... Night Shyamalan film Signs is radically different from any alien film than ones taken by Independence Day and Contact. By limiting the number of special effects shots and treating the film more like a horror movie than a science fiction film, he keeps the viewers somewhat in the dark as to ... Read review
Director-writer M Night Shyamalan brings his distinctive, oblique approach to aliens ... more
inSignsafter tackling ghosts (The Sixth Sense) and superheroes (Unbreakable). With Mel Gibson replacing Bruce Willis as the traditional Shyamalan hero--a family man tr...
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From M. Night Shyamalan, the writer/director of The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable, comes the ... more
story of the Hess family in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, who wake up one morning to find a 500-foot crop circle in their backyard. Graham Hess (Mel Gibson) and hi...
Director-writer M Night Shyamalan brings his distinctive, oblique approach to aliens ... more
inSignsafter tackling ghosts (The Sixth Sense) and superheroes (Unbreakable). With Mel Gibson replacing Bruce Willis as the traditional Shyamalan hero--a family man tr...
Postage & Packaging: Free! Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours...
Director-writer M Night Shyamalan brings his distinctive, oblique approach to aliens ... more
inSignsafter tackling ghosts (The Sixth Sense) and superheroes (Unbreakable). With Mel Gibson replacing Bruce Willis as the traditional Shyamalan hero--a family man traumatised by loss--and leaving urban Philadelphia for the Pennsylvania sticks, the film starts with crop circles showing up on the property Gibson shares with his ex-ballplayer brother (Joaquin Phoenix) and his two troubled pre-teen kids (pay attention--all these character quirks turn out to be important). Though the world outside is undergoing a crisis ofIndependence Day-sized proportions, Shyamalan limits the focus to this family, who retreat into their cellar when "intruders" arrive from lights in the sky and set out to "harvest" them.Just asUnbreakableslowly revealed itself to beSupermanre-thought as an intense personal drama, this isThe Birdsredone as a religious drama of faith lost and perhaps regained. The tone is less certain than the earlier films--some of the laughs seem unintentional and Gibson's performance isn't quite on a level with Willis's commitment--but Shyamalan still directs the suspense and shock dramas better than anyone else.On the DVD:Signshas THX-certified Dolby Digital Surround Sound which reproduces in the home exactly as the scary sounds that creeped you out in the cinema. A selection of deleted scenes are mostly tiny, but there's a self-reflexive joke (wisely dropped but worth preserving) as Gibson wishes his dead wife were here in the crisis because she was so smart: "She always knew how movies would end." A six-part making-of goes deeper than the usual puff-piece, including an interesting alternative to a commentary track as Shyamalan talks through a précis of clips and on-set snippets. A tradition continued from theSixth SenseandUnbreakableDVDs is an extract fromPictures, "Night's first alien film". It's a teenage camcorder effort in which the future A-list Hollywoodian is menaced by a tiny Halloween-masked robot. Also included are a "multi-angle storyboards" feature, subtitles in a clutch of languages and eerie menu screens. --Kim Newman
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Production Year: 2007 - Science Fiction - Director: Francis Lawrence - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Alice Braga, Charlie Tahan, Dash Mihok, Will Smith, Salli Richardson, Willow Smith
Science Fiction - Director: Hiroyuki Yamaga - Original Language: Japanese - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Ayako Kawasumi, Fujiko Takimoto
Advantages: All performances are excellent, from the youngest to the eldest. Disadvantages: Conventional door
M. Night Shyamalan film Signs is radically different from any alien film than ones taken by Independence Day and Contact. By limiting the number of special effects shots and treating the film more like a horror movie than a science fiction film, he keeps the viewers somewhat in the dark as to what is out there. He creates a claustrophobic atmosphere and keeps a high tension level this adds to the movie. Signs is the kind of film that will have you ... ...what is going to happen next. If you like UFO films then this may well be a film you’ll enjoy.
The film is the story of the Hess family in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, who wake up one morning to find a vast and complex crop circle in their backyard. Mel Gibson stars as Graham Hess, a former minister who lost his faith when his wife Colleen (Patricia Kalember) was killed in a tragic accident. Graham raises his two little children Morgan ... more
M. Night Shyamalan film Signs is radically different from any alien film than ones taken by Independence Day and Contact. By limiting the number of special effects shots and treating the film more like a horror movie than a science fiction film, he keeps the viewers somewhat in the dark as to what is out there. He creates a claustrophobic atmosphere and keeps a high tension level this adds to the movie. Signs is the kind of film that will have you sitting on the edge of the sofa in anticipation of what is going to happen next. If you like UFO films then this may well be a film you’ll enjoy.
The film is the story of the Hess family in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, who wake up one morning to find a vast and complex crop circle in their backyard. Mel Gibson stars as Graham Hess, a former minister who lost his faith when his wife Colleen (Patricia Kalember) was killed in a tragic accident. Graham raises his two little children Morgan (Rory Culkin) and Bo (Abigail Breslin) with the help of his younger brother Merrill (Joaquin Phoenix), a has-been minor league baseball competitor.
