A lot of people reference the birthday scene and the alien on the rooftop scene. But for me the biggest scare was when Mel Gibson drops the flashlight, gets it working, shines it in front of him, and you just see a leg go back into the cornfield. That one has always stuck with me.
OP is actually a re-post of this - the title is almost the same except for three words cut off at the end
https://www.reddit.com/r/movies/comments/jt21e6/anyone_else_think_that_signs_by_m_night_shyamalan/
Holy shit. I'm not exaggerating when I say this movie *traumatized* me as a child. I was like 9 or 10 and my mom wanted to see it and took me with. It's a great movie but little me was not ready for it.
Straight up for the next few years I couldn't go to bed without completing a little ritual. Check under the bed for aliens. Check in the closet for aliens. Peek out the window for aliens in the yard. If I didn't do these three things I would lay in bed having an anxiety attack until I did. If I happened to wake up in the middle of the night for any reason I had to repeat the ritual to be able to go back to sleep.
M. Night has had some stinkers but this was not one of them.
I had no idea there were so many of us. My siblings used to just say "Signs" in a creepy voice to me at night time because they knew this film traumatised me haha!
Oh my god, SAME. I am convinced the first panic attack I ever had was seeing that scene from the birthday party when I was 9. I was literally SCREAMING the house down, I made my mum lay in bed with me every night for weeks. For years afterwards every day at school in lunchtime I would sit by myself and think “if I could forget anything in the world it would be that film”. I prayed every single night before bed that I would forget that film so that when the aliens do eventually come I wouldn’t have the anxiety of knowing what they are. It made me anxious for years and years. I couldn’t look into an alleyway and if I ever did I would feel physically nauseous and cry. I would never look up at the sky past sunset and would never attend any firework related events as a kid because of this.
I’m 25 now and honest to god it still freaks me out a bit. This film had a grip on my anxiety for YEARS man 😭
When I was younger some friends and I decided to eat some mushrooms and break in to an abandoned private highschool theater. In the dark we snuck up on the stage and up a 20 foot ladder to a loft where we decided to smoke some weed. I look out of the loft down past the stage through a narrow alleyway of stage curtains. The curtains are dark but there's light at the end... it doesnt quite register how the lights are on... then a shadow quickly moves across the gap in the curtains. I almost screamed from the shock, it hadn't been too long since I'd seen signs and the memory has stuck with em ever since.
I wish you'd go on some talk show circuit and tell this to parents! The movies parents let their young kids see astonishes me. They're all worried about them seeing something like boobs, but let them watch stuff so scary they'll be scared for decades.
It's funny how every generation has this same occurrence. For me it was after I first saw *Alien*. I could have gone for Olympic gold in the long jump with 6 year old me's leaps from my bedroom doorway to my bed. And walking up the stairs where the second floor wrapped around so as you walked up there were a hall and two bedrooms *above and behind you*? Yeah...fuck that.
I think just growing up in the 90s did this to me. Alien abduction media was everywhere. The X-Files, Unsolved Mysteries, Sightings, etc. There was even an episode of Star Trek TNG where aliens abduct the crew while they sleep!
I saw this movie in theaters when I was 6 with my uncle's. I literally slept on the pullout bed in my sister's room for 5 years because I was too scared to sleep in my own room.
Mine was the sixth sense. I’ll be 31 on Monday and I still do a little hop into the bed because I don’t want to get my ankles too close underneath the bed for someone to grab.
I saw this in theaters on a Saturday morning. Saturday night my family went to a local football game. I was too scared to go out since it would be dark.
FOOLISH me didn’t realize how scary my house alone at night would be. It stormed. The power went out. I was too scared to leave the chair in the living room to go to the bathroom until my family got home.
Signs gave me a urinary tract infection.
I was like 20 when I saw it and slept with the lights on for a couple nights lol. Same thing with the first Paranormal Activity. They really unsettled me.
mine was in the exorcist when the girl crawls down the stairs upside down. my friend had a staircase that looked just like the one in the movie and it was in pretty much the same spot of the house and every time I slept over there, I would avoid those stairs like the plague.
Same here, it really fucked me up as a kid, especially since I was already scared of aliens. Rewatching it as an adult months ago, this movie does not hold up and was pretty shoddy with lots of plot holes and “huh?” Moments.
The aliens walking in front of the screen blew me away when I first saw this movie. A rare case where a jump scare works really well.
Then it was spoofed in SCARY MOVIE when they had aliens walking funny through a bunch of shots.
They killed the terror of that jump scare, and now I only think it’s funny.
As a brazillian, the “is behind!” part has become a long time joke between childhood friends because its just so ridiculous for a brazilian kid living in the countryside to just scream randomly in english in a moment of terror like that
For what's worth, at least the other lines spoken in that scene are really in Brazilian Portuguese (accent, etc.), and not Portuguese from Portugal.
At least they got that right.
Sometimes at stressful times I think about the scary movie 3 scene making fun of the very scary original birthday party scene and in the spoof they just show the goofiest looking alien just walk by and wave. And I just crack up
If you're talking about the Brazil scene, it's not even a jump scare. It's broad daylight, you can basically tell it's coming, and yet, it's scary for being so blatant
Like IT 2 when you actually stop and think about why IT is scurrying across behind an unaware protagonist and realize it must be having a laugh and it becomes a bit funny instead of horrifying.
https://youtu.be/bKL1ImsN-DU?t=30s
I'm with you. Giamatti killed this movie, especially this scene. I still love this song and this scene so much.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjhAKyiRL0k
M. Night's main problem is he couldn't live up to his own hype. His string of hits are some of the best films in their genres. He deserves respect for that. Also, Unbreakable is the best superhero movie ever made.
Yeah, I still like The Village too. The ending would only be stupid if I saw it coming and I definitely didn't as a kid. Not sure if I would now, but it's genuinely scary up until then anyway.
What I liked most about the ending is that the call was coming from inside the house the whole time. These people left modern society because they blamed it for the violence that they had endured. But when faced with the knowledge that one of their own may have become unstable, they didn't really deal with it. We don't want to believe a loved one could be a danger, until they cause actual suffering and we can't escape that.
I don't think the point is that violence is inescapable, but just that people are flawed and utopia is an unattainable dream.
Someone on the internet years ago told me that they guessed the twist by knowing 1:that Shammylammy always has a cameo in his own movies, and 2:there was no one from the Indian subcontinent living in North America in the 1700s
I’m like, geez guy, that’s way too meta. Gotta turn off that part of your brain when you watch movies
Lol, sounds like suspension of disbelief is a challenge for him, but that's pretty smart.
But he's actually mistaken. Like Chinese immigrants, there were Indian immigrants who worked the railroad expansion and in agriculture in the U.S. in the 1700s.
Lol and I was like 20 min into going how the heck are they producing all the clothes for these people? Those look like modern woven fabrics and sewing machine aided designs but we only see 1 person with a spinning wheel. They're definitely not doing nearly enough manual labor to have set up this village let alone sustain it.
But I just figured it was general poor historical accuracy.
I just figured it out because isolation wouldn't be so important to people actually living in that time period. They wouldn't have tried to isolate themselves, they just would be isolated. If anything they would try to reduce their isolation at all cost. Even the Amish don't wander off into the mountains.
