‎Signs (2002) directed by M. Night Shyamalan • Reviews, film + cast • Letterboxd

Signs

2002 Directed by M. Night Shyamalan

It’s not like they didn’t warn us.

A family living on a farm finds mysterious crop circles in their fields which suggests something more frightening to come.

Mel Gibson Joaquin Phoenix Rory Culkin Abigail Breslin Cherry Jones M. Night Shyamalan Patricia Kalember Ted Sutton Merritt Wever Marion McCorry Michael Showalter Rhonda Overby Lanny Flaherty Clifford David Kevin Pires

106 mins More details at IMDb TMDb Report this film

Popular reviews

Review by SilentDawn ★★★★★ 18

93/100

"Morgan, after you were born, the doctor gave you to your mother. When she first looked at you, you just stared right back. You both just stared at each other for longest time, and you didn't even cry."

Faith as horror. Family in the process of rebuilding. Suspense within silences. Terrifying and beautiful in a way I can't quite describe, mainly because of its unrelenting confidence. I wish I could replace every new theatrically released christian movie with this.
Review by jose 💉 ★½ 4

my mom asked me about joaquin’s name and she said “guacamole phoenix” asfshfjfkflkf
Review by SilentDawn ★★★★★ 3

93

"Looks a little like our house doesn't it?"

Baptism by water. A uniquely traumatic drama anchored by comedy and familial disruption. As scary as it is amusing and overflowing with tears.
Review by Esteban Gonzalez ★★★★★ 12

“What you have to ask yourself is what kind of a person are you? Are you the kind that sees signs...sees miracles? Or do you believe that people just get lucky?"

Signs was M. Night Shyamalan's second movie after The Sixth Sense and in my opinion it continues to be his last great film. I've enjoyed his later movies, but they never reached the high standard that those films along with Unbreakable set. Signs is a masterpiece at building up tension and delivering a truly atmospheric and suspenseful story. To this day I can still recall the uneasiness I felt at the theatre with James Newton Howard's masterful score (how it wasn't nominated for an Academy Award still astonishes me…
Review by Peaceful Stoner ★★★★ 23

Film #3 of Gustav's M.National Shyamalan-a-thon

“People break down into two groups. Are you the kind that sees signs, that sees miracles? Or do you believe that people just get lucky? Or, look at the question this way: Is it possible that there are no coincidences?”

A man, who has lost faith and belief in God due to bereavement, due to an irreplaceable loss, which he considers is betrayal on the part of the Almighty is forever deemed to decay in a state of self-doubt and relentless, inexpressible dissatisfaction. He thinks God did not stay true, did not requite the kindness he had shown to Him and to his fellow beings. When his Faith was firmly instilled and propagating, he…
Review by ciara ★★½ 1

every time joaquin was on screen my mum softly gasped and whispered “joaquin...” which first of all is a big mood and second of all made the movie way more dramatic than it actually was because it was uhhhh. boring

Recent reviews

Review by Jay Hearn ★★★

Intentionally or unintentionally, this movie is hilarious.
Review by swaind1 ★★★½

One of M shamal knights better films, led with a powerful performance by a racist
Review by Greg Clark ★★★★

Found SIGNS on Hulu while doing some work this evening, which I haven't watched in at least a decade. SIXTH SENSE is his most accomplished movie and UNBREAKABLE is his most interesting, but SIGNS is still the pinnacle of Shyamalan really swinging for the fences for the title of Great American Director. Even with the slightly fumbled ending (I don't mind it so much), it's the kind of blockbuster that's so fully committed to its off kilter tone and push/pull of humor and tension we just rarely see anymore--especially in this day and age of over directed anti-horror films that work better as showreels than narratives. I'll put the scene with the leg in the cornfield up against any slow…
Review by Kimberly

I mean it wasn’t bad?
Review by Ronnie Northern ★★★½

Swing away, Merrill. Swing away.
Review by Holly C ★★★½

“There’s a monster outside my window...could I have a glass of water?” Saw this a good few years ago. Freak me out
Review by I See Dead Pixels ★★½

The first indication that M. Night Shyamalan was not going to be the consistently brilliant Director The Sixth Sense (1999) and Unbreakable (2000) suggested he might be. The mysterious crop circle concept is intriguing enough, but Shyamalan doesn’t capitalise on it with any real suspense until the closing moments. The message of fate and faith is reflected well, especially in the last scene, but by then my conclusion was already made. Some good moments but a slow build up ultimately drains the suspense from the film.
Review by George ★★½

At some points I was definitely intrigued but this has absolutely nothing on Shyamalan’s other work.
Review by TomWilliams777 ★★★★½

A great movie in every sense. A masterclass in building tension. Only issues are minor ones with the CGI alien (which is okay considering when it came out) and the child actress playing Bo wasn't as good as the one who played Morgan. A great score helps this movie a lot but many of the emotional scenes are mostly due to great performances from Mel Gibson and Joaquin Phoenix. You may not like this as much as I did, but I hope you do.

NOTE: I do acknowledge how dumb the final reveal is but I think the movie as a whole is so outstanding that it deserves forgiveness.