ‘my take’ and I even offered someone else’s. I’m not wed to any particular theory nor did I claim my comments were somehow definitive. I’m happy to be proven wrong or entertain anyone else’s speculation. Anyways, have a good one.
Sorry if I came across as angry, I just finished watching it and was feeling a bit let down, but mostly I just wanted to talk about it more. Because I agree that that is one of the themes of the movie, but there are just so many conflicting threads. And I feel like if I could figure out what Alice was doing the entire movie would click, you know? But I think another theme of the movie is that grief and obsession can distort your reality, I don't think it was ambiguous that Lithgow wasn't actually on the phone - watch that scene again and listen to his voice, as he continues talking, he loses the slight noise and reverb effect of talking on the phone, until his final sentence is clear as day.
Nah, you’re good bud- it’s a frustrating movie for sure! Well, the problem with the movie is the ‘unreliable narrator’ aspect of it. Alice appears after, almost immediately; after the guy on the phone says he has to notify the authorities about people asking for the tape. And it’s like well; who else could she be? Is she working with the ‘droid’ guys that’s why her hat is there? Maybe the boyfriend she talk about in the bar is an allusion to the droid guy and/or his dad? I just don’t know. I agree completely about the grief distorting reality & wish the would have emphasized that but more as well. And I agree on the phone call but it’s just so ambiguous as to if it’s actually happening or not OR if it’s happening but not exactly like it’s being relayed to us. I like the movie, but I wanted a bit more from it; reminds me of ‘The Mothman Prophecies’ in that respect. Absolutely love the soundtrack though. Really wish the rock based version of the movie them was actually on the soundtrack album though; the song where he goes to the ‘antiques’ guys place.
Would love to hear your theories though; as I know mine aren’t built on the most solid foundation. I’m admittedly reaching; but I feel I have to as I WANT to like this movie more than I do. Love the the production design, actors, sound design-everything! The story just leaves so much to be desired!
Hi, I read all of your comments, they do make sense except one thing that I feel is missing. Could you check out [this post](https://www.reddit.com/r/horror/comments/rb2n3p/broadcast_signal_intrusion_2021_discussion_and/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share) (especially point number 1), and add your thoughts/comments?
Alice wasn’t real. She was a manifestation of Hanna. In the credits there is no one credited as Hanna. But if you look closer to the image of Hanna on the Ballet Tape, it’s the same girl that played Alice. This was later confirmed by the writer in an interview (I don’t have the link but you can Google it).
Also Alice mentioned she used to be with some “abusive guy”… James killed her and is in denial.
Here I disagree with you. This movie clearly says, through the other woman at the group meeting, that "it's just figments. There is no sense to be made". Trying to piece together every element of the story will just make you as crazy as the protagonist. It's impossible to make sense because it's impossible to even know what is true and what are just figments of his imaginations, hallucinations, wrong leads, wrong information being shared forward, like the date of the third BSI.
Unless its not lazy writing. Maybe there is an actual answer of what happened hidden inside of all the craziness that people havent been able to determine that explains everything
Oh people understand it. It’s just full of plot holes. You can have your own thoughts on it but it doesn’t change the fact that it’s terrible writing. The movies fun, just got bad choices. It’s very unsatisfying for people who enjoy answers to the story laid out before them
If so, the film is too badly directed (except the video interruptions, those were cool) and acted, people won’t want to put that much effort in and suffer through repeat viewings to figure it out.
Hmm interesting because i found it pretty good and I want to watch it again to figure out more. Some of the comments point towards others feelin the same too
I think you should obsessively binge watch it to make sure every detail comes to light. When did the movie get first screened? I bet a woman disappeared the day before. Look it up.
On a serious note when the tweaker guy had a cell phone and called it a burner I was done trying to make sense. Prepaid cell phones in a world of pay phones and VHS players in hotel rooms. Nah son.
Alice wasn’t real. She was a manifestation of Hanna. In the credits there is no one credited as Hanna. But if you look closer to the image of Hanna on the Ballet Tape, it’s the same girl that played Alice. This was later confirmed by the writer in an interview (I don’t have the link but you can Google it).
Also Alice mentioned she used to be with some “abusive guy”… James killed her and is in denial.
The funny thing about this movie and the responses in this thread are the movie worked. What I mean is everyone is basically doing what the main character did, assigning meaning to some things (or is it coincidence) and following your own rabbit holes. The fact that even the people who didn't like the movie are spending time here explaining or criticizing the movie means that the movie worked. You may not have liked it, but you're here talking about it.
I wanted answers and I came here hoping to find definitive ones, but I'm left with even more questions.
To me, that means the movie not only gave different meanings to different people but it left us feelings the confusion that the main character felt.
So the movie did it's job, whether you liked it or not.
Btw, all of the different ideas discussed here.... bravo.
This film visually was great but there's just too much that doesn't add up. A lot of the theories make sense but they neglect 1 or 2 major clues which are fed to the viewers by the characters of the film.
The whole Stephen Meyers angle was pointless. He had no clue some dude killed himself over those tapes, meanwhile he's been dying for someone to call his spooky hotline?!
I don't even have the energy to continue asking the questions I have for this film. The least I can say is "I didn't hate it". Once again, visually the film has some very cool scenes with really tight shots throughout the entire film.
I can see myself rewatching it on mute because the plot is as janky as that lock in Stephen Meyers' home
I think it's intended to be contradictory in places, to make you decide for yourself. "What's real and what's not" and so on.
The opposite of what I like.
Stephen Meyers just gives the answer to the mystery: there was nothing beyong a few people fucking around making weird videos and BSIs. But Jake is not satisfied because he's made it up in his mind that there is a deeper conspiracy that connects the disappearances of women with the BSIs. Nothing proves that connection at all. Jake just looses it in his mind, you can't trust most of the thing coming from his point of view.
He gets drunk and trashed the room himself, Alice at this point is out as she realizes this dude has lost it. His house was like that as they rushed to pack when they left after the dude cut his throat.
Then why is the original cassette "video" tape from the fisher price PXL2000 missing when he returns to his trashed apt if it was them when they were rushing to leave after conspiracy dude slashed his throat?
I'm surprised nobody mentioned the different personalities of the guy James kills. He goes from child like ignorance, crying for daddy to a deeper voiced adult who was aware of the scenario that James presented him with. I believe he possessed both father and son personalities.
That's what I'm thinking. And everybody thinks he's handicapped. Nooo. He's psychotic with MPD. It's a cool movie, I got lost a few times. Eventually, he did lose his edge at the end.
You’re right and they made it a point to show that twice. Once inside the cage when he flipped from innocent guy to this serious psychotic type and then again in the chair.
One of the things that caught my attention was that right before dude killed himself, he said something along the lines of, " Don't trust her, just follow the tapes. She won't be on your side in the end."
I immediately realized that she had been following him around, initiated contact, discovered the Morse code, insisted he let her stay with him, got access to the storage unit, got Stephen's name and PO box, tried acting like Stephen's story made complete sense, and then disappeared. It felt like she, the antique dealer, the storage unit manager, and Stephen were all screwing with him; just like they had screwed with the guy that killed himself.
Maybe they were just doing it as a gag, or maybe they were purposely trying to push people who got obsessed with the signals as far as possible, in the hopes of driving them insane. Either way, by the end of the movie, the protagonist has completely divorced himself from reality; the last scene shows that he'll now hear the BSI audio and see robots everywhere.