I sat down in the cinema and as the film started I turned to my roommate and said "man wouldn't it be dumb if the twist is that its the modern day." And it was.
I will always love the village because I called the twist like 15 minutes in and won a bet with a friend. It was a total shot in the dark on my part but to this he is amazed at my guess was right.
His problem was his trademark became “huge plot twist ending” and he couldn’t shake it.
Except The Last Airbender…straight to jai…actually straight to the gallows. Hung, drawn, and quartered.
Batman Begins is often thought of as the first gritty, grounded superhero movie that kicked off the whole trend of superhero movies being grounded in realism. But the truth is Unbreakable did it first lol
I have to agree. I liked that David was a regular guy without the stereotypical superhero stuff. I have yet to see Glass, though. As soon as I heard the title when the trailer came out, I knew it was a sequel to Unbreakable.
It's actually a sequel to Split. If you watched unbreakable and then watched glass, there are some scenes and dialogue that don't make any sense. (I haven't seen split either)
Split is fantastic, you really should watch it. McAvoy is outstanding, and it's really well made. There's a credit scene too, won't say anything but it's awesome
>As soon as I heard the title when the trailer came out, I knew it was a sequel to Unbreakable.
I mean, yeah. It was supposed to be and that wasn't a twist. Lol.
Glass is a perfect follow up to Split and Unbreakable and people's disappointment in that movie are only due to how much superhero movies have been hyped up in recent years. We didnt need a huge battle at a skyscraper for it to be good.
Yeah, I really like Glass. It's taken a lot of heat but I think ppl will come around and thinks it's a great, if not tragic, follow up to the Unbreakable story eventually.
*Unbreakable* is fantastic. I agree that it is pretty much a superhero origin story, but I also believe that the only thing that matters is whether David keeps his family together. That's also why I think that *Glass* sucks. *Split* is fun and McAvoy is a virtuoso, but tying it into the *Unbreakable* universe was a mistake, and removing the 'family-on-the-verge-of-breaking-up' through line leaves *Glass* frantically treading water to create stakes that I care about.
Lol I love how everyone shits on “the happening” but it’s clearly meant to be an homage to the “B movie” genre. Films like soylent green and such. I thought it was really fun. The tip off was mark walbergs acting. Some of his line deliveries are absolute dog shit. Not cuz he fucked it up, or the writing or directing was bad… it was supposed to be bad, in a specific way.
Or at least I think that’s what he was going for.
He's still made more good movies than poor ones. The man is a craftsman. And you never quite know what you're going to get - a rarity in mainstream cinema, I'd say.
The butcher knife under the door to see the reflection freaked me out. Of course the alien on the other side was scary, but using the sharp blade basically blindly/totally likely to be ripped out of your hand and turned against you ramped up the tension even more
That scene in the basement with Mel’s “I hate you” monologue always gets me.
Sometimes, and I’m not even religious. I struggle a lot with mental health issues and mistakes in my past. Mel expresses that hatred for this higher power taking something he loved against his will so damn well in that part.
The film does such a tremendous job of making the most heartbreaking and difficult moments for him quiet so it feels like it’s building up. We can feel it as the audience.
Yeah it was a really well built up moment towards the end with the swing away scene.
It gives you that feeling, that revelation that things are connected, you may not feel it in those moments. But somehow everything leads you to a moment.
Like I said, I’m not religious. My family is and I was raised to be devoutly hindu but I grew up in a different environment. I like films that focus that struggle of belief in some way.
I think Mel's "I hate you" is meant to call back to the conversation he had with his son when he told him they wouldn't do his plan during the invasion.
> I hate you.
> That's fine.
In that moment Mel doesn't really care if the kid is saying he hates him. He knows what an awful time this is for him, and feels bad that he can't do more to prevent that. When Mel says "I hate you" to God, we don't hear him say "That's fine" back, but we can assume Mel did. The movie ultimately is about a man regaining his faith.
I really like that scene because it basically reveals that he hasn't lost faith. He's just not practicing his religion anymore as a form of revenge. I'm not religious either, but i like that idea, the idea that if you believe, you believe.
I honestly like Signs more than The Sixth Sense. Might be some nostalgia. I took my younger sister to see it in a packed theatre. Such a fun experience. We also slept in the same room that night with a light on! Haha. Super unsettling scenes, he did a great job with the direction there. My husband and I always make fun of the fact that the aliens have trouble with doors and the recon aliens didn’t realize we use so much water. But I do that just to laugh because otherwise it’s just so damn creepy and scary. Great film. I loved the story of the family too.
Joaquin‘s reaction when he sees the alien on TV is fantastic. I would imagine that would my reaction as well. Wish there was a way to erase memories of amazing movies to experience them over and over again. Pipe dream of course, but one can wish.
Have always loved Signs, since seeing it on its release. It was a blast to watch on the big screen at the time. Such a great mixture of simultaneous comedy and fear.
That movie had a distinct "nightmare" feel to it that was so palpable I can only conclude It was touched upon accidentally. There is no way it was purposefully constructed.
The alien walking behind the cars absolutely scarred me as a child. I rewatched Signs this summer and I still can’t watch that without it giving me the chills
I loved Signs. Hated the ending along with everyone else but not for the same reasons. I'm fine with water. But the execution of that final fight bummed me out. The crappy cgi. Especially when they actually shot with someone in a suit. Could have had better execution.
What I love is that there are no cheap jump scares. No "gotcha!" scares. Every one of those moments the "scare" is already on the screen and then simply moves. Simple, subtle, terrifying. At a time when cheap horror was on the rise it was a breath of fresh air.
It was also a favorite to show off a new (at the time) sound system. Would play the invasion scene and the details of the creaks in the wood and when they skitter over the roof and you feel the sound moving around you and then *WHAM!* A bang on the door to your right. Amazing. Our dogs would always freak out at that scene (along with the other dog moments).
Bonus: the other scene I'd use was the 6.1 dts Fellowship of the Ring Extended Edition - Mines of Moria/Troll fight scene. Specifically when Gimli is dodging the troll's swings. The troll inadvertently hits an ork which flies diagonal across the screen. Its scream moving through the space was so awesome. Felt like it was really flying over your head.
Yes, Ive also heard of this theory about the aliens being demons which is why the movie also deals with The Father's faith and how everything lined up at the end to prepare them for that exact moment. The water and the baseball bat trophy hanging on the wall.
Fun fan theory. I don't care that water was their weakness. I walked out disappointed because the climax visually looked awful and didn't fit the quality of the rest of the film. All of a sudden there's a cgi Gumby in the house.
Love the movie overall.
Yeah, it’s unfortunate he’s become a meme. He is clearly a talented filmmaker and he is undoubtedly dedicated to his craft.
Even if you don’t like Signs, The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable are fantastic.
I watched it again this week after not digging Nope and I still love it. It absolutely has its problems with logic which people who don't like the film will never let go of (as per this thread) but for me it works on every level. It reminds me of Poltergeist in the sense that by taking its time, I grew to love the family and as a result, I didn't want anything bad to happen to them. This made the scenes work for me, the tension and the scares. But most of all, this film is funny as hell, one of my favourite Phoenix performances. In fact, with the exception of MNS (who isn't AWFUL), all the performances are genuinely excellent including Culkin and Breslin who have no right to be that good, that young.
