The Wasteland Reviewer

The Wasteland Gems: Signs (2002)

How do you choose what to watch on all those streaming services you have access to? There are so many options that it is just overwhelming. These services constantly release new content and overshadow all the great films from the past that are already there and ready to watch. Now there is The Wasteland Gems! Here is a great film on streaming right now that you should check out this weekend:

Signs (2002)

How popular was M. Night Shyamalan back in 2002? His popularity was in the stratosphere as he came off two incredible films like The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable. Everyone was declaring him the next Spielberg. His movies were making an incredible amount of money and were beloved by critics and audiences. A lot has changed in the past 23 years as his body of work never reaches that height anymore and the consistency is much more suspect. But he is still a creative, bold, and interesting filmmaker with some truly great ideas mixed with absurd ones. But the last truly great film that he created came out 23 years ago…Signs.

What makes this film stand out in the realm of alien invasion films? There is so much depth that Shyamalan injects into this film that gives it so many dimensions. At the core of it, this is a film about faith. Mel Gibson’s Graham Hess is a former preacher who gave up the cloth when his wife tragically died in a car accident. Throughout the film, Graham shuns his faith and the life he let behind until this near-death experience for his whole family makes his see the light again. Powerful and poignant, this is a beautiful exploration of the internal struggle. But each of the four members of this family and a path. They each have an element of themselves that proves to be enough to overcome the mysterious specter of alien contact. There is plenty of heart and soul in the film which elevates it above most alien horror films.

But this is a horror film, isn’t it? Horror…thriller…whichever label you want to slap on it, Signs has some of the best scares in any film of the last 25 years. Shyamalan is such a talented filmmaker with an incredible eye for the filmic language. You have the first jump scare of the film with the alien silhouette on top of their barn which delivers quite a jump for both Graham and the audience. Then you have the incredibly tense sequence out in the cornfields at night where just a foot and ankle can scare your pants off. The most iconic must be the video with the alien behind the hedges. That scares the living daylights out of Joaquin Phoenix’s Merrill as well as audiences (and still scares them 20 plus years later). The hand under the door, the hand on the shoulder, and the reflection in the television…they all hit! Shyamalan was that great at terror and horror at that point. Second to none.

What really ties the film together? Shyamalan’s films have become known for their strange, offbeat, and specific type of acting. You can feel a bit of that here but there are some strong performances that anchor this film down. Gibson delivers an impressive central performance with plenty of depth and emotion. He finds humorous moments in his earnest awkwardness. He finds big emotional moments with his sheer presence. There is something vulnerable, wise, and engrossing about Gibson and his performance here. Phoenix is endearing, honest, and charming as his younger brother who stands by his family and “swings away”. The duo of Rory Culkin and Abigail Breslin stand out with their quirky and affecting child performances as the Hess children in the film. This quartet brings so much to the table, and you cannot help but empathize with them.

Does Signs deserve to be in that conversation of Shyamalan’s best films? Absolutely. His direction is dynamic and engrossing. The score from James Newton Howard is affecting, surreal, and dynamic in such bold ways. The cast comes together to make this Hess family so empathetic, and their trials are ones we can connect with. Terrifying, emotionally resonant, and impeccably crafted, Signs does not deserve any of the hate thrown at it. This is a modern masterpiece from a filmmaker who had one of the best three film peaks you can imagine.

Signs is streaming on Hulu.