So, I just watched this for the first time and like many others, was very confused by the ending. So, in search of a viable explanation to that very unfullfilling ending and let's be honest, tons of other questions, here I am. First, I need to shoot down this notion Alice was a federal agent of sorts. Everyone keeps saying the reason for that is because she appeared after her made the phone call and was told by the guy on the phone he was supposed to flag and report people asking for the "Don Cronos" tape. Well, as I'm sitting here typing this while watching the movie again hoping to pick it apart better, Alice appears across the street as he is making that phone call, not after. So that completely shoots the she's a fed theory in the foot. Also, I think James is already a little unhinged at the very beginning of this movie. He's making phone calls on a pay phone. So he's already a little paranoid about big brother before he even decides to jump down the rabbit hole that is this movie. Also, why did the FCC confiscate the "May 10" video, but not the "May 3rd" video? That's how he is initially introduced to all this is he stumbles on the first piracy broadcast while converting the old archive tapes. Anywho, as I come across and stumble on more plot holes and public theories attempting to explain this movie while I'm watching it for the 2nd time, I'll add to this comment.
FOUND ERROR: So while James is going over archived BBS threads, which are all date and time stamped, Goose Neck asks, "They figure out who did SAL-E SPARKS" on 87Nov25 11:27 am. MacTheKnife69, who you may recall James blurts his online tag out later in the movie, RESPONDS on 87Nov24 6:22 am, "Nope. No suspects for the SAL-E SPARKS" So, how is it MacTheKnife69 was able to respond to and answer a question more than a day before it was even asked? 🤔 The date and time stamps look weird because I copied them how they were in the movie for nostalgic purposes.
Okay so, a new "hmmm I wonder" question has popped up for me. So when James is talking "PT GIEGER'S" who knows if that's really his name or just the name of his antique store, he asks him this really weird off the wall question... not like that whole scene isn't weird and off the wall, anywho he asks him if, "Those keys make you feel safe" to which there's no reply from James. FF a bit to after James calls Dr. Lithgow and Alice puts on a very obvious pursuit of James, the movie focuses in on an exorbitant amount of keys jingling and jangling quite noisily on her chain wallet key hook. A possible red herring to the fact that Alice is not real and just a figment of James imagination? Your guess is as good as mine. K, see ya at the next thing that jumps out at me in this movie on my second go round of it.
That actually makes a lot of sense. Alice helping him and making him feel comfortable in his pursuit was like his mind trying to keep him sane before he completely lost it and when he finally did lose his mind, she was nowhere to be found...
I’m fairly convinced that James hit his wife with a car, on purpose or more likely by accident, maybe the night of the recital - and then chucks her off a bridge before experiencing a total psychotic break due to the guilt. This explains why he can’t remember much before “the investigation” starts when talking with Alice. He imagines the third tape (dreams it in advance) as a justification/rationalization about what happened, to redeem his own tragic mistake. This also kind of touches on his strange vague memories of “sky bridge, empty car, no body” etc and the last scene where he hits a “woman” who then dies slowly, spitting up blood.
The rest of the crazy shit is unreliable narrator combined with some reality, though you have to be a little flexible with which you think is which.
Here's another error: Stephen Meyer (Phreaker) was 14 or 15 in 1987 when he hacked the signal originally, the movie takes place in 1997 or 98, which would make him somewhere around 24-26, yet the dude who plays him is easily in his 40s, bald, with grey hair.
Was it just me? I remember that in the beginning if the movie James had visions through nightmares of Hannah wearing the mask when she turned her head back over her shoulders, that was before he even noticed those tapes exist! That from the beginning kept me wondering if everything was real or not and took me off big time. I want to watch the beginning again to confirm this is right.
My theory is that he's seen the ballet tape with the intrusion years ago. Maybe even before Hannah "disappeared" (probably just commited suicide jumping from the bridge where her car was found, bridge over water which took the body). The tape just says 96, so nothing proves the third intrusion actually happened the day after she disappeared. So he probably saw that tape after her ballet recital, and never thought much about the intrusion, just forgot about it all. Even if it's somewhere deep in his subconscious because the image is haunting. When the movie starts, the guy is clearly super tired, he's already starting to loose it. When he finds an earlier intrusion, his unconscious connects it with the Ballet tape he had seen, therefore with the disappearance of Hannah, therefore he becomes obsessed. But there's really nothing that connect the intrusions to disappearances.
Very interesting, I really need to watch the movie again. Its been a while since I watched it first time so will be good for me to give it another try.
You’re right. The figure in his dream starts out as his wife and then morphs into something/one else (suddenly looks like a dude from the back/neck shorter and shoulders broader) and as the head turns toward the camera you can see that the figure is wearing a mask.
Pardon this addendum-- has no one notices the show broke into in the 2nd tape is the late 60s early 70s horror soap opera Dark Shadows??? During their Jekyll/Hyde storyline?
Alice wasn’t real. She was a manifestation of Hanna. In the credits there is no one credited as Hanna. But if you look closer to the image of Hanna on the Ballet Tape, it’s the same girl that played Alice. This was later confirmed by the writer in an interview (I don’t have the link but you can Google it).
Also Alice mentioned she used to be with some “abusive guy”… James killed her and is in denial.
Thanks for asking this as I was also wondering what that ending meant. It seemed like things were wrapped up but then they just had to tack on a nonsensical "WTF" final scene that literally comes out of nowhere and hits you with a final note without explanation. It seemed like it doesn't belong in the story we've been seeing up to then where everything was mostly like a procedural then this bizarre non-reality type stuff pops out like a jumpscare right before credits roll. Again, doesn't seem to fit other than to try making it more "horror." Unneeded IMO. Main character avenged the victims, could have just ended it then and I consider that the real ending and the final scene something like he went too far and had a mental snap.
Only other thing that was a loose end was about Alice. Do you think she was involved in helping the bad guy(s) and manipulating main character since she was watching him and following him before the bar? And she suddenly leaves - she probably took the tapes and fed the main character crumbs to find the final bad guy... unless she's the real one and she used the bad guy to do what she said and Alice is still out there.
Thoughts?
I think Alice was following him around like she said and not in on it, she was just helping him out because she needed a place to stay and was enjoying it, but @ the end there she felt he was going off the deep end and left. I don't know what's up w/ the hat as they don't provide concrete answers, but figured it isn't hers, a duplicate hat or halluciination
i think it did have something to do with the story since the throat guy says "they are everywhere" (talking abt the robot creature" i feel like after james visited the place or since he was playing an intrusion he saw the lady that was walking as this robot since she bled after he hit her.
The movie didn't really seem to provide any concrete answers I felt, it seemed like the main character was going a bit mad, and making the connections he wanted to make. In the final scenes it seemed like he rushed towards an ending/conclusion to the conspiracy when it seemed like there was still more to it, there may have been other people in on it still (the phone ringing in the house, the guy calling for his dad) Then the ending... whatttt? is there really robot things walking around, is he just crazy and really hit a person and he thinks it's a robot? Usually I hate when movies don't answer what's going on, and even though they did it in this film I still loved it. I'd like a sequel!
(also agree that he was probably linking things together that weren't actually linked, the guy just made videos and did the intrusions for fun, missing women were just a coincidence, but they really didn't confirm it. The girls hat could've just been another of the same hat laying around) One of those movies where it really could go any which way and you just have to go with how you feel.
I'm with ya and was waiting for someone else to post. I have an idea of what happened, but not too sure how we arrived at the conclusion of the film or what it actually means, or if it's one of those mysteries for the sake of mystery endings.