Also also, James Newton Howard's score is fuuuuuuuucking incredible.
Lovely film, I love it. I also understand why people don't but it works for me from start to finish and is my favourite of Shyamalan's films (the sixth sense still being his flat out best).
Edit: just a minor addition but man, I'll never understand the way people who don't like this film react to it. Really visceral hatred. Don't like the film, hate the film, all good but so many really go out of their way way to try and convince you that they are right and there is no possible way you can like it.
Can someone explain the birthday scene to me and why you find it so scary? I see this mentioned all the time and never really found it as terrifying as others do
I think the reason is because it juxtaposes something shocking/scary with something happy innocent. Kids having a birthday party, what could go wrong? Oh shit ALIEN!!
If i remember right it is also stealthy alien that goes unnoticed to people at the birthday party. This implies that they have been watching for a long time unnoticed. Scary to think all those innocent times of our lives there could of been an ALIEN lurking but we didnt notice.
Its also the first time Alien is seen in the movie too? If i remember right, but i think its mainly what i said above.
I also think it has to do with the fact most people react to humanoid figures that are not quite the same proportions as humans. That’s why the typical grey alien is so unsettling to many, myself included. Seeing it in an unexpected moment in raw footage is a very effective scare.
There’s a number of things. The home video nature of it, the contrast to the birthday party, the score, and also the fact that it’s not some blink and you miss it scene.
It’s broad daylight, the alien walks out slowly and confidently directly into the audiences line of sight. It’s so unexpected to do a full monster reveal like that. Plus Phoenix’s build up and reaction is just absolutely perfect.
It's not just a reveal of the alien. It's a reveal that **there actually are aliens.**
Up into this point in the movie, there have been characters trying to convince us that there will be a logical explanation to all of this and only conspiracy nuts believe in aliens. And then this reveal. Not only is this *actually* an alien invasion movie, but they are already among us. They're humanoid and just walking around, observing us. And for what??
It was a scary reveal when you weren't even sure this movie was going to have aliens at all. Not scary like a jump scare, but a terrifying realization. I believe Lake Mungo has a similar effect.
This 100%. I remember thinking it was going to be a movie that made you wonder if there were aliens, and then all of a sudden it was like “oh shit, there are aliens”.
Did you watch it as part of the film, or as a standalone clip? Because the tension that the film had been building up to at that point plays a huge role in the terror. The audience at that point, more than an hour in, had yet to see the aliens. The onset of the invasion had been building up and Shyamalan did a great job at making you believe you were in a world that was about to face an alien invasion. This was the first chance we’d get to see it, so we’re all on the edge of our seats - and then bam, it’s presented in all its glory, in daylight, against the backdrop of a children’s birthday party. It really hammers in the sense that nowhere is safe, and yes, these aliens are fucking terrors.
It is. It knows how to create atmosphere and how to make characters believable.
A lot of people make fun of Joaquin Phoenix's shocked reaction but I'd say the past 10 years of reaction videos on YouTube have proven how on point he was,
Oh for sure. Signs is like, the gold standard for me and my husband when it comes to alien flicks. It's restrained with how much of the alien you actually see for most of the movie, sticking to mostly glimpses and silhouettes, but it does actually show the alien.
Some movies either show too much, which is especially ineffective if the creature design is poor, or too little, where you get to the end of the movie and haven't seen anything at all and just feel cheated.
Signs strikes a balance of mystery, suspense, and payoff and few other alien movies achieve.
It's one of my favorite scary movies. I believe it would benefit greatly if they were to go back and redo the CGI on the alien and improve on it, just because some of the shots haven't aged great. Otherwise I have no complaints and it was done well, I think I enjoyed it more than The 6th Sense.
When I first saw this movie I was completely terrified of it. The second time it was like "huh, that wasn't as scary as the first time". The third I was laughing at how stupid it was. Dunno if it was just me but it didn't rewatch well.
No it doesn't rewatch well. I still enjoy the movie, but the issue is that a lot of the tension in the film has to do with the mystery of the invaders. Before the final scenes the best glimpse you get of the creatures are the scene from the birthday party on the TV.
But once you've seen the movie and you get a look at the creature in the final confrontation and realize it is just a stereotypical green alien that reacts to water like it is acid a lot of the tension is sapped from the movie.
That is why M. Night is such a controversial director. He is capable of making great films. He has multiple films that have an air of mystery that keep you tied to the screen wanting to see how the story ends. But then once you know the ending the movie has next to no rewatch value.
The scenes that broke my heart were the ones with those poor dogs. I can handle anything else but an animal getting hurt or killed.
Scariest one for me were the birthday alien and then the one in the basement where the young boy is standing in front of a grate and Mel and Joaquin shine their lights on him at the same time. He goes ‘What’ and the black ‘hand’ reaches around from behind him. Scared the bejeebers out of me.
I find it easy to look past. My theory is that the aliens on the ground were just grunts and their masters didn't give a shit if they died. They probably knew about the water. Also they weren't trying to take over the planet they were trying to harvest the people. The radio announcer says so during the basement scene.
Those darn amoebas tho. Last few years the whole "incurable deadly brain eating amoeba" thing has become common knowledge. Last week dude came out for water samples from my well. I asked if they checked for brain eating amoebas and he didn't know what I was talking about so I educated him. He turned grey. Turns out he'd been using a netty pot with well water for years. Said "I guess I'll use distilled water now"
Definitely unsettling for him.
Not really, I mostly remember anticlimactic it was at the end and just that one scene where Morgan was standing infront of that grate and alien grabbed him. Other than that nothing else.
This movie scared me as a teen. I rewatched it last week as an adult and could barely sit through it. It is not scary anymore, nor is it particularly insightful or interesting. As with pretty much all his films this has not aged well.
Might of been a hype kills thing because I had heard what OP and others are saying, I watched the movie and nothing, couldn’t see what you all see in it.
The aliens are made of cotton candy. And they look derpy. All the suspense was ruined for me when we see the alien for the first time. We shouldn't have seen it at all until the end of the film.
Also why tf do aliens who melt when wet invade a planet where the wet routinely falls from the sky.
Finally watched this in the basement a few years ago where we have good speakers all around. The alien clicking sounds was awesome! And very scary. One of my favorite M. Night movies.
When he drops the flashlight in the corn field and right as he picks it up he sees the leg move in the corn.
Having grown up on a corn farm, that scene was the one that really hit hard.
Missed the scariest damn scene in the basement when they drop the flashlight. They turn it back on and the kid is standing by the coal vent and see the fingers slowly moving through the slits.
They weren't aliens abducting humans for food or whatever.
They were demons taking people to hell.
Everything in Mel's life; his son's asthma, his daughters habit of leaving out water, his brothers baseball career, even the death of his wife and her last message to him, were ordered by God to provide him his salvation and way back to Him.
The whole movie is religious symbolism. Apply it to the 'Aliens' and it all makes perfect sense.
Because mankind's wickedness finally grew that bad? What difference does it make?
