Signs (2002)
Where to Watch
- Eagle-eyed viewers have noticed a hidden easter egg referencing M. Night Shyamalan's previous film in the background of the opening scene.
- The incredible score for Signs was composed in just a few weeks after the original composer dropped out.
- The original script for Signs was written over a decade before production finally began in 2002.
Signs is a 2002 American science fiction thriller written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan. Mel Gibson stars as Graham Hess, a former Episcopal priest living on a farm in Bucks County, Pennsylvania with his brother Merrill, played by Joaquin Phoenix, and his two children, who discovers enormous crop circles in his cornfields that prove to be part of a worldwide phenomenon heralding an alien invasion.
As the family barricades themselves in their farmhouse during the invasion, Graham must confront his crisis of faith β he abandoned God after his wife's death in a car accident β and determine whether the events unfolding are random or part of a divine plan. M. Night Shyamalan crafted one of the most effective horror-tinged science fiction films through masterful use of suggestion and restriction β the aliens were barely glimpsed, seen only in grainy news footage and reflections, and the invasion was experienced entirely from the family's limited, terrifying perspective.
The birthday party video footage of an alien walking past an alley was one of the most effectively startling moments in modern horror. James Newton Howard's tense, Herrmann-influenced score was a standout. Signs earned $408 million worldwide on a $72 million budget.