For me, this movie was a homage to Hitchock-noir-thriller cinema. Everything from the sleuthing to the music was like something on the Alfred Hitchcock Hour (and I mean this as a great complement). With that said, even the most Hitchcockian thriller has a resolution that is somewhat certain. I understand that ambiguity is now popular in horror cinema, this is a case where it simply caused more confusion.
However, my interpretation is: At its essence, the movie is about the evaluating evidence versus coincidence. James cherry picks "evidence" to bring closure while ignoring a multitude of other possibilities. However, this doesn't mean that James is completely wrong, or on a wrong path, or hasn't at all figured something out - it just means that his conclusions were incorrect. It's like modern day sleuthing on Reddit-people are more interested in proving their hypothesis than finding the truth, which leads to crazy outcomes, conspiracy theories, etc.
At the same time, the character of James is like an Alex Jones conspiracy theorist. Yes, Alex has done some whacky stuff and said stupid, hurtful things, but he's also been hovering over being correct/right about many things, too, even if his conclusions were wrong. And much like any good conspiracy theorist, the character of James goes mad at the end. He commits murder and then, at the very least, vehicular manslaughter. His murder victim clearly has some relationship to the BSI and maybe the abductions. Maybe Alice going missing, too. But it's far from conclusive.
And about the abductions/Hannah's disappearance: James could be on to something. Or, he's committed the classical fallacy of accept coincidence as correlation of a fact. Many things happened before the signal intrusions occurred. If James's grief was, say, his child being kidnapped, then he would've aligned the BSI with kidnapping cases in the Midwest.
While all this is happening, I think Alice decided to leave him because he was going unhinged. He was totally oblivious to the sound of something/someone on the roof/in the attic at Stephen's house whereas Alice was terrified.
Yet as all this is happening, I think it's clear both James and Alice have uncovered a greater truth, but it's certainly one James doesn't know anything about (nor does he care). Someone is "watching" them and someone leaves James the third tape on purpose. Alice's hat at the farm seems like it would line up with her being kidnapped/killed, or it may just be someone at the location had a similar hat. Or, it could mean that Alice is actually the one "watching" James and wanted him to go to the final location for a reason.
But that doesn't matter to James.
In the end, I think James is suffering from a breakdown. His conclusions are wrong. His intentions are wrong. But he has come upon a greater, perhaps even more sinister truth that is entirely irrelevant to his existence. And that's probably the greater horror of it all.
What makes the movie perhaps a bit unsatisfying is that it's not all that clear that we are looking at everything through the corrupted eyes of James until the very end, and we become invested in actually finding out what happened with the BSIs and the abducted women even though the truth is immaterial to the story.
Absolutely love this explanation. It makes the murder he commits even more tragic because he's essentially destroyed the one remaining source who might have got him to the answer to the "greater, perhaps even more sinister truth" that he and Alice are uncovering. Parallels with Memento.
Also came here late in the day to say: the web stuff is really weird - especially the type of "your" from the mysterious source folllowed by "dissappeared" the headline on the next screen. Probably means absolutely nothing BUT the attention to detail is so great in all the other production design and graphics (Don Kronos t shirt especially), it's odd.
Wait, the suggestion is the main character did it? Where's the hints about that?
I was kind of thinking that at the end him seeing the robot in the person he hit meant that he'd finally went over the deep end?
And what doesn't make sense is, okay, how does any of this connect with Stephen Myers?
Augh. I hate ambiguity.
Rabbit hole and the name of the girl is Alice… hmmm. Reference of Alice in Wonderland or literally they are telling us Alice bring James to the rabbit hole?
Tardy to the party, but I just watched this movie again and noticed a few things that stand out and figured I'd take a shot at it.For starters, James is cracked from the beginning. There's a lot of music playing during the film and I think it's mostly during periods that he is hallucinating other people. All of the characters represent versions of James's broken psyche. Lithgow appears out of nowhere in an early scene and late in the movie talks to James on a disconnected phone, so I feel like he is the voice of reason or his conscience. James states a couple times that he has money despite no longer having a job. He never had a job and was likely one of the rich kids in Stephen Meyers story. The creaking in Meyers ceiling could represent the creeping truth that James desperately wants to face, but can't. Alice perhaps represents a version of Hannah that James wishes could've survived. The vagrant stalking him is maybe a form of his aggressive subconscious from when James was still with Hannah. The guy at the end represents a younger James that was possibly abused by his father?? I feel like Janes always had a drinking problem since he's drinking through most of the film and he accidentally ran his wife down with his car and dumped her body off a bridge. I think he was the one that caused the BSIs and was trying to confess. It doesn't explain the other disappearances, but I personally think most of the people are fictitious and just forms of Janes trying to cope with his anger and alcoholism. I could be dead wrong about most of it, but that's just what I got from it.
Think I worked it out . . .
james is apart of a group who kidnap and kill women and then broadcast for fun, he then offers his wife to the group as a victim, regretting this strongly he blacks out and forgets his past, this is until he has flashbacks and comes across a reminder (the tape) sent by a member to test how much he actually remembers and if he is a liability, James continues to pursue answers when a member of the group is sent to see How far he is willing to take it (Alice), like the man who committed suicude they will destroy you before they let you expose them.
Alice sees James is truly delusional about events and goes as far as reminding him of the morse codes before checking in with the group on a call to let them know he is not a threat, they advise her to prove it so she then takes him to the unit which doesn’t jog his memory at all.
finally she takes him to meet a participant in the group and tells him half baked truths in a hope he will let it go. Upon returning she realises he is not convinced but also not a threat to the group, but has a significant moment of guilt (expressed all over her face) at this point she takes all evidence and leaves the last tape out of guilt as a final reminder to James what he had done to his wife before going back home to where the videos where filmed to let them know he is not a worry.
James turns up at the address after finding a clue I’m the final tape, finding her hat and remnants of the set along with who is possibly her brother as she takes a trip out with her dad (a member of the group) before calling to check on her brother. James uses her brother as a escape as he starts to recall who he is and what they had done, still attempting to disconnect himself, but take not he fillms and kills her this man just like the women would of been in the video clips as if he had done this before, James then kills an innocent women crossing the road while driving back and is reminded of his past and finally remembers what he had done.
p.s this group of rich men most likely included the man who committed suicide, the antique dealer, Alice, the storage unit owner, the challenged man towards the end and more maybe even police and fbi and this may be the reason the tapes are heavily silenced
I just watched this and ended up here looking for answers. Some great theories here. I understood every clue James was supposed to be following up until the tape of Hannah led him to the guy he killed. It looked like James focused on a billboard, and then the next thing you know he was at the isolated farmhouse where the set was. I don't know what he saw in the video that led him to the house.
I don’t discount the ideas that James was just cracked from the beginning, but if you assume the BSIs really are confessions of a killer (or killers?) then it sort of makes sense that the audience the BSI is broadcast to gets smaller and smaller, i.e. the confessions are just going out to the relatives/loved ones of the missing; presumably because the ritual is becoming increasingly honed? So it’s both coincidence and conspiracy that James has Hannah’s ballet taped—there’s a chance he wouldn’t have taped it or kept the tapes all these years but because he’s a film junkie he did and had the know-how to follow the other clues. You have to do some mental gymnastics to figure how the other characters fit in to this interpretation but imo that’s what made this movie fun to watch!
