Signs (film)

Signs
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	M. Night Shyamalan
Written by	M. Night Shyamalan
Produced by	M. Night Shyamalan Frank Marshall Kathleen Kennedy Sam Mercer
Starring	Mel Gibson Joaquin Phoenix Rory Culkin Abigail Breslin
Cinematography	Tak Fujimoto
Edited by	Barbara Tulliver
Music by	James Newton Howard
Production companies	Blinding Edge Pictures The Kennedy/Marshall Company
Distributed by	Touchstone Pictures
Release date	August 2, 2002
Running time	106 minutes
Country	United States
Languages	English Portuguese
Budget	$72,000,000
Box office	$408,247,917

Signs is a 2002 American science fiction thriller horror film written, produced, and directed by M. Night Shyamalan and starring Mel Gibson, Joaquin Phoenix, Rory Culkin, and Abigail Breslin. Although the plot revolves around aliens and crop circles, producer Frank Marshall said, "It's really about human emotions set in motion by a supernatural event." The film received generally positive reviews and was the 7th highest grossing film of 2002.

Plot

The Hess family lives on a farm in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Graham Hess (Mel Gibson) is a former Episcopal priest whose wife, Colleen, died in a horrific traffic accident caused by a veterinarian named Ray Reddy (M. Night Shyamalan). He cares for his two children, Morgan (Rory Culkin), who suffers from asthma, and precocious Bo (Abigail Breslin), with the help of his younger brother Merrill (Joaquin Phoenix), a former minor league baseball player.

Things are uneventful in Graham's life until a mysterious crop circle appears in his cornfield. Its origin and purpose is unknown; some townspeople speculate that it may be a prank while a few others think that it may have been created by aliens. One night, precocious Bo enters Graham's bedroom and tells him of a monster outside her room. Tired, and unaware that Bo had actually seen something, he goes to her room and tucks her into bed. Graham looks out the window and sees a tall, black silhouette standing on the far roof of their home. Frightened, he and Merrill plan to scare the figure (who they believe is Lionel Pritchard) away. The motion-sensor floodlights turn on and the brothers run outside and circle the house; each taking the other direction. Both saw the shadow of the running figure but could not catch it. Graham and Merrill eventually meet up on the other side of the house. Confused, they hear movement on the roof. They walk backwards to see up towards the roof, when the figure apparently jumps and lands on the swing set behind them, and rustles into the corn stalks. The next day, a police officer, Caroline Plaski, comes to visit them after the encounter with the dark figure. She tells Morgan that he can use a baby monitor as a walkie-talkie. They then go out to town to get their mind set on other things. On their return home, bizarre clicking noises come from the baby monitor. Morgan believes the sound is that of the extraterrestrials communicating with each other (since there seems to be two of them speaking) but the noises soon fade away. That night, Graham goes to feed Isabelle, their dog, and hears the clicking sound coming from the cornfield. He fetches his flashlight and goes into the field. After hearing the strange clicks up close, he spots a strange, green leg sticking out of the cornfield. Graham quickly runs back home as fast as he could, scared out of his mind. He and his family watch the television coverage of the crop circles, something he had objected to earlier for fear that the kids may get obsessed. They turn on the news to discover that large, mysterious and unidentifiable lights have been spotted over Mexico City.

That night, Graham has a conversation with Merrill, revealing that Graham lost his faith in God following his wife's death. He challenges Merrill's belief that they will not be harmed by the mysterious events as reliance on coincidence, signs, and miracles as evidence of some higher power. The following morning, Graham receives a mysterious phone call from Ray Reddy, and travel to town to visit him. Meanwhile, Merrill watches a news broadcast, taken by a Brazilian man, which depicts a disturbing video of an alien walking through a child's birthday party. Merill reacts by putting on a tin foil "anti-mind reading" hat. Meanwhile, at Ray's house Graham finds Ray sitting in his car, with his side slightly bleeding. Ray apologizes for the accident that occurred and tells Graham that, after seeing the patterns of the crop circles, he's deduced that "they don't like water" and that a lot of people have gone to the lake. Before driving away and leaving Graham in the driveway, Ray tells him that he trapped "one" in the pantry. When Graham investigates, he find a kitchen knife that is shiny enough to give reflections. He sticks the knife under the door so he could he what the "one" was. Suddenly, a green, clawed hand reaches under the door from the other side of the pantry door, prompting Graham to slash off the half of pinky and ring finger of the creature.