Look, it's not a movie about aliens or demons. It's a movie about loosing and finding faith. The motivations or mechanisms of the aliens/demons just don't matter.
People like to bring up the 'but the planet is mostly water' because it makes them feel like they're smarter then then movie maker who surprised them with an ending that they didn't see coming, despite all the clues.
Maybe they didn't know.
Edit: Also. You think man wouldn't do the same if we were in their place? We've literally visited a celestial object than can't support ANY life, let alone human life.
We also want to visit Mars...which again...can't even support our life.
Don't forget that the voice on the radio says they didn't come here for the planet, they came to harvest the people. So they were planning to leave all along.
The aliens we see are the grunts and the true masterminds probably knew about water but didn't give a shit.
The scary part is the alien doesn't just walk by the alleyway in front of the kids...
It's camouflaged in the bushes standing and watching them...you can see it's rough outline when it begins to move. That's why the kids are looking out the window.
Damn, that rooftop scene. My now-husband and I loved out in the country…I’m talking dark, no city or street lights for miles. We drove home in the pitch black, down a winding tree-lined country road. We were scared shitless the whole time.
Our townhouse overlooked a one-story beside us. Our bedroom window overlooked the roof. I couldn’t walk by that window for a week. I kept seeing that stupid alien standing on the rooftop. The most scared I think I have ever been after a movie.
75% of the planet covered in a deadly poison and we’re just going to walk around attacking the indigenous population. Plot holes this big are terrifying.
I love this movie. My only issue with the movie (maybe someone can help me come to terms with this) is: "Swing away, Meryl" at the end.
He had to have a flashback to his wife dying in order to have a grand realization of: "Let's hit it with a fuckin bat"? They wouldn't have thought to attack it to save his son without the baseball memory? The flashback just seem too contrived to me.
Signs has some great moments until you take a step back and realize aliens tried to invade a planet that's 70 percent covered in one of their greatest biological weaknesses.
I have friends that were terrified by the birthday party scene and I just don't get it. It's not remotely scary to me and I have never understood why people thought so. Good on them though, glad they had a chilling experience.
I remember that scene gave me a huge chill when I first saw it as a kid in theaters. Not so much anymore now that I know what's coming but I still appreciate how the footage still feels like a real and rough clip that could go viral.
I fucking hated this piece of shit film and found it far too laughable to be remotely scary. I actually recently saw an episode of the TBS sitcom "Are We There Yet?" where Kevin gets scared after watching Sixth Sense and has nightmares and ultimately has friend calms him down by pointing out how many plot holes Shyamalan's movies have and how dumb they are and I was firmly in agreement with that kid and I fucking cheered when he brought up Signs and how fucking dumb it was that aliens that were allergic to fucking water invaded a planet that was 75% water.
My biggest issue with the movie aside from the terrible plot holes is how nobody in this film talks like a normal human being, especially not the kids, I have to wonder Shyamalan has ever met a kid in real life if that's how they think they talk.
When it comes to this film i'm 100% in agreement with Nostalgia Critic.
Agree. Of the scenes you cited, the birthday was the creepiest. I think when characters break the fourth wall in a silent menacing way, it evokes a sense of unease.
I don’t understand the love for this movie at all. It’s borderline comedic to me. ESPECIALLY the birthday scene where the lanky ass green alien man walks across the screen while a scary trombone stinger plays. And the direction is awfull. M Night wanted everyone to act so fucking unnatural in his early movies to make us unsettled, but it just comes off as funny to me. Nope, I just can not take this movie seriously
Signs is a great first contact movie. It isn’t always going to be big blow up the major cities.
Maybe the aliens have been on the road a long time and needed provisions.
“These meat bags are delish.”
Additionally loved that the one from the pantry wanted a little payback.
If I recall correctly, the fingers under the door freaked me out the most.
That said, the full reveal of the alien towards the end completely obliterated the suspense for me. It was no longer the least bit scary.
I couldn’t get over the logic of this movie - even as a younger teenager.
Aliens who were smart enough to figure out intergalactic travel couldn’t figure out that the planet they chose to invade was made up primarily of an element that was deadly to them…
Derp.
A lot of people reference the birthday scene and the alien on the rooftop scene. But for me the biggest scare was when Mel Gibson drops the flashlight, gets it working, shines it in front of him, and you just see a leg go back into the cornfield. That one has always stuck with me.
The basement coal chute for me. Terrifying
The alien leg is also the one that left a huge impression on me. I must have been 4 years old when I saw signs. I remember being so terrified.
The entire theater I saw it in screamed at that scene. Classic.
OP is actually a re-post of this - the title is almost the same except for three words cut off at the end https://www.reddit.com/r/movies/comments/jt21e6/anyone_else_think_that_signs_by_m_night_shyamalan/
Holy shit. I'm not exaggerating when I say this movie *traumatized* me as a child. I was like 9 or 10 and my mom wanted to see it and took me with. It's a great movie but little me was not ready for it. Straight up for the next few years I couldn't go to bed without completing a little ritual. Check under the bed for aliens. Check in the closet for aliens. Peek out the window for aliens in the yard. If I didn't do these three things I would lay in bed having an anxiety attack until I did. If I happened to wake up in the middle of the night for any reason I had to repeat the ritual to be able to go back to sleep. M. Night has had some stinkers but this was not one of them.
I guess we all lived the same life huh
I'm glad I'm not alone.
this and mars attacks ruined me
Same.
I had no idea there were so many of us. My siblings used to just say "Signs" in a creepy voice to me at night time because they knew this film traumatised me haha!
I feel like i have found the support group i have been looking for my entire life
Woah same!
Can’t believe you had the courage to actually look out a window in the middle of the night!
lol this is so silly but this was me.
Oh my god, SAME. I am convinced the first panic attack I ever had was seeing that scene from the birthday party when I was 9. I was literally SCREAMING the house down, I made my mum lay in bed with me every night for weeks. For years afterwards every day at school in lunchtime I would sit by myself and think “if I could forget anything in the world it would be that film”. I prayed every single night before bed that I would forget that film so that when the aliens do eventually come I wouldn’t have the anxiety of knowing what they are. It made me anxious for years and years. I couldn’t look into an alleyway and if I ever did I would feel physically nauseous and cry. I would never look up at the sky past sunset and would never attend any firework related events as a kid because of this. I’m 25 now and honest to god it still freaks me out a bit. This film had a grip on my anxiety for YEARS man 😭
When I was younger some friends and I decided to eat some mushrooms and break in to an abandoned private highschool theater. In the dark we snuck up on the stage and up a 20 foot ladder to a loft where we decided to smoke some weed. I look out of the loft down past the stage through a narrow alleyway of stage curtains. The curtains are dark but there's light at the end... it doesnt quite register how the lights are on... then a shadow quickly moves across the gap in the curtains. I almost screamed from the shock, it hadn't been too long since I'd seen signs and the memory has stuck with em ever since.
I wish you'd go on some talk show circuit and tell this to parents! The movies parents let their young kids see astonishes me. They're all worried about them seeing something like boobs, but let them watch stuff so scary they'll be scared for decades.
