'Sixth Sense' follow-up shows real signs of masterful storytelling and subtlety

Rating: Null/10 (31 August 2003)

Signs (2002) Mel Gibson, Joaquin Phoenix, Rory Culkin, Abigail Breslin, Cherry Jones, M. Night Shyamalan, Patricia Kalember, D: M. Night Shyamalan.

A widowed minister (Gibson) raises his two children with his former baseball-player brother (Phoenix) in the Pennsylvania farmlands while mourning his wife's tragic death. One morning, he wakes up to find huge mysterious crop circles in their cornfields, which puts the family into a fearful invasion.
Director Shyamalan has a special gift for subtlety like Hitchcock, and approaches his storytelling with fear and anxiety. Not a special effects movie at all, which it easily could've been, but a drama about faith and miracles. The set piece of a cornfield is perfect for some real scary stuff just waiting to jump out at you (and with a evocative score by James Newton Howard).
Running Time: 105 minutes and rated PG-13 for frightening moments.

RATING: *** (out of ****)