Back in his house, Graham proposes two options to his children and Merrill: going to the lake or staying in their house. After a brief argument, the Hess family decides to stay home and board up all the doors and windows. Morgan and Bo watch the news and find out that more mysterious lights are appearing in the skies over major cities around the globe and alien sightings are being reported at or within one mile of crop signs. While eating what might be their last family meal, the baby monitor begins broadcasting the alien clicks and the television stops broadcasting. The family boards up the windows and doors of the house. The aliens find a way in through the attic and the Hess family realize that the attic door was not boarded up. They retreat into the basement to hide and barricade themselves in. One of the aliens finds a way in through a coal shaft and grabs Morgan's neck, causing him to have an asthma attack. Although the creature is repelled, Graham realizes that he has left Morgan's inhaler upstairs.

The next morning, they hear on the radio that a method of fighting the invaders has been developed and they are now retreating; Graham and the family head upstairs. Suddenly and unexpectedly, they come face to face with an alien for the first time and it holds Morgan hostage. Graham looks, and sees that two of its fingers are missing, implying that it is the same individual that attacked Graham in Ray's pantry. The remainder of Graham's flashback to Colleen's death is revealed: she is still coherent as she dies and tells Graham that she loves him, to look after their children, tells him to "see," and to "tell Merrill to swing away"- the meaning of which has always been unclear to Graham.

Back in the present, Graham sees Merrill's trophy baseball bat on the wall and tells Merrill to "swing away." Merrill grabs his bat and, before trying to attack the alien, it sprays a poisonous gas into Morgan's face through a stinger-like appendage. As Merrill hits the alien with the bat and it falls, the family sees that water is deadly to the alien (when a half empty glass spills on it) and Merrill uses the unfinished glasses of water Bo has left all over the house (Bo is very specific about her drinking water, and rarely finishes a whole glass) to kill the alien while Graham takes Morgan outside and administers his asthma medication. Morgan soon recovers, having been saved from the alien's gas by his lack of breathing due to his medical condition. Realizing that Colleen's dying words meant something after all, and seeing that a number of "coincidences" saved his family's life, Graham's faith is restored. The final montage shows winter weather outside as Graham is back in his clerical garb preparing for church.

Cast of characters

• Mel Gibson as Reverend Graham Hess, the main protagonist of the film. He is a former Episcopal priest, father to Morgan and Bo Hess and brother to Merrill. Throughout the movie, he is known as "father" to some, due to his former role as a priest. His previous wife, Colleen, died in a tragic automobile accident, causing him to fall away from his beliefs.
• Joaquin Phoenix as John Merrill Hess, Graham's brother who lives with them. He is a former minor league baseball player. Near the end of the movie and after having Graham tell him to "swing away", he attacks and kills the intruder alien.
• Rory Culkin as Morgan Hess, the son of Graham Hess and older brother to sister Bo. It is apparent throughout the movie that he has asthma and, after being grabbed by an alien, suffers an intense asthma attack. This later saves him from the poisonous gas the alien sprays into him.
• Abigail Breslin as Bo Hess, the youngest of the Hess family. Throughout the movie, Bo leaves glasses of water around the house, claiming that whatever water she drinks is "contaminated" or "too old". Near the end, Merrill uses the unfinished glasses of water (which is deadly to the aliens) to finish off the alien.
• Cherry Jones as Police Officer Caroline Plaski; seen briefly throughout the movie. At the beginning of the movie, Plaski is doubtful about the existence of the supposed aliens and believes it to be a bunch of pranksters.
• Patricia Kalember as Colleen Hess, the deceased wife of Graham. She is only seen in Graham's flashbacks. Near the end of the movie, she is seen in Graham's last flashback pinned to a tree by a truck that kept her from dying, as she was somewhat bisected at the waist. She mainly tells Graham to "see" and for Merrill to "swing away".
• Ted Sutton as Sergeant First Class Cunningham, a U.S. Army recruiter who is seen in only one scene throughout the movie. While conversing with Merrill, he discovers that he was the famous minor league baseball player responsible for a sturdy baseball record in home runs.
• Michael Showalter as Lionel Prichard; is also seen briefly in the same scene as Cunningham. He was the one that pointed out that, while Merrill had a record for home runs, that he also had a record for strikeouts.
• M. Night Shyamalan as Ray Reddy; is also seen briefly in the movie. Reddy was responsible for the death of Colleen, causing Graham to fall away from his religion. He is deeply remorseful and guilty for Colleen's death. In another scene, he is seen about to leave for the lake after conversing with Graham.
• Merritt Wever as Tracy Abernathy, a pharmacist's assistant that is seen when Graham visits the Pharmacy. She expresses her fear about the suspected alien-invasion and the end of the world. She confides in Graham, talking about all her sins.

