Year: 2021
Runtime: 104 min
Language: English
Director: Jacob Gentry
While archiving recovered television signals, video archivist James discovers a bizarre and recurring anomaly. His investigation into the strange broadcasts leads him down a path of obsession, blurring the lines between reality and paranoia. As he tries to decipher the cryptic signals, James grapples with the possibility that they reveal unsettling secrets or that he is being targeted by an unknown entity.
Warning: spoilers below!
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Read the complete plot breakdown of Broadcast Signal Intrusion (2021), including all key story events, major twists, and the ending explained in detail. Discover what really happened—and what it all means.
James, a dedicated video archivist, is deeply haunted by the mysterious disappearance of his wife, Hannah, which happened three years ago. To cope with his grief, he immerses himself in his work, meticulously digitizing old broadcast tapes for a local television station during the night hours. One evening, as he reviews footage, he stumbles upon something unsettling: a strange broadcast signal intrusion disrupting normal programming. The footage features a figure wearing a distorted white rubber mask, speaking in a garbled, unintelligible voice. The visuals send a chill down his spine, stirring a profound sense of unease and curiosity within him.
Driven by this disturbing discovery, James begins an intense investigation into the origin of these broadcast intrusions. He uncovers a series of similar signal disturbances that occurred decades earlier—in late 1987 and early 1990—cases that remain unresolved. Even more sinisterly, these incidents are linked to the disappearances of several women, one of whom strongly resembles Hannah. This realization heightens his obsession, transforming his initial curiosity into a personal mission to uncover the truth behind these mysterious events.
His inquiries lead him to a network of eccentric and secretive individuals. Among them is a former FCC investigator named Dr. Stuart Lithgow, whom James contacts in hopes of gaining insight. As he gathers clues, including decoding Morse messages, analyzing odd audio signals, and noting embedded phone numbers within the tapes, James begins to believe that the videos are part of a larger, sinister message. There’s a rumormongered group called the “Nite Pirates,” potentially responsible for those earlier broadcasts and perhaps connected to the current intrusions. Dr. Lithgow, however, dismisses James’s suspicions, claiming the case had been abandoned and considered too complex to resolve.
Throughout his journey, James encounters Alice, a mysterious young woman with her own troubled past, who temporarily joins him in his quest. Together, they navigate a maze of clues buried in the disturbing footage, escalating the tension and danger. As their cooperation deepens, James’s mental state begins to unravel; paranoia manifests as hallucinations of masked figures from the tapes, and he becomes increasingly convinced he’s being watched. Just when he begins to believe he’s close to the truth, Alice suddenly vanishes without explanation, leaving him more isolated and desperate.
His pursuit of answers eventually leads him to an abandoned farmhouse, believed to be the origin point of a third, unknown intrusion tape. Inside, James encounters Michael Gardiner, a man exhibiting signs of severe mental instability and potentially linked to the broadcast intrusions. James, fully consumed by his obsession, attempts to recreate the hijacked setting from the original broadcast, even restraining Michael and forcing him to reenact the scene while wearing the same mask as the victims. The act aims to get a confession, but whether Michael is truly responsible remains ambiguous. In a final act of desperation, James kills Michael, convinced he has uncovered the mastermind behind the videos—and possibly, his wife’s disappearance.
As James drives away from the farmhouse, the hallucinations intensify. The radio emits eerie broadcast interference, blending reality and paranoia. Suddenly, he hits something on the road— a young woman standing in the darkness. As he investigates, her face appears eerily artificial, almost robotic, with black liquid seeping from her mouth, heightening his sense of dread and uncertainty about what is real and what is hallucination.
In this unsettling journey, James’s relentless pursuit of the truth exposes not only dark secrets about the broadcast intrusions and his wife’s fate but also the fragile boundary between reality and madness, leaving viewers pondering the true nature of the mysterious signals and the haunted man chasing them.
Last Updated: August 19, 2025 at 05:13
Still wondering what the ending of Broadcast Signal Intrusion (2021) really means? Here’s a spoiler-heavy breakdown of the final scene, major twists, and the deeper themes that shape the film’s conclusion.
In the end, the film reveals that James’s pursuit of uncovering the truth is intertwined with his own unraveling mental state. His obsession with the broadcast intrusions and the missing women becomes a reflection of his grief and guilt over his wife Hannah’s disappearance. When he finally finds the supposed third tape, it leads him to a farmhouse where he mistakes a man named Michael Gardner for the kidnapper, driven by a compulsion to find answers and closure. James’ insanity culminates in him kidnapping and recording Michael, believing he is the culprit, and possibly killing him in his delusional state. The movie leaves it ambiguous whether Michael was truly involved in the crimes or if James’s mind is distorting reality. As James drives away from the farm, he is overwhelmed with hallucinations and repressed memories of Hannah, which he cannot fully recall. He ends up shooting a masked woman crossing the road in his distorted perception, and when he witnesses the blood and the creature, it becomes clear that James’s mind is slipping into madness. The film concludes on a haunting, unresolved note, emphasizing that James’s search for closure was doomed from the start. His obsession, combined with his deteriorating mental health, ultimately led him into a world of delusion where the boundary between reality and hallucination collapses, leaving the audience uncertain about what is real and what is imagined. The ending suggests that his quest for truth may have been more about healing than uncovering facts, and thatJames might be forever lost in his obsession and grief.**
Last Updated: June 25, 2025 at 08:44
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