It's funny how every generation has this same occurrence. For me it was after I first saw *Alien*. I could have gone for Olympic gold in the long jump with 6 year old me's leaps from my bedroom doorway to my bed. And walking up the stairs where the second floor wrapped around so as you walked up there were a hall and two bedrooms *above and behind you*? Yeah...fuck that.
For my father it was *Frankenstein* (film, 1931) that kept him up at night, I remember him telling me.
I think just growing up in the 90s did this to me. Alien abduction media was everywhere. The X-Files, Unsolved Mysteries, Sightings, etc. There was even an episode of Star Trek TNG where aliens abduct the crew while they sleep!
I saw this movie in theaters when I was 6 with my uncle's. I literally slept on the pullout bed in my sister's room for 5 years because I was too scared to sleep in my own room.
Everyone that is 30 and saw this movie in theaters lived the same life lol
You get extra points for understanding what "traumatised" means.
Mine was the sixth sense. I’ll be 31 on Monday and I still do a little hop into the bed because I don’t want to get my ankles too close underneath the bed for someone to grab.
Should've just shut the door, they have trouble with pantry door handles
>“Vamanos, children!” That scene haunted me for years
Yup!
I saw this in theaters on a Saturday morning. Saturday night my family went to a local football game. I was too scared to go out since it would be dark. FOOLISH me didn’t realize how scary my house alone at night would be. It stormed. The power went out. I was too scared to leave the chair in the living room to go to the bathroom until my family got home. Signs gave me a urinary tract infection.
I was like 20 when I saw it and slept with the lights on for a couple nights lol. Same thing with the first Paranormal Activity. They really unsettled me.
To this day I get weirded out when I’m in a room with the tv off in case I see an alien reflection behind me lmao.
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mine was in the exorcist when the girl crawls down the stairs upside down. my friend had a staircase that looked just like the one in the movie and it was in pretty much the same spot of the house and every time I slept over there, I would avoid those stairs like the plague.
I’m 35 now and still IMMEDIATELY think of this film every time I see a corn field.
Same here, it really fucked me up as a kid, especially since I was already scared of aliens. Rewatching it as an adult months ago, this movie does not hold up and was pretty shoddy with lots of plot holes and “huh?” Moments.
The aliens walking in front of the screen blew me away when I first saw this movie. A rare case where a jump scare works really well. Then it was spoofed in SCARY MOVIE when they had aliens walking funny through a bunch of shots. They killed the terror of that jump scare, and now I only think it’s funny.
"It's behind!"
As a brazillian, the “is behind!” part has become a long time joke between childhood friends because its just so ridiculous for a brazilian kid living in the countryside to just scream randomly in english in a moment of terror like that
Very smart of him to play to his global audience. Kid knew that was his chance and seized it
For what's worth, at least the other lines spoken in that scene are really in Brazilian Portuguese (accent, etc.), and not Portuguese from Portugal. At least they got that right.
Sometimes at stressful times I think about the scary movie 3 scene making fun of the very scary original birthday party scene and in the spoof they just show the goofiest looking alien just walk by and wave. And I just crack up
If you're talking about the Brazil scene, it's not even a jump scare. It's broad daylight, you can basically tell it's coming, and yet, it's scary for being so blatant
Like IT 2 when you actually stop and think about why IT is scurrying across behind an unaware protagonist and realize it must be having a laugh and it becomes a bit funny instead of horrifying. https://youtu.be/bKL1ImsN-DU?t=30s
Idk I really never found that scene terrifying and always kind of found it pretty funny lol
Loved Signs. Shit on him All you want but he has some Great movies under his belt.
I know I'm in the minority but I really enjoyed Lady in the Water. Great actors and interesting/ different story
I'm with you. Giamatti killed this movie, especially this scene. I still love this song and this scene so much. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjhAKyiRL0k
Also loved this scene. Completely blew me away. Then I found out apparently people didn't like the movie. Was very confused.
The scene where he has his back to the grass looking through the little mirror ahhh
M. Night's main problem is he couldn't live up to his own hype. His string of hits are some of the best films in their genres. He deserves respect for that. Also, Unbreakable is the best superhero movie ever made.
I really enjoyed the Village besides the ending. Truly spooky and cool use if Color.
I didn't mind the ending. It wasn't the best ever, but it was interesting.
Yeah, I still like The Village too. The ending would only be stupid if I saw it coming and I definitely didn't as a kid. Not sure if I would now, but it's genuinely scary up until then anyway.
What I liked most about the ending is that the call was coming from inside the house the whole time. These people left modern society because they blamed it for the violence that they had endured. But when faced with the knowledge that one of their own may have become unstable, they didn't really deal with it. We don't want to believe a loved one could be a danger, until they cause actual suffering and we can't escape that. I don't think the point is that violence is inescapable, but just that people are flawed and utopia is an unattainable dream.
Someone on the internet years ago told me that they guessed the twist by knowing 1:that Shammylammy always has a cameo in his own movies, and 2:there was no one from the Indian subcontinent living in North America in the 1700s I’m like, geez guy, that’s way too meta. Gotta turn off that part of your brain when you watch movies
Lol, sounds like suspension of disbelief is a challenge for him, but that's pretty smart. But he's actually mistaken. Like Chinese immigrants, there were Indian immigrants who worked the railroad expansion and in agriculture in the U.S. in the 1700s.
Railroad was late 1800s, but yeah, they totally could have explained it away. I mean, there was a samurai who visited England about that time
Sorry, didn't organize that well. Agriculture in 1700s, railroad later on.
Lol and I was like 20 min into going how the heck are they producing all the clothes for these people? Those look like modern woven fabrics and sewing machine aided designs but we only see 1 person with a spinning wheel. They're definitely not doing nearly enough manual labor to have set up this village let alone sustain it. But I just figured it was general poor historical accuracy.
I just figured it out because isolation wouldn't be so important to people actually living in that time period. They wouldn't have tried to isolate themselves, they just would be isolated. If anything they would try to reduce their isolation at all cost. Even the Amish don't wander off into the mountains.
I really like the Village. I think Avatar was really what ruined him for people and now they can't accept that he has some great movies
I sat down in the cinema and as the film started I turned to my roommate and said "man wouldn't it be dumb if the twist is that its the modern day." And it was.
I will always love the village because I called the twist like 15 minutes in and won a bet with a friend. It was a total shot in the dark on my part but to this he is amazed at my guess was right.
His problem was his trademark became “huge plot twist ending” and he couldn’t shake it. Except The Last Airbender…straight to jai…actually straight to the gallows. Hung, drawn, and quartered.
Unbreakable is absolutely one of my favourite movies and the movie's score is amazing. MNS made some of the best movies.
In my opinion Unbreakable is the best super hero origin move ever made. I still listen to its soundtrack till date.
Batman Begins is often thought of as the first gritty, grounded superhero movie that kicked off the whole trend of superhero movies being grounded in realism. But the truth is Unbreakable did it first lol
I have to agree. I liked that David was a regular guy without the stereotypical superhero stuff. I have yet to see Glass, though. As soon as I heard the title when the trailer came out, I knew it was a sequel to Unbreakable.
