Signal One — Signal One(VOD)
Signal One (2026) is a science fiction thriller written and directed by Jonathan Sobol(The Art of the Steal, The Baker), arriving on UK VOD on 15 June via Signature Entertainment. The film stars Isabelle Fuhrman (Orphan: First Kill) as Annika Kask, a brilliant computer scientist who is recruited by tech billionaire Sam Houston (Dennis Quaid, The Substance) to join his private facility on a remote Caribbean island. Also starring Josh Hutcherson (The Hunger Games) as Charlie Kaminsky and David Thewlis (Avatar) as Perry Glassner, the nihilistic creator of LITTLEMOUTH, a machine capable of communicating with alien intelligence.
The opening introduces us to two sisters, Clara and Annika, discussing space and what lies beyond the universe. One of them dies after releasing a glow bug from a jar they'd collected. It's an intimate, haunting start that sets up what is to come nicely. We jump to the present, where Sam Houston is on stage giving a talk about what's actually out there. He discusses visionaries, people who see things no one else does, and he points out Annika in the audience, recognising her as the first person to film dark matter. Within just seven minutes, the real point of the film arrives. He offers her a job: a one-year contract in a lab on a remote island in the Caribbean. His pitch is simple: he wants to know what is down here, instead of up there. She seems hesitant, but he must win her over because in the next scene, she's on a boat headed to the island. She's joined by Charlie, who's there to find aliens, while she's under the impression that she's not there for that at all.
They arrive at the island and meet the others, including Dr Perry Glassner, a rather bitter man with a miserly energy who starts explaining what they're actually there for. And here's the thing: I'm no sci-fi fan. Not at all. But the questions the film throws out, questions I often think about, made me invested right there. Quantum physics doesn't go over your head. It's clear. It makes sense. Within 18 minutes, what they're saying about the science hasn't confused me, so it is one of those films where you don’t need to be a secret genius to enjoy it. It all becomes pretty clear why they've been picked, what their specialised skills are, and how they fit into this project.
The way the background stories of each character are woven through the storyline is brilliant. You understand why Perry has all that anger. You learn about the reasons for his bitterness and everyone else's reasons for being there. I like that approach; it doesn't feel forced. By the halfway point, I'm on the edge of my seat because this is absolutely fascinating stuff. You know something is going to go terribly wrong, but what? The questions in my head are: ‘Is this really happening somewhere in the world? What would happen if we interfered too much? Would this happen to us?’
What happens next, I'm not going to spoil, but something makes contact. The unexpected things that follow keep you guessing. The military gets involved. There's a showdown. They all get arrested. Things escalate in ways you genuinely don't see coming.
The acting is done extremely well. It's well written. The filming is done well. You root for all the characters, even the ones you don't particularly like. And here's what really gets me: it doesn't answer questions, it raises them. It's a theory, but completely believable. It makes you scared and comforts you at the same time. The ending's explanation of humans being a flawed species is captured and put across so well. It's one of those situations where no matter what the theory or the story told, anyone could be right and anyone could be wrong. Signal One wrecked my brain. It really did