Signs (Vista Series) (2002)

USA Today
"...Skillfully made....The movie keeps you watching..." 08/02/2002 p.12D

New York Times
"...Mr. Shyamalan is a master of control, with a sure grasp of the classical filmmaking lexicon. His suspense sequences build slowly and elegantly, and his is adept at evoking dread through shifting camera angles and careful manipulation of the frame..." 08/02/2002 p.E1

Entertainment Weekly
"...Lushly ominous....It's a high-octane doomsday vision built almost entirely around our sense of anticipation..." 08/09/2002 p.43-4

Chicago Sun-Times
"...SIGNS is the work of a born filmmaker, able to summon apprehension out of thin air..." 08/02/2002 p.29

Premiere
"...The movie offers several nicely turned pop-out-of-your-seat moments..." 09/01/2002 p.16-17

Sight and Sound
"...A terrific suspense movie..." 10/01/2002 p.51-2

Total Film
"...SIGNS turns out to be a primally petrifying experience....A very intimate and emotionally astute portrayal of a family under threat..." 10/01/2002 p.120-1

Chicago Sun-Times 10 of 10
M. Night Shyamalan's "Signs" is the work of a born filmmaker, able to summon apprehension out of thin air. When it is over, we think not how little has been decided, but how much has been experienced. Here is a movie in which the plot is the rhythm section, not the melody. A movie that stays free of labored explanations and a forced climax, and is about fear in the wind, in the trees, in a dog's bark, in a little girl's reluctance to drink the water. In signs...The genius of the film, you see, is that it isn't really about crop circles, or the possibility that aliens created them as navigational aids. I will not even say whether aliens appear in the movie, because whether they do or not is beside the point. The purpose of the film is to evoke pure emotion through the use of skilled acting and direction, and particularly through the soundtrack. It is not just what we hear that is frightening. It is the way Shyamalan has us listening intensely when there is nothing to be heard. I cannot think of a movie where silence is scarier, and inaction is more disturbing...In "Signs," he does what Hitchcock said he liked to do, and plays the audience like a piano. There is as little plot as possible, and as much time and depth for the characters as he can create, all surrounded by ominous dread. The possibility of aliens is the catalyst for fear, but this family needs none, because it has already suffered a great blow. - Roger Ebert
 
ReelViews 8 of 10
Just when it seemed that every shelf in the "alien visitors" library had found an occupant, M. Night Shyamalan has uncovered an unused one for his own use. Although Shyamalan's Signs includes plenty of clues and cues from previous movies about the arrival of our stellar neighbors, his overall approach is radically different from the ones taken by Independence Day, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Contact, or other similar fare. By limiting the number of special effects shots and treating the film more like a horror movie than a science fiction spectacle, Shyamalan creates a claustrophobic atmosphere and keeps the tension level high. There were times during this film when I was strongly reminded of Panic Room...Like The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable, Signs is not easily pigeonholed into a single genre. It gleefully crosses boundaries and defies classification. In many ways, it is Shyamalan's most accomplished film to date. Unlike The Sixth Sense, it doesn't rely on bamboozling the audience. And, irrespective of its flaws, Signs is more satisfying than Unbreakable. Despite the financial success of his two previous outings (combined, nearly $1 billion worldwide), no one is yet ready to reserve a place in the director's hall of fame for Shyamalan, but, based on the evidence available in Signs, he is maturing nicely. - James Berardinelli