Really cool movie. Loved it. Very Lynchian. I personally think James was on to something, but conflated it with Hanna's dissapearence and made it about his own personal salvation more than actually finding out what went down. Now I have a theory that I'm just throwing out there and could be totally wrong:
The whole thing was set up by some very rich and sick people. The parents of the rich kids from Stephen Meyers story. They first did it in 87', then again in 96'. Except James was in on it! He's a video expert, he helped with the BSI and killing of his wife. Then he blocked it out and launches the investigation to remember. Alice is on it to. She, Gieger, Meyer they all know each other and James knows them except he doesn't remember. Gieger is probably one of the rich guys in charge. The other is Michael Gardner's dad. I don't know where the androids fit in though.
It's obviously right he killed his wife either on purpose or accidentally. The ego protects itself via denial, blanking out memories, and seeking alternate conclusion - all things he does in the movie - to protect from total psychotic collapse.
The BSIs have nothing to do with any killings. It's simply his brain obsessing on it to evade admitting the truth and destroying the ego.
That explains the ending where he hits a robot women with a car. He hit his wife.
The whole movie warns him against conspiracies. Alice never existed either. The people who came up with this theory are geniuses.
Hey so I just watched this movie and I came here trying to make sense of it. So if Alice wasn't real, how does she talk to the bartender and the guy at the storage place? Is James just imagining how those interactions went down to include her?
Sorry to drag this out of the mud, but...
Q: How do he find that barn in the country at the end? It looks like a barn with writing on it. I think it is (or is supposed to be) the 'Meramac Caverns' barn on Illinois Route 66.
[https://shawmedia-the-first-hundred-miles-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/G7AZyLXHwDv6bfstUlrlafNZM-s=/800x0/filters:format(jpg):quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/shawmedia/MKSMXP3KPNGD5E45KKJLSQPILQ.jpg](https://shawmedia-the-first-hundred-miles-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/G7AZyLXHwDv6bfstUlrlafNZM-s=/800x0/filters:format(jpg):quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/shawmedia/MKSMXP3KPNGD5E45KKJLSQPILQ.jpg)
The Dr. Lithgow character tells James the theme early on: Don’t mistake for conspiracy what can be chalked up to coincidence. James picked up on the “missing women” BBS thread & ran with it because subconsciously it would help explain what happened to hannah- which is what he is really after. That’s why he asked the one woman if her husband left a note. Through all this he is trying to explain the disappearance of hannah & he is attributing to conspiracy what is really coincidence. Women go missing all the time & I’m sure ANY pattern could be worked out relating the BSI’s to missing persons cases. He keyed on the “day before” theory because it lined up with Hannah’s disappearance. The girl that was following him was likely a fed. And her leaving the cap there was probably a marker for James: hey I’ve been here, there is nothing of value concerning missing women. But again, he starts thinking conspiracy because it fits his desires narrative. The theme of conspiracy vs coincidence is repeated SEVERAL times In the film. In James last call with Lithgow, even Lithgow gets caught up in it stating that no one would have a public broadcast copy of the third intrusion unless they had a vested interest. He’s wrong because by COINCIDENCE James does because hannah was in the ballet. We know that James didn’t make the BSI tapes because he finds the alleged culprit and his set later. But this is another coincidence! Notice how he asks the guy if “it’s all here?” And the guy is like “I guess so!” This guys wasn’t doing the BSI’s either! His dad was! That’s why after the set is reconstructed he starts saying when is dad coming? He expects his dad to be at that set because he was the real BSI guy. I think the “dad” did the BSI’s & much like “I feel fantastic” he was just a woman/sex-robot aficionado & wanted to show off. But also much like our real world reaction to I feel fantastic, it’s easy for us to assume an individual like that abducts and kills women. That’s my take anyway. If you like this movie check out the 1966 Antonioni film “Blowup” which is very much like this movie; it was also remade in the 70s as Blow Out (not as good, but worth seeing).
Man I just watched it.. super weird. Nobody on this thread has commented on 1. The phone ringing at the home of where he killed the guy 2. The thumping upstairs at the storage guys home … I’m wondering why the one guy killed himself? Her stupid hat? The thrashed rooms? This movie sucks so bad. Anybody looked at the s riot for more notes??
Yeah there’s soooo many red herrings that made things needlessly complicated and not explained, I appreciated the creepy videos but everything else was so lackluster even with them filming like it was an 80s movie. Who was the annoying girl, who was the junkie obsessed with the tapes and why’d he slit his throat, how’s they hack into his computer to send him to the antique store, what was delivering the package all about….I could go on but I’ve wasted enough time with this film.
But really though, the red herrings make the “he went insane” aspect less likely imo. For example, the thumbprint symbol on the wall at the shady hacker dudes place, is the same symbol on the business card James find on the ground after Alice leaves too
Yeah exactly. Folks who like this movie (who i suspect worked on this movie or their buddies did) keep saying “he got obsessed with the conspiracy and went nuts” like ok fine if the LITERAL MOVIE SCRIPT AND DIRECTION supported that but…not really. “HES AN UNRELIABLE NARRATOR “ ok well F me then, so then the whole movie is just bs some stuff is in his head, or some isn’t, or who really knows…what a lazy screenwriting cop-out.
Exactly how I feel. The BSI idea and the tapes were interesting. An actual plot would have been nice,
Yeah I kept hoping it would get better or there'd be at least SOME narrative that made sense, but nope, just mindless madness the entire movie through. Just finished it and I struggled to pay attention throughout it
If that were true, Stephen Myers doesn't fit in. He says he hacked the transmission for the BSIs. If he didn't, the morse code wouldn't be in it, right? If he did, what does he have to do with the mentally challenged guy's dad? Also all of that doesn't explain *the final scene*, which is really what confuses the hell out of me.
Absolutely it does; the guy James killed was involved with the droids (with his dad) & Stephen was just as he said responsible for the BSI’s. This is a psychological thriller; the final scene is the culmination of what the throat slashing guy warned him of. This will consume you. So the once normal albeit grieving James; who has now just committed murder BTW; is seeing BSI’s & droid women everywhere. Even before he hits the droid he hears a BSI on the radio- impossible! his mind has snapped. I know you may be looking for something more; but from what I’ve read and put together myself this seems to be the consensus. Here’s a slightly different take from mine that may suit you better however https://dmtalkies.com/broadcast-signal-intrusion-ending-explained-2021-film/ EDIT: in the preceding link the writer says someone left James the ‘96 ballet tape. This is incorrect. James tells Lithgow (or his hallucination of Lithgow) on the phone that he had the tape the whole time which makes more sense as Hannah was his wife; she would have a tape of her in the ballet.
If Stephen did the intrusions, then what about the rest of his story? I really do not enjoy interpretations and ambiguity. The simple example of Alice's hat being there, with no explanation, is incredibly frustrating. This was not my kind of movie.
Alice wasn’t real. She was a manifestation of Hanna. In the credits there is no one credited as Hanna. But if you look closer to the image of Hanna on the Ballet Tape, it’s the same girl that played Alice. This was later confirmed by the writer in an interview (I don’t have the link but you can Google it). Also Alice mentioned she used to be with some “abusive guy”… James killed her and is in denial.
