Tale of strangeness in the heartland is scary, funny and superbly shot -- and proves another winner for Shyamalan.
Signs (2002)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:218
Fresh:161
Rotten:57
Average Rating:6.8/10
Consensus: With Signs, Shyamalan proves once again an expert at building suspense and giving audiences the chills.
Runtime: 1 hr 46 mins
Genre: Horror/Suspense
Synopsis: It's contaminated. That's what pint-sized Bo (Abigail Breslin) says about every glass of water that she tries to drink, then rejects. This is just one in a long list of strange occurrences that are... It's contaminated. That's what pint-sized Bo (Abigail Breslin) says about every glass of water that she tries to drink, then rejects. This is just one in a long list of strange occurrences that are changing the lives of the Hess family. Things go awry when Graham Hess (Mel Gibson) and his brother, Merrill (Joaquin Phoenix), awake early one morning to find the dogs barking and the children--Bo, and her brother Morgan (Rory Culkin)--wandering bleary eyed in the corn fields. They discover a pattern of perfectly carved crop circles left the night before. Trying not to overreact, Graham ignores the media frenzy that has permeated all television and radio stations, and even shrugs off the oddly familiar information that Morgan reads in his book about extraterrestrials invading earth. The real challenge for Graham is to find the faith he needs to pull himself, and his family, through this unexplainable series of events. SIGNS is the long-anticipated film from writer-director M. Night Shyamalan (THE SIXTH SENSE, UNBREAKABLE), a suspenseful and uniquely chilling family story. [More]
Starring: Mel Gibson, Joaquin Phoenix, Rory Culkin, Abigail Breslin
Starring: Mel Gibson, Joaquin Phoenix, Rory Culkin, Abigail Breslin, Cherry Jones, M. Night Shyamalan, Patricia Kalember
Director: M. Night Shyamalan
Director: M. Night Shyamalan
Screenwriter: M. Night Shyamalan
Producer: Frank Marshall, Sam Mercer
Composer: James Newton Howard
Studio: Touchstone Pictures
Reviews for Signs
I've already seen this one twice, and it was even better the second time.
M. Night Shyamalan's given us another thought-provoking movie that makes you jump. Grab your aluminum foil hat and swing away.
If I myself find anything worth worshipping, it’s the creative genius of people like M. Night Shyamalan, at whose feet I am not worthy to grovel.
Signs has the heart that was lacking in Unbreakable, but stumbles badly in its treatment of the paranormal, in this case "X-Files" / "Twilight Zone" sci-fi.
... Shyamalan's style is surprisingly graceless, as if paralyzed by a smothering sense of purpose...
Bill Paxton's 'Frailty,' with similar intentions but a meaner streak, did it all so much better.
Those who can buy into [Shyamalan's spiritual] hypothesis will accept 'Signs' more fully than those who might find it a somewhat facile simplification
Shyamalan delivers Old School filmmaking at its best ... but also an ending that doesn't hold any water.
The film's underlying themes dovetail efficiently with the action but don't generate the emotional gut punch the movie needs; overall it feels padded and logy.
Not as good as the Sixth Sense but much better than Unbreakable. Great score.
As they used to say in the 1950s sci-fi movies, Signs is a tribute to Shyamalan's gifts, which are such that we'll keep watching the skies for his next project.
For most of its footage, the new thriller proves that director M. Night Shyamalan can weave an eerie spell and that Mel Gibson can gasp, shudder and even tremble without losing his machismo.
If you go into the theater expecting a scary, action-packed chiller, you might soon be looking for a sign. An EXIT sign, that is.
A moody horror/thriller elevated by deft staging and the director's well-known narrative gamesmanship.
Unlike the lumbering and portentous Unbreakable, Shyamalan's Signs is a satisfyingly taut suspenser.
In the end, Signs is all about faith: the characters' faith in each other, Shyamalan's faith in us and, best of all, our faith in the movies' ability to make us believe in the impossible.
The sort of philosophical marriage that hasn't been seen since `The X-Files' paired alien conspiracy theories with Agent Scully's fragile Catholicism.
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