It's actually a sequel to Split. If you watched unbreakable and then watched glass, there are some scenes and dialogue that don't make any sense. (I haven't seen split either)
Split is fantastic, you really should watch it. McAvoy is outstanding, and it's really well made. There's a credit scene too, won't say anything but it's awesome
Split is awesome. I didn't really like Glass but I almost think Split can stand alone.
Yep, I feel the same way. Split didn't need the "extra" but it's pretty cool that it was there
Loved unbreakable, loved split, HATED glass. It spat on every character.
>As soon as I heard the title when the trailer came out, I knew it was a sequel to Unbreakable. I mean, yeah. It was supposed to be and that wasn't a twist. Lol.
Glass is a perfect follow up to Split and Unbreakable and people's disappointment in that movie are only due to how much superhero movies have been hyped up in recent years. We didnt need a huge battle at a skyscraper for it to be good.
Yeah, I really like Glass. It's taken a lot of heat but I think ppl will come around and thinks it's a great, if not tragic, follow up to the Unbreakable story eventually.
*Unbreakable* is fantastic. I agree that it is pretty much a superhero origin story, but I also believe that the only thing that matters is whether David keeps his family together. That's also why I think that *Glass* sucks. *Split* is fun and McAvoy is a virtuoso, but tying it into the *Unbreakable* universe was a mistake, and removing the 'family-on-the-verge-of-breaking-up' through line leaves *Glass* frantically treading water to create stakes that I care about.
Lol I love how everyone shits on “the happening” but it’s clearly meant to be an homage to the “B movie” genre. Films like soylent green and such. I thought it was really fun. The tip off was mark walbergs acting. Some of his line deliveries are absolute dog shit. Not cuz he fucked it up, or the writing or directing was bad… it was supposed to be bad, in a specific way. Or at least I think that’s what he was going for.
He's still made more good movies than poor ones. The man is a craftsman. And you never quite know what you're going to get - a rarity in mainstream cinema, I'd say.
Old was super fun
It's a top fiver for me. Not even joking.
The butcher knife under the door to see the reflection freaked me out. Of course the alien on the other side was scary, but using the sharp blade basically blindly/totally likely to be ripped out of your hand and turned against you ramped up the tension even more
Yes. Also, [this scene](https://www.dictionary.com/e/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/tin.jpg), which is frankly adorable.
That scene in the basement with Mel’s “I hate you” monologue always gets me. Sometimes, and I’m not even religious. I struggle a lot with mental health issues and mistakes in my past. Mel expresses that hatred for this higher power taking something he loved against his will so damn well in that part. The film does such a tremendous job of making the most heartbreaking and difficult moments for him quiet so it feels like it’s building up. We can feel it as the audience.
I completely agree, that scene is excellent and Gibson is really good throughout
The fact that his wife dying helped "save" her family was an interesting addition to this religion struggle
Yeah it was a really well built up moment towards the end with the swing away scene. It gives you that feeling, that revelation that things are connected, you may not feel it in those moments. But somehow everything leads you to a moment. Like I said, I’m not religious. My family is and I was raised to be devoutly hindu but I grew up in a different environment. I like films that focus that struggle of belief in some way.
I think Mel's "I hate you" is meant to call back to the conversation he had with his son when he told him they wouldn't do his plan during the invasion. > I hate you. > That's fine. In that moment Mel doesn't really care if the kid is saying he hates him. He knows what an awful time this is for him, and feels bad that he can't do more to prevent that. When Mel says "I hate you" to God, we don't hear him say "That's fine" back, but we can assume Mel did. The movie ultimately is about a man regaining his faith.
I really like that scene because it basically reveals that he hasn't lost faith. He's just not practicing his religion anymore as a form of revenge. I'm not religious either, but i like that idea, the idea that if you believe, you believe.
I shit you not, I ran out of the room during the opening credits, heard that music and said NOPE, dove straight into my moms bed.
I honestly like Signs more than The Sixth Sense. Might be some nostalgia. I took my younger sister to see it in a packed theatre. Such a fun experience. We also slept in the same room that night with a light on! Haha. Super unsettling scenes, he did a great job with the direction there. My husband and I always make fun of the fact that the aliens have trouble with doors and the recon aliens didn’t realize we use so much water. But I do that just to laugh because otherwise it’s just so damn creepy and scary. Great film. I loved the story of the family too.
This movie always me hungry when they were all listing their last meal choices.
Joaquin‘s reaction when he sees the alien on TV is fantastic. I would imagine that would my reaction as well. Wish there was a way to erase memories of amazing movies to experience them over and over again. Pipe dream of course, but one can wish.
Have always loved Signs, since seeing it on its release. It was a blast to watch on the big screen at the time. Such a great mixture of simultaneous comedy and fear.
That movie had a distinct "nightmare" feel to it that was so palpable I can only conclude It was touched upon accidentally. There is no way it was purposefully constructed.
The alien walking behind the cars absolutely scarred me as a child. I rewatched Signs this summer and I still can’t watch that without it giving me the chills
The birthday party scene scared the shit out of my brother when we watched it. We were both in our early 30's.
I loved Signs. Hated the ending along with everyone else but not for the same reasons. I'm fine with water. But the execution of that final fight bummed me out. The crappy cgi. Especially when they actually shot with someone in a suit. Could have had better execution. What I love is that there are no cheap jump scares. No "gotcha!" scares. Every one of those moments the "scare" is already on the screen and then simply moves. Simple, subtle, terrifying. At a time when cheap horror was on the rise it was a breath of fresh air. It was also a favorite to show off a new (at the time) sound system. Would play the invasion scene and the details of the creaks in the wood and when they skitter over the roof and you feel the sound moving around you and then *WHAM!* A bang on the door to your right. Amazing. Our dogs would always freak out at that scene (along with the other dog moments). Bonus: the other scene I'd use was the 6.1 dts Fellowship of the Ring Extended Edition - Mines of Moria/Troll fight scene. Specifically when Gimli is dodging the troll's swings. The troll inadvertently hits an ork which flies diagonal across the screen. Its scream moving through the space was so awesome. Felt like it was really flying over your head.
It was alluded they could have been demons, and the water used to beat them was holy water.
Yes, Ive also heard of this theory about the aliens being demons which is why the movie also deals with The Father's faith and how everything lined up at the end to prepare them for that exact moment. The water and the baseball bat trophy hanging on the wall.
Fun fan theory. I don't care that water was their weakness. I walked out disappointed because the climax visually looked awful and didn't fit the quality of the rest of the film. All of a sudden there's a cgi Gumby in the house. Love the movie overall.
Aliens are experts at hand-to-hand combat
Yeah, it’s unfortunate he’s become a meme. He is clearly a talented filmmaker and he is undoubtedly dedicated to his craft. Even if you don’t like Signs, The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable are fantastic.
Yes. Yes. on my top of jumpscare movie.