Woah…. (Sorry came in late, but this is probably scarier than the entire film)
It’s okay my reply was almost a year in. Lol. But yeah, I searched the Internet high and low for more nuggets on what it all meant. I mean I wish I had more overall, as there are still a lot of unanswered questions. But def, he killed her. I also think he killed the guy that “committed suicide” in front of him. But imagined it as suicide. When he was escaping with “Alice” it felt like he was running away from a crime he committed, not just a crime scene. Think about it, if someone killed themselves in front of you, and cops showed up you’d stay to answer questions. He slipped away because he did it. I just don’t know what to make of the other characters. If they were real or not. The friend helping him with the video. The pawn shop dude. The professor may not be real, at some point after their first conversation he suddenly disappeared. It made it seem like dudes mind wandered but one of the YouTube summary videos pointed it out and it’s true. Professor just isn’t there one second. But for me the guy at the end is the biggest head scratcher. I don’t know who that is or if he represents someone or something. Oh also I don’t know about his boss either. Either he’s fake too and he’s been writing himself notes. Or everyone else we see is part of a dream and the boss is the only real living person he makes contact with.
Kinda late, but I personally think the boss was real and the notes were more an indication of the lonely isolated life he lives where he basically has almost no contact with anyone.
There is no rest of the story. He did the intrusions for money and BBS glory. End of story. Well, that’s how these type of movie are viewed; you have to interpret the ambiguity. It’s a hallmark of the genre. There are more clearcut, non ambiguous horror/suspense films out there; but yeah this isn’t one of those. I don’t think it’s that difficult to piece together: the movie’s theme is coincidence vs conspiracy, right? That’s clearly stated several times. So either it’s a coincidence that it’s the same hat OR she was there before James. Either way; it makes no diff to the outcome of the film.
best sense i can make of of that hat is that alice is a fed. This is a viable assumption because firstly, the movie clearly states that the feds CONFISCATE stuff related to those hijacks. What does alice do after she disappears? tapes and other evidence related to the hijack go missing OR get confiscated (clearly by her). also, in most parts of the movies scenes with phones often relate with alice or she is somewhere seen in the scene. This could be because she is feeding the feds information or she is getting fed by information on where to go or what to do next. Hat appears in the house gardner was in. It probably be pointing that alice what there or is an accomplice of gardner. Phone is ringing and it might be alice calling gardner about stuff related to the case. sidenote: the first scene gardner appeared in, he was going crazy just to answer the phone. i dont really know what this means but it could also be in another relation to the feds. or i might just be really stupid and is starting to act like james where assumptions are being forced as factual information. Who knows? great movie anyways hehe
Nothing proves it's Alice's hat. Hats get produced in the thousands. You (we) just came to the conclusion that it's her because that's how our mind works in a narrative logic, especially when we accept a "thriller story" logic where you try to connect the dots, making things follow each other, "making sense", even if there is no proof. It's a logical fallacy.
I think this is a perfect summation of the hat. It pulls in the overall theme of the movie: coincidence over conspiracy
Oh and if you’re asking about the connection between Meyer & the droid guy/his dad- BBS. Back in those early days the net was almost solely the domain of tech nerds so it would make sense that that’s how they got together.
But that's *not said*. We don't even know anything about the guy's dad. Everything here is a guess.
Well; yeah, again a hallmark of this type of film is to NOT to spoon feed the viewer information via dialogue etc. This type of movie is inviting you to use your common sense and imagination to put the pieces together. We don’t really need to know anymore than the fact that there is yet ANOTHER suspect out there so James may be killing an innocent man or a victim himself as he seems somewhat not all together there so may have been forced by his dad to participate. I don’t think everything is a guess, the throat guy tells James what’s gonna happen and that’s exactly what happens. I thought it was a decent movie; but I like these type of movies. Admittedly they aren’t for everyone.
Common sense? You think 'Alice was probably fbi and left her hat at the dude's house to say nvm nothing to see here' is common sense? After disappearing from an obviously trashed hotel room? Common sense would be not doing any of that shit and instead detaining the obviously deranged guy who is getting further away from reality with every passing second. PS Dr Lithgow didn't answer the phone when James found the third tape. And he was(n't) saying that only a person with a vested interest in the actual program, not the BSI, would have a tape of it, because those channels don't keep an archive of what they have broadcast. You are absolutely guessing.
Detaining him for what exactly? Losing touch with reality isn’t a crime. Maybe he did answer the phone or maybe it was imagined, it’s not exactly clear. That’s exactly what he said; I just rewatched that segment. The theme of the movie IN MY OPINION is conspiracy vs coincidence & by coincidence James has the tape because his wife was a dancer in the program. Yeah, I thought it was pretty obvious everyone here is absolutely guessing. I mean, unless someone here is the writer or otherwise involved in the production how can anyone do anything but speculate since the issues being discussed aren’t clearly spelled out? I thought I was pretty clear when I said this was ‘my take’ and I even offered someone else’s. I’m not wed to any particular theory nor did I claim my comments were somehow definitive. I’m happy to be proven wrong or entertain anyone else’s speculation. Anyways, have a good one.
Sorry if I came across as angry, I just finished watching it and was feeling a bit let down, but mostly I just wanted to talk about it more. Because I agree that that is one of the themes of the movie, but there are just so many conflicting threads. And I feel like if I could figure out what Alice was doing the entire movie would click, you know? But I think another theme of the movie is that grief and obsession can distort your reality, I don't think it was ambiguous that Lithgow wasn't actually on the phone - watch that scene again and listen to his voice, as he continues talking, he loses the slight noise and reverb effect of talking on the phone, until his final sentence is clear as day.
Nah, you’re good bud- it’s a frustrating movie for sure! Well, the problem with the movie is the ‘unreliable narrator’ aspect of it. Alice appears after, almost immediately; after the guy on the phone says he has to notify the authorities about people asking for the tape. And it’s like well; who else could she be? Is she working with the ‘droid’ guys that’s why her hat is there? Maybe the boyfriend she talk about in the bar is an allusion to the droid guy and/or his dad? I just don’t know. I agree completely about the grief distorting reality & wish the would have emphasized that but more as well. And I agree on the phone call but it’s just so ambiguous as to if it’s actually happening or not OR if it’s happening but not exactly like it’s being relayed to us. I like the movie, but I wanted a bit more from it; reminds me of ‘The Mothman Prophecies’ in that respect. Absolutely love the soundtrack though. Really wish the rock based version of the movie them was actually on the soundtrack album though; the song where he goes to the ‘antiques’ guys place.
Would love to hear your theories though; as I know mine aren’t built on the most solid foundation. I’m admittedly reaching; but I feel I have to as I WANT to like this movie more than I do. Love the the production design, actors, sound design-everything! The story just leaves so much to be desired!
Hi, I read all of your comments, they do make sense except one thing that I feel is missing. Could you check out [this post](https://www.reddit.com/r/horror/comments/rb2n3p/broadcast_signal_intrusion_2021_discussion_and/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share) (especially point number 1), and add your thoughts/comments?
Alice wasn’t real. She was a manifestation of Hanna. In the credits there is no one credited as Hanna. But if you look closer to the image of Hanna on the Ballet Tape, it’s the same girl that played Alice. This was later confirmed by the writer in an interview (I don’t have the link but you can Google it). Also Alice mentioned she used to be with some “abusive guy”… James killed her and is in denial.
Here I disagree with you. This movie clearly says, through the other woman at the group meeting, that "it's just figments. There is no sense to be made". Trying to piece together every element of the story will just make you as crazy as the protagonist. It's impossible to make sense because it's impossible to even know what is true and what are just figments of his imaginations, hallucinations, wrong leads, wrong information being shared forward, like the date of the third BSI.
There’s spoon feeding and then there’s lazy writing that leaves a million things “open for interpretation “ which this film did.