Early thoughts are elaborate hoaxes he is convinced it is Lionel Pritchard and the Wolfington brothers playing a silly prank, Graham accordingly reports it to the police. When Officer Caroline Paski (Cherry Jones) comes to investigate the crop circles she tells Graham that it is doubtful to be anyone playing a hoax and informs him that there have been a number of bizarre incidents going on in the village too – the animals are on edge and at times turning violent as if they sense a predator.
That night Graham is woken by Bo who I think quite eerily sates “There’s a monster outside my window, can I have a drink of water?” When Graham takes Bo back to bed he sees something on the barn roof. Thinking the Wolfington brothers are back Graham (Mel Gibson) gets his brother (Joaquin Phoenix) and chases the intruder around the house but all they sense is someone jumping over them from the roof. Trying to steer his family away from all the media publicity on the TV, Graham takes Merrill, Bo and Morgan into town to take their mind off the bizarre dealings at the ranch. Flashbacks then give us an idea of what happened on the fateful night when Graham’s wife Colleen (Patricia Kalember) was killed. As they are eating, they spot Ray Reddy (M. Night Shyamalan). Brief glances are exchanged as we find out that this was the man who accidentally fell asleep at the wheel of his truck and killed Colleen having her nightly walk. On returning from their trip Bo’s old baby monitor, whom Morgan has been using as a radio, starts picking up noises. A sort of crackling we then get the felling that something big is going to go down.
Taking a side from Steven Spielberg's Jaws, the M. Night Shyamalan keeps the aliens hidden from our view. We catch occasional, brief glimpses - a leg in the corn field, a hand under a door, and a flash of green on a television screen. With today's special effects being so convincing it’s interesting that the director falls back on to the technique of "less is more".
What continues is the credible story of aliens invading the world to try and harvest the humans for their own use. As they watch the news on TV, the journalists are clearly uncomfortable in their reporting the tale, and then the footage everyone wanted to see, at a child’s birthday party in Mexico. An Alien is caught on camera and the pictures are beamed around the world.
As they realise the Aliens are hostile they begin to board the house up, knowing from previous experience that they find it hard to get through doors. With the house boarded as best as possible they sit and wait. This maybe is one of my only criticisms of the film if there are such things as aliens out there they have mastered space travel, have superior strength and probably have extremely advanced weapons, yet the conventional door stumps them. Anyway truly amazingly the Aliens get into the house, so the family escape to the confines of the cellar.
The film isn’t a jump out of your skin movie it does however build on your fears and creates a feeling of believability, and tension. The moment the DVD began to play I was addicted to this film as I have said the only thing wrong with the plot is the fact they couldn’t open doors. Overall a great cast and a good watch. I really loved the film and I honestly think you will too.
Cast Mel Gibson - Rev. Graham Hess Joaquin Phoenix - Merrill Hess Rory Culkin - Morgan Hess Abigail Breslin - Bo Hess Cherry Jones Officer - Caroline Paski Patricia Kalember - Colleen Hess M. Night Shyamalan - Ray Reddy
All performances are excellent, from the youngest to the eldest. I haven't seen Gibson a lot of serious roles, and he played the distressed Graham Hess amazingly well and in addition his partnership with Phoenix plus the two children really made them look as if they are a real family.
Extras The Making of Signs Deleted Scenes Storyboard (Multi-angle Feature) Night’s First Alien Mo
The Making of Signs M. Night Shyamalan takes us through most of the film it is a good documentary that viewers will almost certainly find enjoyable and interesting. The director talks about how he went about creating some of the key scenes, plus his role in the film.
Deleted Scenes Here we are shown five deleted scenes that were not seen in cinemas.
Advantages: Creepy, suspenseful, unusual Disadvantages: Probably not what you're expecting
...to be about something else? Signs was certainly like this for me. Even the cinema trailers had suggested that it was going to be something that it wasn’t, but I still wasn’t disappointed. Such is the storytelling capability of M Night Shyamalan that I still found myself completely engrossed from start to finish.
When a truck driver runs down Graham Hess’s wife, he is utterly devastated and completely loses faith in the church. He relinquishes his ... ...Morgan, believes that the crop signs are huge markers left by an alien force that are used to mark out the surface of the planet for a forthcoming invasion. Whilst Graham dismisses the theory as being the product of an over active imagination, he cannot shake off the feeling of unease and when he hears something moving outside, he goes into the corn field to investigate. What he finds terrifies him, and confirms that Morgan may be closer to the truth ...
LostWitness 30.03.2003
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Signs (DVD)
Advantages: Great cast, well made, thoughtful Disadvantages: A bit slow, over analyses
...on to a sure-fire winner. Signs is a movie that comes with all of these assets and yet...
