Halloween Movie Countdown #3: Signs

Do you want to know how I can tell this is 2012, not 2002? In 2002, this list (and many other sites' horror movie lists) would be comprised of 2-4 M. Night Shyamalan movies. Oh, back then, Shyamalan was getting all sorts of exciting new titles like The Next Spielberg or The New Master of Suspense. As anyone who really follows movies can tell you now, the man has yet to live up to either of those titles in the long run. I'm still hopeful that someday he'll come back to the land of quality filmmaking and pull of the biggest twist of his career by actually churning out wonderful films again. Until then, we've got four great gems to go back to. One of these gems, and certainly the scariest of them, is Signs.

Signs is not simply a gem of M. Night Shyamlan films, nor is it even a gem of any particular genre. It is a phenomenal movie that really pushes forward at all stops with fantastic writing, directing, and acting. This is a filmmaker at the top of his game crafting a smart, tender, and terrifying story. As far as I'm concerned, this is the best alien invasion movie of all time, perhaps the best of its sort of strange invasion genre. Shyamlan stated his influences for this film as The Birds, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, and Night of the Living Dead. So, that's what I mean by the "sort of strange invasion genre." It's not limited to alien invasions or zombies or birds, simply the plight of an ensemble of characters as an invasion threatens to destroy the world.

As for Signs, though, we are talking about an alien invasion. Our cast of characters is Graham Hess (Mel Gibson), a widower farmer in Pennsylvania who lives with his brother Merrill (Joaquin Phoenix) and his young son and daughter Morgan and Bo. Graham was a Reverend, but has lost his faith in anything other than raising his children and managing his farm since the death of his wife. Merrill was a famous baseball player whose life has been stalled as he lives with his brother, helping him raise the kids. When a pandemic of crop circles hits, signs are everywhere that this is not a prank; things will never be the same.

The absolute genius of Signs doesn't come from the aliens or the scares. It comes from the fascinating family drama and arc of a man struggling with the concept that the universe has meaning. In a scene, Graham tells Merrill the world is filled with two people:

"People break down into two groups. When they experience something lucky, group number one sees it as more than luck, more than coincidence. They see it as a sign, evidence that there is someone up there watching out for them. Group number two sees it as pure luck, just a happy turn of chance. I'm sure the people in group number two are looking at those fourteen lights in a very suspicious way. For them, the situation is a fifty-fifty. Could be bad, could be good, but deep down, they feel that, whatever happens, they're on their own and that fills them with fear. Yeah, there are those  people, but there's a whole lot of people in group number one. When they see those fourteen lights, they're looking at a miracle and deep down, they feel that, whatever's going to happen  there will be someone there to help them. That fills them with hope. See, what you have to ask yourself is what kind of person are you? 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 there are no coincidences?"

Sure, it's a long quote, but a beautiful one. This right here is what Signs is really about. The alien invasion provides the setting for these kinds of questions the characters must confront. Mel Gibson absolutely nails it with this performance, creating a character trying to be cold and indifferent to the universe, but creating the emotional core of the film as he deals with everything falling apart around him. This film is really about a family dealing with the alien invasion, and that is why it is miles above the movies that even inspired Shyamalan to make it. The Birds may be a very original film, but I don't remember a thing about the characters in it. Don't even try to suggest that the Romero movies were really just character dramas set during the zombie apocalypse. They had satirical components, but this is a legitimate family drama, which makes it so much more compelling and ultimately terrifying when things start to really escalate.

The really scary films are the ones that instill a sense of fear because you genuinely don't want anything bad to happen to the main characters. Signs paints such a realistic portrayal of a family still trying to deal with the tragedy of the mother's death that you better believe you're scared when the thought of a gruesome death is put on the table. Yet, up until the climax, the threat is examined from the intimate perspective of these characters. We don't see aliens for quite sometime, not until Merrill sees one on the news. This scene alone is so wonderfully effective in just how realistic it ends up being, but it ends up being the point where fear really settles into your brain. This is the point when the hair on the back of your neck stands straight up. This is when you drop your jaw and clench your fists. This is beautiful cinema.

Sure, we can all say M. Night Shyamalan has a bad track record by now, but don't you ever dare suggest his Signs script was anything but immaculate. Every scene, every detail is completely relevant and fits together into the larger narrative with absolutely perfect ease. Knock The Happening all you want, then worship Signs. While the majority of films on this countdown have created a significant and lasting impact on the landscape of cinema, Signs (tragically) stands a lone masterpiece of its time. It captivated audiences a decade ago, but the filmmakers failed to take note, including the filmmaker who made it. Perhaps someday, we'll get another horror film as emotionally satisfying as Signs, but don't hold your breath. Gems like this are hard to find and even harder to get made.  Until then, why not watch the best?