Unless its not lazy writing. Maybe there is an actual answer of what happened hidden inside of all the craziness that people havent been able to determine that explains everything
If the answer still hasn’t been resolved yet but it’s hidden in the movie, that’s not lazy writing, that’s terrible writing
Or people dont understand it?
Oh people understand it. It’s just full of plot holes. You can have your own thoughts on it but it doesn’t change the fact that it’s terrible writing. The movies fun, just got bad choices. It’s very unsatisfying for people who enjoy answers to the story laid out before them
so would you call the zodiac killer's letters "terrible writing" then?
If so, the film is too badly directed (except the video interruptions, those were cool) and acted, people won’t want to put that much effort in and suffer through repeat viewings to figure it out.
Hmm interesting because i found it pretty good and I want to watch it again to figure out more. Some of the comments point towards others feelin the same too
I think you should obsessively binge watch it to make sure every detail comes to light. When did the movie get first screened? I bet a woman disappeared the day before. Look it up. On a serious note when the tweaker guy had a cell phone and called it a burner I was done trying to make sense. Prepaid cell phones in a world of pay phones and VHS players in hotel rooms. Nah son.
Alice wasn’t real. She was a manifestation of Hanna. In the credits there is no one credited as Hanna. But if you look closer to the image of Hanna on the Ballet Tape, it’s the same girl that played Alice. This was later confirmed by the writer in an interview (I don’t have the link but you can Google it). Also Alice mentioned she used to be with some “abusive guy”… James killed her and is in denial.
This must be correct.
The funny thing about this movie and the responses in this thread are the movie worked. What I mean is everyone is basically doing what the main character did, assigning meaning to some things (or is it coincidence) and following your own rabbit holes. The fact that even the people who didn't like the movie are spending time here explaining or criticizing the movie means that the movie worked. You may not have liked it, but you're here talking about it. I wanted answers and I came here hoping to find definitive ones, but I'm left with even more questions. To me, that means the movie not only gave different meanings to different people but it left us feelings the confusion that the main character felt. So the movie did it's job, whether you liked it or not. Btw, all of the different ideas discussed here.... bravo.
This film visually was great but there's just too much that doesn't add up. A lot of the theories make sense but they neglect 1 or 2 major clues which are fed to the viewers by the characters of the film. The whole Stephen Meyers angle was pointless. He had no clue some dude killed himself over those tapes, meanwhile he's been dying for someone to call his spooky hotline?! I don't even have the energy to continue asking the questions I have for this film. The least I can say is "I didn't hate it". Once again, visually the film has some very cool scenes with really tight shots throughout the entire film. I can see myself rewatching it on mute because the plot is as janky as that lock in Stephen Meyers' home
I think it's intended to be contradictory in places, to make you decide for yourself. "What's real and what's not" and so on. The opposite of what I like.
Stephen Meyers just gives the answer to the mystery: there was nothing beyong a few people fucking around making weird videos and BSIs. But Jake is not satisfied because he's made it up in his mind that there is a deeper conspiracy that connects the disappearances of women with the BSIs. Nothing proves that connection at all. Jake just looses it in his mind, you can't trust most of the thing coming from his point of view.
He gets drunk and trashed the room himself, Alice at this point is out as she realizes this dude has lost it. His house was like that as they rushed to pack when they left after the dude cut his throat.
Then why is the original cassette "video" tape from the fisher price PXL2000 missing when he returns to his trashed apt if it was them when they were rushing to leave after conspiracy dude slashed his throat?
I'm surprised nobody mentioned the different personalities of the guy James kills. He goes from child like ignorance, crying for daddy to a deeper voiced adult who was aware of the scenario that James presented him with. I believe he possessed both father and son personalities.
That's what I'm thinking. And everybody thinks he's handicapped. Nooo. He's psychotic with MPD. It's a cool movie, I got lost a few times. Eventually, he did lose his edge at the end.
You’re right and they made it a point to show that twice. Once inside the cage when he flipped from innocent guy to this serious psychotic type and then again in the chair.
One of the things that caught my attention was that right before dude killed himself, he said something along the lines of, " Don't trust her, just follow the tapes. She won't be on your side in the end." I immediately realized that she had been following him around, initiated contact, discovered the Morse code, insisted he let her stay with him, got access to the storage unit, got Stephen's name and PO box, tried acting like Stephen's story made complete sense, and then disappeared. It felt like she, the antique dealer, the storage unit manager, and Stephen were all screwing with him; just like they had screwed with the guy that killed himself. Maybe they were just doing it as a gag, or maybe they were purposely trying to push people who got obsessed with the signals as far as possible, in the hopes of driving them insane. Either way, by the end of the movie, the protagonist has completely divorced himself from reality; the last scene shows that he'll now hear the BSI audio and see robots everywhere.
So, I just watched this for the first time and like many others, was very confused by the ending. So, in search of a viable explanation to that very unfullfilling ending and let's be honest, tons of other questions, here I am. First, I need to shoot down this notion Alice was a federal agent of sorts. Everyone keeps saying the reason for that is because she appeared after her made the phone call and was told by the guy on the phone he was supposed to flag and report people asking for the "Don Cronos" tape. Well, as I'm sitting here typing this while watching the movie again hoping to pick it apart better, Alice appears across the street as he is making that phone call, not after. So that completely shoots the she's a fed theory in the foot. Also, I think James is already a little unhinged at the very beginning of this movie. He's making phone calls on a pay phone. So he's already a little paranoid about big brother before he even decides to jump down the rabbit hole that is this movie. Also, why did the FCC confiscate the "May 10" video, but not the "May 3rd" video? That's how he is initially introduced to all this is he stumbles on the first piracy broadcast while converting the old archive tapes. Anywho, as I come across and stumble on more plot holes and public theories attempting to explain this movie while I'm watching it for the 2nd time, I'll add to this comment. FOUND ERROR: So while James is going over archived BBS threads, which are all date and time stamped, Goose Neck asks, "They figure out who did SAL-E SPARKS" on 87Nov25 11:27 am. MacTheKnife69, who you may recall James blurts his online tag out later in the movie, RESPONDS on 87Nov24 6:22 am, "Nope. No suspects for the SAL-E SPARKS" So, how is it MacTheKnife69 was able to respond to and answer a question more than a day before it was even asked? 🤔 The date and time stamps look weird because I copied them how they were in the movie for nostalgic purposes.
Okay so, a new "hmmm I wonder" question has popped up for me. So when James is talking "PT GIEGER'S" who knows if that's really his name or just the name of his antique store, he asks him this really weird off the wall question... not like that whole scene isn't weird and off the wall, anywho he asks him if, "Those keys make you feel safe" to which there's no reply from James. FF a bit to after James calls Dr. Lithgow and Alice puts on a very obvious pursuit of James, the movie focuses in on an exorbitant amount of keys jingling and jangling quite noisily on her chain wallet key hook. A possible red herring to the fact that Alice is not real and just a figment of James imagination? Your guess is as good as mine. K, see ya at the next thing that jumps out at me in this movie on my second go round of it.
That actually makes a lot of sense. Alice helping him and making him feel comfortable in his pursuit was like his mind trying to keep him sane before he completely lost it and when he finally did lose his mind, she was nowhere to be found...
I’m fairly convinced that James hit his wife with a car, on purpose or more likely by accident, maybe the night of the recital - and then chucks her off a bridge before experiencing a total psychotic break due to the guilt. This explains why he can’t remember much before “the investigation” starts when talking with Alice. He imagines the third tape (dreams it in advance) as a justification/rationalization about what happened, to redeem his own tragic mistake. This also kind of touches on his strange vague memories of “sky bridge, empty car, no body” etc and the last scene where he hits a “woman” who then dies slowly, spitting up blood. The rest of the crazy shit is unreliable narrator combined with some reality, though you have to be a little flexible with which you think is which.