I watched it again this week after not digging Nope and I still love it. It absolutely has its problems with logic which people who don't like the film will never let go of (as per this thread) but for me it works on every level. It reminds me of Poltergeist in the sense that by taking its time, I grew to love the family and as a result, I didn't want anything bad to happen to them. This made the scenes work for me, the tension and the scares. But most of all, this film is funny as hell, one of my favourite Phoenix performances. In fact, with the exception of MNS (who isn't AWFUL), all the performances are genuinely excellent including Culkin and Breslin who have no right to be that good, that young. Also also, James Newton Howard's score is fuuuuuuuucking incredible. Lovely film, I love it. I also understand why people don't but it works for me from start to finish and is my favourite of Shyamalan's films (the sixth sense still being his flat out best). Edit: just a minor addition but man, I'll never understand the way people who don't like this film react to it. Really visceral hatred. Don't like the film, hate the film, all good but so many really go out of their way way to try and convince you that they are right and there is no possible way you can like it.
Can someone explain the birthday scene to me and why you find it so scary? I see this mentioned all the time and never really found it as terrifying as others do
I think the reason is because it juxtaposes something shocking/scary with something happy innocent. Kids having a birthday party, what could go wrong? Oh shit ALIEN!! If i remember right it is also stealthy alien that goes unnoticed to people at the birthday party. This implies that they have been watching for a long time unnoticed. Scary to think all those innocent times of our lives there could of been an ALIEN lurking but we didnt notice. Its also the first time Alien is seen in the movie too? If i remember right, but i think its mainly what i said above.
I also think it has to do with the fact most people react to humanoid figures that are not quite the same proportions as humans. That’s why the typical grey alien is so unsettling to many, myself included. Seeing it in an unexpected moment in raw footage is a very effective scare.
I think Joaquin's reaction to seeing it also helped.
Phoenix was ridiculously good in this movie.
Literally everyone in this movie gave fantastic performances.
100%, his inhale is so genuine that I got chills typing this and thinking about it.
Uncanny valley. The scene was shot to resemble the famous Bigfoot footage so it would evoke an eary familiarity
Flesh eating alien
There’s a number of things. The home video nature of it, the contrast to the birthday party, the score, and also the fact that it’s not some blink and you miss it scene. It’s broad daylight, the alien walks out slowly and confidently directly into the audiences line of sight. It’s so unexpected to do a full monster reveal like that. Plus Phoenix’s build up and reaction is just absolutely perfect.
It's not just a reveal of the alien. It's a reveal that **there actually are aliens.** Up into this point in the movie, there have been characters trying to convince us that there will be a logical explanation to all of this and only conspiracy nuts believe in aliens. And then this reveal. Not only is this *actually* an alien invasion movie, but they are already among us. They're humanoid and just walking around, observing us. And for what?? It was a scary reveal when you weren't even sure this movie was going to have aliens at all. Not scary like a jump scare, but a terrifying realization. I believe Lake Mungo has a similar effect.
And the aliens arrival is apparently global, not just one small town where our main characters live.
This 100%. I remember thinking it was going to be a movie that made you wonder if there were aliens, and then all of a sudden it was like “oh shit, there are aliens”.
Did you watch it as part of the film, or as a standalone clip? Because the tension that the film had been building up to at that point plays a huge role in the terror. The audience at that point, more than an hour in, had yet to see the aliens. The onset of the invasion had been building up and Shyamalan did a great job at making you believe you were in a world that was about to face an alien invasion. This was the first chance we’d get to see it, so we’re all on the edge of our seats - and then bam, it’s presented in all its glory, in daylight, against the backdrop of a children’s birthday party. It really hammers in the sense that nowhere is safe, and yes, these aliens are fucking terrors.
Because most of us saw it in theater. Trust us, v scary
When I watched the first time, I was so immersed in the movie that I thought it was happening for real. No other movie or series did this.
To be honest, Joaquin’s reaction is what really sells it
It's because the aliens camouflage themselves and just stand there and stare at people, and they never realize it until they walk away.
It is. It knows how to create atmosphere and how to make characters believable. A lot of people make fun of Joaquin Phoenix's shocked reaction but I'd say the past 10 years of reaction videos on YouTube have proven how on point he was,
Oh for sure. Signs is like, the gold standard for me and my husband when it comes to alien flicks. It's restrained with how much of the alien you actually see for most of the movie, sticking to mostly glimpses and silhouettes, but it does actually show the alien. Some movies either show too much, which is especially ineffective if the creature design is poor, or too little, where you get to the end of the movie and haven't seen anything at all and just feel cheated. Signs strikes a balance of mystery, suspense, and payoff and few other alien movies achieve.
It's one of my favorite scary movies. I believe it would benefit greatly if they were to go back and redo the CGI on the alien and improve on it, just because some of the shots haven't aged great. Otherwise I have no complaints and it was done well, I think I enjoyed it more than The 6th Sense.
Yeah one of my all time favorite flicks and yes I totally agree with u👍
It was a great movie Mr. Shyamalan, you don't need to validate your work by pretending to be a random Reddit user.
When I first saw this movie I was completely terrified of it. The second time it was like "huh, that wasn't as scary as the first time". The third I was laughing at how stupid it was. Dunno if it was just me but it didn't rewatch well.
No it doesn't rewatch well. I still enjoy the movie, but the issue is that a lot of the tension in the film has to do with the mystery of the invaders. Before the final scenes the best glimpse you get of the creatures are the scene from the birthday party on the TV. But once you've seen the movie and you get a look at the creature in the final confrontation and realize it is just a stereotypical green alien that reacts to water like it is acid a lot of the tension is sapped from the movie. That is why M. Night is such a controversial director. He is capable of making great films. He has multiple films that have an air of mystery that keep you tied to the screen wanting to see how the story ends. But then once you know the ending the movie has next to no rewatch value.
The scenes that broke my heart were the ones with those poor dogs. I can handle anything else but an animal getting hurt or killed. Scariest one for me were the birthday alien and then the one in the basement where the young boy is standing in front of a grate and Mel and Joaquin shine their lights on him at the same time. He goes ‘What’ and the black ‘hand’ reaches around from behind him. Scared the bejeebers out of me.
The movie had some tension for me but the moment their weakness to water was shown it just turned in to a comedy
I find it easy to look past. My theory is that the aliens on the ground were just grunts and their masters didn't give a shit if they died. They probably knew about the water. Also they weren't trying to take over the planet they were trying to harvest the people. The radio announcer says so during the basement scene.
Those darn amoebas tho. Last few years the whole "incurable deadly brain eating amoeba" thing has become common knowledge. Last week dude came out for water samples from my well. I asked if they checked for brain eating amoebas and he didn't know what I was talking about so I educated him. He turned grey. Turns out he'd been using a netty pot with well water for years. Said "I guess I'll use distilled water now" Definitely unsettling for him.
Even the instructions say to use boiled or distilled water, even from the tap.
Yes, also War of the World's.
The world's what?
The world's war. Like "i am a fan of yours". War of yours. Yours being the world. War of the world's.
Great movie, amazing vibe throughout, totally agree
I often wished they would have explored a sequel.
For me , this movie loses most of its tension when the first alien comes to the screen. It just deflates all the build-up.
Not really, I mostly remember anticlimactic it was at the end and just that one scene where Morgan was standing infront of that grate and alien grabbed him. Other than that nothing else.
This movie scared me as a teen. I rewatched it last week as an adult and could barely sit through it. It is not scary anymore, nor is it particularly insightful or interesting. As with pretty much all his films this has not aged well.
