'The Sixth Sense' turned into a religious film with aliens...

Rating: 4/10 (4 January 2015)

Several of my friends have recommended this movie to me over the years, telling me it is an engaging psychological thriller and one of the scariest movies they had ever seen. I finally found a copy of 'Signs' in a thrift shop and decided to check it out for myself. I waited until it turned dark, turned out all the lights, and settling in for a thrilling adventure...
The story immediately introduces the audience to eerie and mysterious crop circles in Graham's (Mel Gibson) corn field, where he finds his kids walking around (in a typical children-who- casually-say-something-creepy-to-their-worried-parent fashion) after waking up. The plot then delves into the realms of extra-terrestrial life from the viewpoint of an average family (by average I mean average on-screen family, where there is a young boy, younger girl, single parent (with a deceased spouse), and some other family member who has come to live with them) who live in a small, rural town in their old farmhouse. Many reviewers see 'Signs' favorably because of its attention to the realistic aspect of a hypothetical alien invasion, focusing on just your average family and how they see what is going on in the outside world. However, Shyamalan goes too far in this regard, using sometimes extremely cheesy dialogue and several awkwardly written scenes to stress this family's averageness.
I won't go any further into the plot, and anyway I feel like there is nowhere else to go. Throughout the movie, the dialogue felt extremely forced and it sometimes felt more like I was reading a screenplay off a piece of paper than watching a film. I was expecting much more depth and character development going into this Shyamalan movie, especially after watching 'The Sixth Sense.' However, I was highly disappointed, as the film felt like a failed attempt at incorporating the psychological elements and suspense of 'The Sixth Sense' into an extra-terrestrial thriller/horror film (I mean really, Mel Gibson even begins to look like Bruce Willis after a while). I gave it a 4/10 because the directing and cinematography is decent (I enjoy Shyamalan's style), but the screenplay is extremely sub-par. The premise of 'Signs' isn't half bad, but it would have made a much better short film than full-length feature. The acting and directing is fine, but the film felt hollow, with a solid shell and nothing to fill it. In addition, there was an unexpected and completely unnecessary religious element added to the film (I won't go into detail to avoid accidentally giving out spoilers) that completely changed the general feel of the movie from a psychological, extraterrestrial thriller to that of a religious flick, in my mind.
If you're looking for a psychological thriller, sci-fi, or horror film that will keep you as engaged as 'The Sixth Sense' and leave you staring at the screen, this movie isn't for you. Just watch the 'The Sixth Sense' again. However, if you enjoy Shyamalan's style and want to see his take on an extraterrestrial thriller, you may enjoy 'Signs.' Just don't expect to leave the movie in awe or have any nightmares about it (you're more likely to have nightmares about the screenplay than the actual aliens in the film).
(I'm not even going to get into the plot holes, just read the other reviews...)