Signs **** (2002, Mel Gibson, Joaquin Phoenix, Rory Culkin, Abigail Breslin) – Classic Movie Review 916

Prepare to suspend all disbelief to enjoy director M Night Shayamalan’s 2002 third brilliantly scary movie in a row, following The Sixth Sense (1999) and Unbreakable (2000). And he really knows how to send shivers running down the spine.

Though he’s got an uphill struggle against the credibility gap, since such incredible things are going on in the film, he does it with style, verve, conviction and a lot of flair. Mel Gibson, still in his prime, is just right as Preacher Graham Hess, a middle-aged middle-American dad with two kids (Rory Culkin, Abigail Breslin) and a younger brother (Joaquin Phoenix), who wakes up on morning to find huge corn-circles in his farm.

Gibson plays a former minister who rejected his faith six months earlier when his wife was killed in a car crash. What do the circles mean? Why is the daughter obsessed with the purity of the local water? Why was the brother a former baseball wiz? And what’s the asthma-afflicted son going to do with a baby’s intercom?

Seeking the meaning of life, the universe and everything, but especially faith, Shayamalan has clearly bitten off more than anyone can reasonably chew, certainly in one movie. But in the meantime this report on the universal state things will serve as one heck of a clever scary movie, with several brio suspense sequences and some brilliantly eerie moments.

It’s a very fluid and confident piece of film-making, almost challenging you not to disagree with it, or find fault with it. Wry humour balances the life-or-death action, and, though it’s hugely illogical, even on its own bizarre terms, even this could be excused as it could all play as a dream or metaphor.

Signs is a classy, sweaty-palm thrill ride that should make you jump out of your seat as it’s designed to. A real pounding score by James Newton Howard and marvellously atmospheric cinematography by Tak Fujimoto, smart production designs by Larry Fulton and discreetly effective visual effects by Industrial Light & Magic are big assets.

Shayamalan’s given himself a little key role as Ray Reddy, but it seems a bit of a vanity appearance and it might be best to keep to short Hitchcock-style director cameos.

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© Derek Winnert 2014 Classic Movie Review 916

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