The aliens are humanoid creatures that are tall and slender. Their skin, natural color being a dark green, tends to camouflage around their surroundings. They have clawed fingers and a retractable appendage located on their wrist that can expel poisonous gas. Their purpose is believed to be harvesting humans for food. Water has an acid-like effect on their flesh.

Release

Reception

Signs garnered mixed to positive reviews from movie critics. Rotten Tomatoes reported that 74% gave positive appraisals, based on 221 reviews. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the film scored a 59, based on 36 reviews.

Roger Ebert wrote: "M. Night Shyamalan's "Signs" is the work of a born filmmaker, able to summon apprehension out of thin air. When it is over, we think not how little has been decided, but how much has been experienced ... At the end of the film, I had to smile, recognizing how Shyamalan has essentially ditched a payoff. He knows, as we all sense, that payoffs have grown boring." Like all of Shyamalan's work, Signs is not without its detractors, with Variety's Todd McCarthy writing "After the overwrought Unbreakable and now the meager Signs, it's fair to speculate whether Shyamalan's persistence in replicating the otherworldly formula of The Sixth Sense might not be a futile and self-defeating exercise."

Box office

Signs grossed $227,966,634 domestically, $180,281,283 internationally, and $408,247,917 worldwide at the box office, ranking only behind The Sixth Sense in Shyamalan's box office success and grossing more than The Village and Unbreakable combined. In 2004, it was listed as #77 on Bravo's 100 Scariest Movie Moments for the Brazilian birthday party scene.

Home media

On the DVD, there are some deleted scenes:

• Flashbacks 1 and 2: Two scenes with Graham's wife, Colleen. In the first, she sits with a toddler Morgan and baby Bo in a rocking chair while Graham watches. In the second, she dances with him. She hums the same tune in both scenes.
• The dead bird: With no sound, this scene shows Graham going back home from Ray's, and after a short time, a dead bird near the road (after supposedly hitting an invisible forcefield) is shown.
• The attic door and the third story: The longest one, it starts with Merrill finding out about the not-boarded attic door. Despite Graham's efforts to call him back, Merrill goes up the stairs and manages to hold the door by climbing up a chair and putting his hands at the door. Trying to help, Graham looks for a way to hold the door. He gets a tall shelf and places it under the door. Knowing this is only a temporary solution, Graham gets his family and takes them to the kitchen and puts some chairs at the door to hold the aliens out of the room. There, he tells the "third story", about Merrill, in which he dislocated his arm. While Graham is telling the story, the shelf is destroyed from the attic door slamming on top of it repeatedly and the aliens gain access to the house. Everyone goes down to the basement, the only safe room available, as the aliens begin forcing the kitchen door open.

Soundtrack

Untitled

All music composed by James Newton Howard.

1. "Main Titles" - 1:45
2. "First Crop Circles" - 3:15
3. "Roof Intruder" - 2:20
4. "Brazilian Video" - 1:56
5. "In the Cornfield" - 5:40
6. "Baby Monitor" - 1:07
7. "Recruiting Office" - 2:07
8. "Throwing a Stone" - 5:47
9. "Boarding Up the House" - 3:00
10. "Into the Basement" - 5:23
11. "Asthma Attack" - 3:42
12. "The Hand of Fate (Part 1)" - 5:32
13. "The Hand of Fate (Part 2)" - 3:47

External links

• Signs at IMDb
• Signs at AllMovie
• Signs at Box Office Mojo
• Signs at Rotten Tomatoes
• Movieweb: Production Notes
• Top 10 Worst Moments Countdown by the Distressed Watcher.