After blacking out, Nic wakes up in a government facility isolated and confused. That decision leads to a sequence right out of “Blair Witch,” or at least “Catfish,” in which the three find themselves inside an eerie abandoned house at night and the story’s sci-fi twists really start to escalate. The boys get so wound up, they agree to meet Nomad face-to-face, with Nic’s wide-eyed g.f., Haley (Olivia Cooke), in tow. Instead, director William Eubank’s sophomore feature begins with hacker pals Nic ( Brenton Thwaites) - coping with the early stages of MS - and Jonah (Beau Knapp) tracking a mysterious online presence dubbed Nomad who taunts and tantalizes them in equal measure. Indebted to both “District 9” and “The Blair Witch Project,” but unlikely to enjoy either of those films’ sleeper success, “The Signal” has absolutely no relation to the low-budget horror triptych of the same name that premiered in Sundance’s Park City at Midnight section seven years ago. Commercial prospects nevertheless appear modest for such an idiosyncratic pic with a relatively low-profile cast. But a good deal of the fun, and some of the best visual surprises, may have to be compromised in order to lure those audiences into theaters if Focus Features (which inherited the project in the recent FilmDistrict takeover) plans a wide release. The less audiences know going in, the more intrigued they’ll be by the story’s not entirely predictable twists and turns. Exceedingly stylish and ultimately quite silly, “The Signal” is a sci-fi head trip better appreciated for the journey than the destination.