Signs (2002)
Directed by M. Night Shyamalan
A family living on a farm finds mysterious crop circles in their fields which suggests something more frightening to come.
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What critics say influenced Signs
Think Night of the Living Dead, only less creepy.
Like Unbreakable and The Sixth Sense, Signs takes place in Pennsylvania (my home state, incidentally), and in what seems to be the film�s most explicit homage to someone besides Hitchcock, the movie adopts, in its second half, the setup of George Romero�s classic horror film Night of the Living Dead, which was set outside Pittsburgh.
Even at the end of the film, after a blatant "Night of the Living Dead" rip-off, when he must deliver the goods, Mr. Shyamalan wisely opts for implication and reflection instead of gratuitous effects.
By leaving most of the menace to the imagination--and by borrowing from classics like "Night of the Living Dead" and "War of the Worlds"--he ratchets up the tension to nearly unbearable levels.
Shyamalan cites Invasion of the Body Snatchers, The Birds, and Night of the Living Dead as his inspirations for the way he wanted Signs to feel.
Before you can say "duck and cover," Shyamalan is rolling in the paranoia of "The War of the Worlds," "Close Encounters of the Third Kind," "The Birds," "Night of the Living Dead" and the full spectrum of 1950s sci-fi cinema.
All in all, though not loud visually or in audio, not a dull moment, and a rather fine arc of suspense building up to the climax Citing "Invasion of the Body Snatchers," "The Birds" and "Night of the Living Dead" as inspirations for the feel of "Signs," Shyamalan says, "I definitely feel akin to older filmmaking than today's filmmaking."
Shyamalan borrows from Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds" for a scene in which the Hess family is huddled in the sealed-up house while frightful noises come from every direction.
Shyamalan cites Invasion of the Body Snatchers, The Birds, and Night of the Living Dead as his inspirations for the way he wanted Signs to feel.
It's the spirit of "The Birds," which arrived 40 years ago and still looks fresh today.
The situation is similar to Hitchcock's "The Birds."
And if they do attack, are we prepared to fight them and still come away with our lives?Before you can say "duck and cover," Shyamalan is rolling in the paranoia of "The War of the Worlds," "Close Encounters of the Third Kind," "The Birds," "Night of the Living Dead" and the full spectrum of 1950s sci-fi cinema.
While the film's score (by frequent Shyamalan collaborator James Newton Howard) ingeniously combines homages to Bernard Herrmann's themes for "Psycho" and John Williams' music for "E.T.," in these scenes Shyamalan employs no score, letting the exterior sounds and actors' strong performances work the audience's anxiety.
A hard-to-swallow spookfest cum religious parable, the film, which also recalls everything from "E.T.
"E.T." and "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" are paid homage via a riderless swinging swing and mashed potatoes.
Visual motifs of the seventies and eighties have turned the century with him: His fascination with science and the myth of Pinocchio (from Close Encounters to AI), the men in spacesuits ready to arrest our spirits (Close Encounters to E.T. to Minority Report).
Letting the viewer's imagination do most of the work for him, Shyamalan creates some terrifically tense and taut moments that should remind viewers of the similarly classic scenes from "Close Encounters of the Third Kind."
"E.T." and "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" are paid homage via a riderless swinging swing and mashed potatoes.
Its antecedents -- Rod Serling's The Twilight Zone, George Romero's Night of the Living Dead, and, surprise!, Steven Spielberg's Close Encounters of the Third Kind -- are obvious almost immediately, but Shyamalan's personal style, which falls somewhere between the hyper-surreal world of David Lynch and the bland normalcy of Leave It to Beaver is his all his own.
And if they do attack, are we prepared to fight them and still come away with our lives?Before you can say "duck and cover," Shyamalan is rolling in the paranoia of "The War of the Worlds," "Close Encounters of the Third Kind," "The Birds," "Night of the Living Dead" and the full spectrum of 1950s sci-fi cinema.
Newsweek has already declared him... "The Next Spielberg" ...which is clearly Shyamalan's ambition, but this film's idea on faith is like a simplistic version of Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
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While the film's score (by frequent Shyamalan collaborator James Newton Howard) ingeniously combines homages to Bernard Herrmann's themes for "Psycho" and John Williams' music for "E.T.," in these scenes Shyamalan employs no score, letting the exterior sounds and actors' strong performances work the audience's anxiety.
Those viewers who notice how much of the movie is imported from "Close Encounters of the Third Kind," "Night of the Living Dead," "War of the Worlds," "Poltergeist" and "The Birds" (not to mention "Field of Dreams") may find themselves distracted from the things in it that actually work.
Most will pick up echoes of Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Night of the Living Dead and Poltergeist just for starters, but one never gets the sense that Shyamalan is plundering past chillers.
Indeed, it borrows liberally from SF-horror classic The War of the Worlds and strongly echoes such straight-up horror films as Prince of Darkness and Night of the Living Dead - even The Blair Witch Project .
Suffice to say that the film has "War of the Worlds" overtones, and that some moments recall both "The Blair Witch Project" and "The Others."
If you like low-tech, spooky fare such as “The Others” and to some extent “The Blair Witch Project,” the odds are you’ll like this one, too.
"Signs" exploits fear of the unknown better than any movie since "The Blair Witch Project."
In short, John Carpenter's "They Live" had a much more plausible Alien Invasion story than this, hokey "subliminal advertising" themes aside.
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Indeed, it borrows liberally from SF-horror classic The War of the Worlds and strongly echoes such straight-up horror films as Prince of Darkness and Night of the Living Dead - even The Blair Witch Project .
One of my colleagues has already noted that with acres and acres of corn rising "as high as an elephant’s eye," in the words of the lyric in South Pacific by Oscar Hammerstein II, there’s no sign of any farm equipment or chores.