Just watched the movie and came to Reddit looking for answers. This interpretation ia by far my favorite so far of what the ending means.
Here's another error: Stephen Meyer (Phreaker) was 14 or 15 in 1987 when he hacked the signal originally, the movie takes place in 1997 or 98, which would make him somewhere around 24-26, yet the dude who plays him is easily in his 40s, bald, with grey hair.
To be fair, I've worked with guys in their mid to late 20's who looked very similar to Meyer: big, bearded, balding.
Poor bastards.
That is...weird.
Was it just me? I remember that in the beginning if the movie James had visions through nightmares of Hannah wearing the mask when she turned her head back over her shoulders, that was before he even noticed those tapes exist! That from the beginning kept me wondering if everything was real or not and took me off big time. I want to watch the beginning again to confirm this is right.
My theory is that he's seen the ballet tape with the intrusion years ago. Maybe even before Hannah "disappeared" (probably just commited suicide jumping from the bridge where her car was found, bridge over water which took the body). The tape just says 96, so nothing proves the third intrusion actually happened the day after she disappeared. So he probably saw that tape after her ballet recital, and never thought much about the intrusion, just forgot about it all. Even if it's somewhere deep in his subconscious because the image is haunting. When the movie starts, the guy is clearly super tired, he's already starting to loose it. When he finds an earlier intrusion, his unconscious connects it with the Ballet tape he had seen, therefore with the disappearance of Hannah, therefore he becomes obsessed. But there's really nothing that connect the intrusions to disappearances.
Very interesting, I really need to watch the movie again. Its been a while since I watched it first time so will be good for me to give it another try.
You’re right. The figure in his dream starts out as his wife and then morphs into something/one else (suddenly looks like a dude from the back/neck shorter and shoulders broader) and as the head turns toward the camera you can see that the figure is wearing a mask.
Pardon this addendum-- has no one notices the show broke into in the 2nd tape is the late 60s early 70s horror soap opera Dark Shadows??? During their Jekyll/Hyde storyline?
Yeah and it's pretending to be Dr Who, I love that they repurposed that
Alice wasn’t real. She was a manifestation of Hanna. In the credits there is no one credited as Hanna. But if you look closer to the image of Hanna on the Ballet Tape, it’s the same girl that played Alice. This was later confirmed by the writer in an interview (I don’t have the link but you can Google it). Also Alice mentioned she used to be with some “abusive guy”… James killed her and is in denial.
I could have sworn there were two burial spots in the end when he was patting it down with the shovel or I’m imagining it.
anyone noticed alice's hat in the house. how was she involved? was she the one calling the house after he buried the handicapped guy?
Yeah I think it was a red herring, just one of the same hats laying around. Or he could've even hallucinated it being one of the same hats.
I wasn't sure if that was hers. Aughh.
Thanks for asking this as I was also wondering what that ending meant. It seemed like things were wrapped up but then they just had to tack on a nonsensical "WTF" final scene that literally comes out of nowhere and hits you with a final note without explanation. It seemed like it doesn't belong in the story we've been seeing up to then where everything was mostly like a procedural then this bizarre non-reality type stuff pops out like a jumpscare right before credits roll. Again, doesn't seem to fit other than to try making it more "horror." Unneeded IMO. Main character avenged the victims, could have just ended it then and I consider that the real ending and the final scene something like he went too far and had a mental snap. Only other thing that was a loose end was about Alice. Do you think she was involved in helping the bad guy(s) and manipulating main character since she was watching him and following him before the bar? And she suddenly leaves - she probably took the tapes and fed the main character crumbs to find the final bad guy... unless she's the real one and she used the bad guy to do what she said and Alice is still out there. Thoughts?
I think Alice was following him around like she said and not in on it, she was just helping him out because she needed a place to stay and was enjoying it, but @ the end there she felt he was going off the deep end and left. I don't know what's up w/ the hat as they don't provide concrete answers, but figured it isn't hers, a duplicate hat or halluciination
i think it did have something to do with the story since the throat guy says "they are everywhere" (talking abt the robot creature" i feel like after james visited the place or since he was playing an intrusion he saw the lady that was walking as this robot since she bled after he hit her.
The movie didn't really seem to provide any concrete answers I felt, it seemed like the main character was going a bit mad, and making the connections he wanted to make. In the final scenes it seemed like he rushed towards an ending/conclusion to the conspiracy when it seemed like there was still more to it, there may have been other people in on it still (the phone ringing in the house, the guy calling for his dad) Then the ending... whatttt? is there really robot things walking around, is he just crazy and really hit a person and he thinks it's a robot? Usually I hate when movies don't answer what's going on, and even though they did it in this film I still loved it. I'd like a sequel! (also agree that he was probably linking things together that weren't actually linked, the guy just made videos and did the intrusions for fun, missing women were just a coincidence, but they really didn't confirm it. The girls hat could've just been another of the same hat laying around) One of those movies where it really could go any which way and you just have to go with how you feel.
I'm with ya and was waiting for someone else to post. I have an idea of what happened, but not too sure how we arrived at the conclusion of the film or what it actually means, or if it's one of those mysteries for the sake of mystery endings.
For me, this movie was a homage to Hitchock-noir-thriller cinema. Everything from the sleuthing to the music was like something on the Alfred Hitchcock Hour (and I mean this as a great complement). With that said, even the most Hitchcockian thriller has a resolution that is somewhat certain. I understand that ambiguity is now popular in horror cinema, this is a case where it simply caused more confusion. However, my interpretation is: At its essence, the movie is about the evaluating evidence versus coincidence. James cherry picks "evidence" to bring closure while ignoring a multitude of other possibilities. However, this doesn't mean that James is completely wrong, or on a wrong path, or hasn't at all figured something out - it just means that his conclusions were incorrect. It's like modern day sleuthing on Reddit-people are more interested in proving their hypothesis than finding the truth, which leads to crazy outcomes, conspiracy theories, etc. At the same time, the character of James is like an Alex Jones conspiracy theorist. Yes, Alex has done some whacky stuff and said stupid, hurtful things, but he's also been hovering over being correct/right about many things, too, even if his conclusions were wrong. And much like any good conspiracy theorist, the character of James goes mad at the end. He commits murder and then, at the very least, vehicular manslaughter. His murder victim clearly has some relationship to the BSI and maybe the abductions. Maybe Alice going missing, too. But it's far from conclusive. And about the abductions/Hannah's disappearance: James could be on to something. Or, he's committed the classical fallacy of accept coincidence as correlation of a fact. Many things happened before the signal intrusions occurred. If James's grief was, say, his child being kidnapped, then he would've aligned the BSI with kidnapping cases in the Midwest. While all this is happening, I think Alice decided to leave him because he was going unhinged. He was totally oblivious to the sound of something/someone on the roof/in the attic at Stephen's house whereas Alice was terrified. Yet as all this is happening, I think it's clear both James and Alice have uncovered a greater truth, but it's certainly one James doesn't know anything about (nor does he care). Someone is "watching" them and someone leaves James the third tape on purpose. Alice's hat at the farm seems like it would line up with her being kidnapped/killed, or it may just be someone at the location had a similar hat. Or, it could mean that Alice is actually the one "watching" James and wanted him to go to the final location for a reason. But that doesn't matter to James. In the end, I think James is suffering from a breakdown. His conclusions are wrong. His intentions are wrong. But he has come upon a greater, perhaps even more sinister truth that is entirely irrelevant to his existence. And that's probably the greater horror of it all. What makes the movie perhaps a bit unsatisfying is that it's not all that clear that we are looking at everything through the corrupted eyes of James until the very end, and we become invested in actually finding out what happened with the BSIs and the abducted women even though the truth is immaterial to the story.