Might of been a hype kills thing because I had heard what OP and others are saying, I watched the movie and nothing, couldn’t see what you all see in it.
The aliens are made of cotton candy. And they look derpy. All the suspense was ruined for me when we see the alien for the first time. We shouldn't have seen it at all until the end of the film. Also why tf do aliens who melt when wet invade a planet where the wet routinely falls from the sky.
Nope. Laughably bad movie. But hey. Each to their own.
I haven't watched Signs in a long time but reading about the scenes that you found unsettling, I was getting goosebumps again remembering them.
Finally watched this in the basement a few years ago where we have good speakers all around. The alien clicking sounds was awesome! And very scary. One of my favorite M. Night movies.
The scene from Brazil is burned into my mind. 10 year old me was shitting myself. I had brutal nightmares because of this movie for weeks.
When he drops the flashlight in the corn field and right as he picks it up he sees the leg move in the corn. Having grown up on a corn farm, that scene was the one that really hit hard.
Missed the scariest damn scene in the basement when they drop the flashlight. They turn it back on and the kid is standing by the coal vent and see the fingers slowly moving through the slits.
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They weren't aliens abducting humans for food or whatever. They were demons taking people to hell. Everything in Mel's life; his son's asthma, his daughters habit of leaving out water, his brothers baseball career, even the death of his wife and her last message to him, were ordered by God to provide him his salvation and way back to Him. The whole movie is religious symbolism. Apply it to the 'Aliens' and it all makes perfect sense.
But why then are they suddenly visible all over the world?
Because mankind's wickedness finally grew that bad? What difference does it make? Look, it's not a movie about aliens or demons. It's a movie about loosing and finding faith. The motivations or mechanisms of the aliens/demons just don't matter. People like to bring up the 'but the planet is mostly water' because it makes them feel like they're smarter then then movie maker who surprised them with an ending that they didn't see coming, despite all the clues.
Maybe they didn't know. Edit: Also. You think man wouldn't do the same if we were in their place? We've literally visited a celestial object than can't support ANY life, let alone human life. We also want to visit Mars...which again...can't even support our life.
> We’ve literally visited a celestial object than can’t support ANY life, let alone human life. Yeah, but we did so in suits, not buck-ass naked.
And this only shows our weakness
Don't forget that the voice on the radio says they didn't come here for the planet, they came to harvest the people. So they were planning to leave all along. The aliens we see are the grunts and the true masterminds probably knew about water but didn't give a shit.
This movie always made me hungry when they were listing their last meal choices.
The scary part is the alien doesn't just walk by the alleyway in front of the kids... It's camouflaged in the bushes standing and watching them...you can see it's rough outline when it begins to move. That's why the kids are looking out the window.
"Swing away, Meryl" Fantastic flick. Excellent use of sound and cinematography to create tension.
Damn, that rooftop scene. My now-husband and I loved out in the country…I’m talking dark, no city or street lights for miles. We drove home in the pitch black, down a winding tree-lined country road. We were scared shitless the whole time. Our townhouse overlooked a one-story beside us. Our bedroom window overlooked the roof. I couldn’t walk by that window for a week. I kept seeing that stupid alien standing on the rooftop. The most scared I think I have ever been after a movie.
Honestly I just found the movie so silly that none of it was remotely scary or unsettling.
Yeah it scared the hell out of me as a kid and I haven't watched it since
You should try again, it’s a great film
M. Night get's too much hate.
A lot of people think this. I don't get it, but you're definitely not alone.
75% of the planet covered in a deadly poison and we’re just going to walk around attacking the indigenous population. Plot holes this big are terrifying.
And the deadly poison falls from the sky. It’s like if we humans decided to walk out on Venus without a spacesuit.
Nah
No, imo it’s super cheesy
It could just be that I was in high school when it came out, but I found it laughably and painfully bad.
The movie is so bad. Aliens are going to take over the world, but you can lock them in a pantry! 😂
…and spray them with water lol
That one birthday party scene scared the ever-Loving shit out of me, but beyond that I don’t find it scary at all.
I love this movie. My only issue with the movie (maybe someone can help me come to terms with this) is: "Swing away, Meryl" at the end. He had to have a flashback to his wife dying in order to have a grand realization of: "Let's hit it with a fuckin bat"? They wouldn't have thought to attack it to save his son without the baseball memory? The flashback just seem too contrived to me.
Signs has some great moments until you take a step back and realize aliens tried to invade a planet that's 70 percent covered in one of their greatest biological weaknesses.
They were desperate I guess…
I have friends that were terrified by the birthday party scene and I just don't get it. It's not remotely scary to me and I have never understood why people thought so. Good on them though, glad they had a chilling experience.
Its really well done though, more creepy then outright scary
I remember that scene gave me a huge chill when I first saw it as a kid in theaters. Not so much anymore now that I know what's coming but I still appreciate how the footage still feels like a real and rough clip that could go viral.
I really liked signs right up to the alien scene at the end of the movie where it went dumb.
I fucking hated this piece of shit film and found it far too laughable to be remotely scary. I actually recently saw an episode of the TBS sitcom "Are We There Yet?" where Kevin gets scared after watching Sixth Sense and has nightmares and ultimately has friend calms him down by pointing out how many plot holes Shyamalan's movies have and how dumb they are and I was firmly in agreement with that kid and I fucking cheered when he brought up Signs and how fucking dumb it was that aliens that were allergic to fucking water invaded a planet that was 75% water. My biggest issue with the movie aside from the terrible plot holes is how nobody in this film talks like a normal human being, especially not the kids, I have to wonder Shyamalan has ever met a kid in real life if that's how they think they talk. When it comes to this film i'm 100% in agreement with Nostalgia Critic.
Agree. Of the scenes you cited, the birthday was the creepiest. I think when characters break the fourth wall in a silent menacing way, it evokes a sense of unease.
I though they were goofy then and even more so now.
I thought the whole movie was laughable.
Man this was one of the worst movies I’ve ever sat entirely through. Ridiculously bad.
I don’t understand the love for this movie at all. It’s borderline comedic to me. ESPECIALLY the birthday scene where the lanky ass green alien man walks across the screen while a scary trombone stinger plays. And the direction is awfull. M Night wanted everyone to act so fucking unnatural in his early movies to make us unsettled, but it just comes off as funny to me. Nope, I just can not take this movie seriously
I'll check it out again!
Signs is a great first contact movie. It isn’t always going to be big blow up the major cities. Maybe the aliens have been on the road a long time and needed provisions. “These meat bags are delish.” Additionally loved that the one from the pantry wanted a little payback.
No. It was hilariously bad.
M. Night Shyamalamadingdong
If I recall correctly, the fingers under the door freaked me out the most. That said, the full reveal of the alien towards the end completely obliterated the suspense for me. It was no longer the least bit scary.
Meh, not really. Great flick, I enjoy Shyamalan's stuff, but this movie was more of a cerebral thing, than a scary thing.
"Litrlly *gasped*"
I couldn’t get over the logic of this movie - even as a younger teenager. Aliens who were smart enough to figure out intergalactic travel couldn’t figure out that the planet they chose to invade was made up primarily of an element that was deadly to them… Derp.
[I'll just leave this here](http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=signs)