Signs (2002)

A family living on a farm finds mysterious crop circles in their fields which suggests something more frightening to come.

Director:

M. Night Shyamalan

Writer:

M. Night Shyamalan

Stars:

Mel Gibson, Joaquin Phoenix, Rory Culkin

3 wins & 34 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Mel Gibson	...	Graham Hess
Joaquin Phoenix	...	Merrill Hess
Rory Culkin	...	Morgan Hess
Abigail Breslin	...	Bo Hess
Cherry Jones	...	Officer Paski
M. Night Shyamalan	...	Ray Reddy
Patricia Kalember	...	Colleen Hess
Ted Sutton	...	SFC Cunningham
Merritt Wever	...	Tracey Abernathy
Lanny Flaherty	...	Mr. Nathan
Marion McCorry	...	Mrs. Nathan
Michael Showalter	...	Lionel Prichard
Kevin Pires	...	Brazilian Birthday Boy
Clifford David	...	Columbia University Professor
Rhonda Overby	...	Sarah Hughes

Storyline

Preacher Graham Hess loses his faith in God after his wife dies in a brutal car accident. He lives with his children and brother in a farmhouse. Crop circles start to appear in their cornfields; Graham dismisses them as mischief by miscreants. After hearing strange noises and watching news coverage on crop circles appearing all over the world, the family grows suspicious of alien activities. Now they must stick together as a family and believe, to survive and escape the ordeal.

---

Plot Keywords:

crop circle | extraterrestrial | crop | faith | farm | 

---

Taglines:

Believe

---

Genres:

Drama | Mystery | Sci-Fi | Thriller

---

Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for some frightening moments

Did You Know?

Trivia

One of the opening scenes shows the cornfield, swing set, and table at night through a pane of glass; crickets can be heard softly chirping as the camera pans backward into the bedroom. Suddenly, they stop chirping and Rev. Hess awakes, startled. The crickets motif is used several times in the film to lend an eerie air to the scene, much as the unnatural cawing in The Birds. Anyone who lives in the countryside or has gone camping is familiar with the cricket. They are the "alarms" of the forest - they "hear" vibrations, so when someone...or something...approaches, they go quiet. Their chirping is an "all's well!"; when they go quiet, you know that danger may be near...

---

Goofs

Officer Paski's uniform features an American flag on the right arm which is backwards. Reverse flags are to be worn on the right arm while the left arm uses the standard flag direction. The stars of the flag are always supposed to be closest to the heart as a rule of thumb. On Officer Paski's right shoulder the flag is incorrect and a huge mistake.

---

Quotes

Graham Hess: Everybody in this family needs to just calm down and eat some fruit or something.

---

Crazy Credits

The end credits are black text that rolls over a black screen with a illuminated blue circle in the middle, instead of the traditional white text on a flat black background.

---

Alternate Versions

An additional deleted scene was shown during the credits when it aired on a pay channel in the USA. Grahm Hess tells everyone they must go into the basement. He then tells the story of how he accidentally dislocated Merrill's elbow when he was 1½ years old, and that Merrill never got mad at him. The scene ends with everyone walking down the stairs and closing the basement door.

---

Connections

Referenced in Are We There Yet?: The Bad Dream Episode (2012)

User Reviews

Riveting and clever scarefest reinvents the modern horror film

I have been a horror film fan for 30 years. While I remember a few films actually scaring me as a kid (Jaws, Psycho), I have failed to encounter many in my adult life. I like to be scared, but Hollywood has seen fit to retread every tired formulaic convention in just about everything it throws at the local multiplex. Even the independent filmmakers, free of the "system", seem to forget what FEAR is. Mostly I sit solemnly staring in disbelief at the screen, waiting and hoping to get those goosebumps. Then, finally, we were given Signs. Most will say, including the director, that this is not a horror film; I genuinely disagree. If this is not a horror flick, then it is time for this film to start a branch of its own and begin a new genre. I admired every little aspect of this picture, from the use of everyday objects: baby monitor, a blank television screen and a half empty glass of water, to convey and act as a vehicle to extract fear from the ordinary. Most of all, Shyamalan is an expert craftsman and knows how to get the most out of space, actors and sound. It is the lingering shot on a basement staircase when you are desperately hoping he moves his camera to show us more, or the screeching sound in the next room whose source he won't reveal . This director knows just how long to hold the shot, to increase the tension and build the suspense, long enough for our mind to begin forming pictures. And those pictures can be the most frightening of all. Stay the course Shyamalan.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Portuguese

Release Date:

2 August 2002 (USA)

Also Known As:

M. Night Shyamalan's Signs

Filming Locations:

UK

Box Office

Budget:

$72,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$60,117,080, 4 August 2002

Gross USA:

$227,966,634

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$408,247,917

Company Credits

Production Co:

Touchstone Pictures, Blinding Edge Pictures, The Kennedy/Marshall Company

Technical Specs

Runtime:

106 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital EX SDDS DTS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1