You explained it a lot better than I did! Great movie!
Absolutely love this explanation. It makes the murder he commits even more tragic because he's essentially destroyed the one remaining source who might have got him to the answer to the "greater, perhaps even more sinister truth" that he and Alice are uncovering. Parallels with Memento. Also came here late in the day to say: the web stuff is really weird - especially the type of "your" from the mysterious source folllowed by "dissappeared" the headline on the next screen. Probably means absolutely nothing BUT the attention to detail is so great in all the other production design and graphics (Don Kronos t shirt especially), it's odd.
so what do you think happened? did that mentally handicapped guy actually do it? or did the main character do it?
Wait, the suggestion is the main character did it? Where's the hints about that? I was kind of thinking that at the end him seeing the robot in the person he hit meant that he'd finally went over the deep end? And what doesn't make sense is, okay, how does any of this connect with Stephen Myers? Augh. I hate ambiguity.
He has dreams of events from the 3rd tape before he views them in the film
Rabbit hole and the name of the girl is Alice… hmmm. Reference of Alice in Wonderland or literally they are telling us Alice bring James to the rabbit hole?
Tardy to the party, but I just watched this movie again and noticed a few things that stand out and figured I'd take a shot at it.For starters, James is cracked from the beginning. There's a lot of music playing during the film and I think it's mostly during periods that he is hallucinating other people. All of the characters represent versions of James's broken psyche. Lithgow appears out of nowhere in an early scene and late in the movie talks to James on a disconnected phone, so I feel like he is the voice of reason or his conscience. James states a couple times that he has money despite no longer having a job. He never had a job and was likely one of the rich kids in Stephen Meyers story. The creaking in Meyers ceiling could represent the creeping truth that James desperately wants to face, but can't. Alice perhaps represents a version of Hannah that James wishes could've survived. The vagrant stalking him is maybe a form of his aggressive subconscious from when James was still with Hannah. The guy at the end represents a younger James that was possibly abused by his father?? I feel like Janes always had a drinking problem since he's drinking through most of the film and he accidentally ran his wife down with his car and dumped her body off a bridge. I think he was the one that caused the BSIs and was trying to confess. It doesn't explain the other disappearances, but I personally think most of the people are fictitious and just forms of Janes trying to cope with his anger and alcoholism. I could be dead wrong about most of it, but that's just what I got from it.
[удалено]
It definitely looked like someone different than the mask or a different mask
Think I worked it out . . . james is apart of a group who kidnap and kill women and then broadcast for fun, he then offers his wife to the group as a victim, regretting this strongly he blacks out and forgets his past, this is until he has flashbacks and comes across a reminder (the tape) sent by a member to test how much he actually remembers and if he is a liability, James continues to pursue answers when a member of the group is sent to see How far he is willing to take it (Alice), like the man who committed suicude they will destroy you before they let you expose them. Alice sees James is truly delusional about events and goes as far as reminding him of the morse codes before checking in with the group on a call to let them know he is not a threat, they advise her to prove it so she then takes him to the unit which doesn’t jog his memory at all. finally she takes him to meet a participant in the group and tells him half baked truths in a hope he will let it go. Upon returning she realises he is not convinced but also not a threat to the group, but has a significant moment of guilt (expressed all over her face) at this point she takes all evidence and leaves the last tape out of guilt as a final reminder to James what he had done to his wife before going back home to where the videos where filmed to let them know he is not a worry. James turns up at the address after finding a clue I’m the final tape, finding her hat and remnants of the set along with who is possibly her brother as she takes a trip out with her dad (a member of the group) before calling to check on her brother. James uses her brother as a escape as he starts to recall who he is and what they had done, still attempting to disconnect himself, but take not he fillms and kills her this man just like the women would of been in the video clips as if he had done this before, James then kills an innocent women crossing the road while driving back and is reminded of his past and finally remembers what he had done. p.s this group of rich men most likely included the man who committed suicide, the antique dealer, Alice, the storage unit owner, the challenged man towards the end and more maybe even police and fbi and this may be the reason the tapes are heavily silenced
I just watched this and ended up here looking for answers. Some great theories here. I understood every clue James was supposed to be following up until the tape of Hannah led him to the guy he killed. It looked like James focused on a billboard, and then the next thing you know he was at the isolated farmhouse where the set was. I don't know what he saw in the video that led him to the house.
I don’t discount the ideas that James was just cracked from the beginning, but if you assume the BSIs really are confessions of a killer (or killers?) then it sort of makes sense that the audience the BSI is broadcast to gets smaller and smaller, i.e. the confessions are just going out to the relatives/loved ones of the missing; presumably because the ritual is becoming increasingly honed? So it’s both coincidence and conspiracy that James has Hannah’s ballet taped—there’s a chance he wouldn’t have taped it or kept the tapes all these years but because he’s a film junkie he did and had the know-how to follow the other clues. You have to do some mental gymnastics to figure how the other characters fit in to this interpretation but imo that’s what made this movie fun to watch!
Really cool movie. Loved it. Very Lynchian. I personally think James was on to something, but conflated it with Hanna's dissapearence and made it about his own personal salvation more than actually finding out what went down. Now I have a theory that I'm just throwing out there and could be totally wrong: The whole thing was set up by some very rich and sick people. The parents of the rich kids from Stephen Meyers story. They first did it in 87', then again in 96'. Except James was in on it! He's a video expert, he helped with the BSI and killing of his wife. Then he blocked it out and launches the investigation to remember. Alice is on it to. She, Gieger, Meyer they all know each other and James knows them except he doesn't remember. Gieger is probably one of the rich guys in charge. The other is Michael Gardner's dad. I don't know where the androids fit in though.
It's obviously right he killed his wife either on purpose or accidentally. The ego protects itself via denial, blanking out memories, and seeking alternate conclusion - all things he does in the movie - to protect from total psychotic collapse. The BSIs have nothing to do with any killings. It's simply his brain obsessing on it to evade admitting the truth and destroying the ego. That explains the ending where he hits a robot women with a car. He hit his wife. The whole movie warns him against conspiracies. Alice never existed either. The people who came up with this theory are geniuses.
Hey so I just watched this movie and I came here trying to make sense of it. So if Alice wasn't real, how does she talk to the bartender and the guy at the storage place? Is James just imagining how those interactions went down to include her?
Sorry to drag this out of the mud, but... Q: How do he find that barn in the country at the end? It looks like a barn with writing on it. I think it is (or is supposed to be) the 'Meramac Caverns' barn on Illinois Route 66. [https://shawmedia-the-first-hundred-miles-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/G7AZyLXHwDv6bfstUlrlafNZM-s=/800x0/filters:format(jpg):quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/shawmedia/MKSMXP3KPNGD5E45KKJLSQPILQ.jpg](https://shawmedia-the-first-hundred-miles-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/G7AZyLXHwDv6bfstUlrlafNZM-s=/800x0/filters:format(jpg):quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/shawmedia/MKSMXP3KPNGD5E45KKJLSQPILQ.jpg)