Signs
Stream
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A family living on a farm finds mysterious crop circles in their fields which suggests something more frightening to come.
What critics thought
Signs splits critics fairly sharply: Shyamalan's gift for sustained dread and intimate family storytelling won over many reviewers, but a significant minority felt the film's alien-invasion premise exposed the limits of his formula and that its emotional payoff collapses under the weight of heavy-handed sentimentality. The gap between the skill of the filmmaking and the thinness of the ideas underneath is the central argument.
“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”
Roger Ebert·Chicago Sun-Times
“Mr. Shyamalan is undone by his pretensions”
A. O. Scott·The New York Times
“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”
Todd McCarthy·Variety
“Ultimately, Signs – as original, interesting and ambitious as it is – is a post-9/11 movie of possibly the most dubious sort”
Geoff Pevere·Toronto Star
Genres
Thriller, Science Fiction, Horror
Cast & Crew
M. Night ShyamalanDirector
Mel GibsonGraham Hess
Joaquin PhoenixMerrill Hess
Rory CulkinMorgan Hess
Abigail BreslinBo Hess
Cherry JonesOfficer PaskiM. Night ShyamalanRay Reddy
Patricia KalemberColleen Hess
Ted SuttonSFC Cunningham
Merritt WeverTracey Abernathy
Lanny FlahertyMr. Nathan
Marion McCorryMrs. Nathan
Michael ShowalterLionel Prichard
James Newton HowardComposer
Tak FujimotoCinematographySigns
A family living on a farm finds mysterious crop circles in their fields which suggests something more frightening to come.
What critics thought
Signs splits critics fairly sharply: Shyamalan's gift for sustained dread and intimate family storytelling won over many reviewers, but a significant minority felt the film's alien-invasion premise exposed the limits of his formula and that its emotional payoff collapses under the weight of heavy-handed sentimentality. The gap between the skill of the filmmaking and the thinness of the ideas underneath is the central argument.
“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”
Roger Ebert·Chicago Sun-Times
“Mr. Shyamalan is undone by his pretensions”
A. O. Scott·The New York Times
“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”
Todd McCarthy·Variety
“Ultimately, Signs – as original, interesting and ambitious as it is – is a post-9/11 movie of possibly the most dubious sort”
Geoff Pevere·Toronto Star
Genres
Thriller, Science Fiction, Horror
Cast & Crew
M. Night ShyamalanDirectorMel GibsonGraham HessJoaquin PhoenixMerrill HessRory CulkinMorgan HessAbigail BreslinBo HessCherry JonesOfficer PaskiM. Night ShyamalanRay ReddyPatricia KalemberColleen HessTed SuttonSFC CunninghamMerritt WeverTracey AbernathyLanny FlahertyMr. NathanMarion McCorryMrs. NathanMichael ShowalterLionel PrichardJames Newton HowardComposerTak FujimotoCinematographyStream
Rent & Buy