Set in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, Signs is the story of the Hess family. Made up of father, 2 children and uncle, Graham Hess (Mel Gibson) is the disillusioned patriach to his brother Merrill (Joaquin Pheonix of Gladiator fame) and 2 children Morgan (Rory Culkin) and Bo (Abigail Breslin). Within the first few frames, the audience is introduced to the concept ... ...keen to tell you that Signs is the latest multi-layered foray into the world of the paranormal. Rather than creating a kind of Space Invaders, blast ‘em out of the sky feel along the lines of Independence Day, Shyamalan feels he belongs more with directors of the past. In Signs, he is careful to build the tension so that the audience is taken on a Hitchcock like journey with the villain not being revealed until close to the closing credits. In the ...
Marandina 20.04.2003 (21.04.2003)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Signs (DVD)
Advantages: Well-paced, genre redefining movie. Disadvantages: You may find the ending hard to swallow.
...And so we come to Signs – the latest fantasy thriller from M Night Shyamalan.
***THE PLOT***
Graham Hess and his family (two kids, his brother and a pair of Alsatians) have a fairly typical life in a small Pennsylvanian country home. Graham is a retired pastor who quit his faith following a tragic accident that robbed him of his wife. 6 months have passed since then, but recently he has something else to worry about. Namely, the bloody big crop ... ...you may well sit through Signs waiting for the inevitable twist – I did – but getting there is a hell of a lot of fun.
***SIGNS POINT TO YES***
After all the (in retrospect, unfathomably) mixed reviews I’ve read on this movie, I was a little concerned that I’d be shifting around in my seat and concentrating on counting the popcorn flecks on the ground rather than being engrossed in the proceedings. Still, Unbreakable managed to divide folks as ...
peppersinclaire 16.09.2002
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Signs (DVD)
Advantages: Makes you think...and keep on thinking for ages afterwards, it has Mr Gibson in it, superb directing Disadvantages: A bit scary to be rated 12 - and all that thinking made my brain hurt
...and the crop circles were signs to tell the craft where to invade. - The creatures avoided water and conformed to other information given in Morgan's book on aliens and UFOs. - Bo Hess was describes as being an unusual baby with "big, round eyes" by her father and also hates water; if she was in fact half-alien, then she is following their pattern of behaviour and displaying a physical characteristic that is generally associated with most alien sightings. ... ...film would get this, and go away happy that they had just witnessed a film about an alien invasion. But, taking the second theme running through the film (spirituality), then you could give the alternative explanation of this being Judgement Day, and the invading creatures being angels who are taking the deserving people of Earth back up to Heaven with them. The evidence for this interpretation is: - Of all the people on the Hess's farm during the ...
Collingwood21 12.10.2002
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Signs (DVD)
The first time I saw the trailer for this film, I thought to myself that I had to see it. It looked just the sort of film which would appeal to me. However after reading several opinions on here, including some by well respected writers, I had second thoughts. It wasn't exactly receiving rave reviews and looked as though it could be a big let down. But on the other hand I don't always like films which are raved about like 'Insomnia' and 'Beautiful ... ...I finally did get round to watching the film, that I wasn't put off because the film entertained me like no other has this year.
I like watching the odd movie and usually catch around two or three a month. Don't get me wrong, I like watching movies but I'm no great film buff and wouldn't know one directors work from another. So although I know this film is by the acclaimed director M.Night Shylaman who gave us 'The Sixth Sense', my opinion on it ...
WormThatTurned 11.10.2002
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Signs (DVD)
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Release details
DVD Region
DVD
Studio(s)
Touchstone Home Video; Technicolor Distribution Services
Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, Greek, Icelandic, Norwegian, Russian, Swedish
Hearing Impaired Language
English
Technical information
Special Features
The Making Of Signs, Deleted Scenes, Storyboard, Nights First Alien Movie
Aspect Ratio
1.85 Wide Screen
Sound
Dolby Digital 5.1
Dubbing Sound
Dolby Digital 5.1 English Russian
Professional reviews
Review
"...SIGNS is the work of a born filmmaker, able to summon apprehension out of thin air..." (Chicago Sun-Times, p.29, 02/08/2002)
"...Lushly ominous....It's a high-octane doomsday vision built almost entirely around our sense of anticipation..." (Entertainment Weekly, p.43-4, 09/08/2002)
"...Shyamalan's great gift is the creation of atmosphere, the conjuring of spooky, unseen menace....SIGNS is a tribute to Shyamalan's gifts..." (Los Angeles Times, p.C1, 02/08/2002)
"...Mr. Shyamalan is a master of control, with a sure grasp of the classical filmmaking lexicon. His suspense sequences build slowly and elegantly, and his is adept at evoking dread through shifting camera angles and careful manipulation of the frame..." (New York Times, p.E1, 02/08/2002)
"...The movie offers several nicely turned pop-out-of-your-seat moments..." (Premiere, p.16-17, 01/09/2002)
"...A terrific suspense movie..." (Sight and Sound, p.51-2, 01/10/2002)
"...SIGNS turns out to be a primally petrifying experience....A very intimate and emotionally astute portrayal of a family under threat..." (Total Film, p.120-1, 01/10/2002)
"...Skillfully made....The movie keeps you watching..." (USA Today, p.12D, 02/08/2002)
DVD Description
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.
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