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Signs
A family living on a farm finds mysterious crop circles in their fields which suggests something more frightening to come.
2002 · Directed by M. Night Shyamalan · 106 min · Thriller · Science Fiction · Horror · Screenplay in the scene database · 15 frames
Tagline
It's not like they didn't warn us.
Plot
Former Episcopal priest Graham Hess lives on a rural farm in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, with his asthmatic preteen son, Morgan, and young daughter, Bo, who has a fixation on contaminated water. Graham's younger brother Merrill, a failed minor league baseball player, has been helping the family since Graham's wife Colleen died in a traffic collision six months earlier. Graham abandoned the church in the aftermath of the incident.
A large crop circle appears in the Hesses' cornfield, which they initially attribute to vandals; however, other similar crop circles begin appearing globally. When lights from unseen objects begin appearing over more and more of Earth's cities, speculation of an alien invasion grows worldwide, including at the Hesses' farm. Morgan believes he hears alien noises on Bo's old baby monitor, while Merrill becomes convinced after seeing footage from Brazil of an unidentified humanoid creature. On successive nights, Graham sees an intruder standing on the roof of his home and in the cornfield, yet remains adamant there is a reasonable explanation for all events.
Graham receives a phone call from veterinarian Ray Reddy, the man responsible for his wife's death, and drives to his house. Expressing remorse for Colleen's death, Reddy tells Graham of a creature he has locked in his pantry and, believing they avoid water, he leaves for the lake. Graham enters the house and attempts to see under the pantry door, when a clawed hand swipes at him and he severs the creature's fingers in a panic. Having seen this, Graham decides to protect his house by boarding up the windows and doors. That night, an intruder breaks in, and the family takes refuge in the basement, where Morgan has an asthma attack, but despite leaving his medication upstairs, Morgan survives the night.
Plot summary from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA.
Crew
- Written by: M. Night Shyamalan
- Cinematography: Tak Fujimoto
- Edited by: Barbara Tulliver
- Music: James Newton Howard
- Production design: Larry Fulton
- Produced by: Sam Mercer, Frank Marshall, M. Night Shyamalan
Cast
- Mel Gibson as Graham Hess
- Joaquin Phoenix as Merrill Hess
- Rory Culkin as Morgan Hess
- Abigail Breslin as Bo Hess
- Cherry Jones as Officer Paski
- M. Night Shyamalan as Ray Reddy
- Patricia Kalember as Colleen Hess
- Ted Sutton as SFC Cunningham
- Merritt Wever as Tracey Abernathy
- Lanny Flaherty as Mr. Nathan
Production
- Country: United States of America
- Language: English, Portuguese
- Studios: Touchstone Pictures, Blinding Edge Pictures, The Kennedy/Marshall Company
- Budget: $72,000,000
- Box office: $408,200,000
- Themes: farm, faith, symbolism, miracle, family relationships, alien, grief, rural area, alien invasion, crop circle
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