Signs

Rating: 6/10 (16 October 2007)

I think I've rarely seen a movie that left me with an ambivalent feeling as strong as I had it after watching "Signs". It is another proof that M. Night Shyamalan is as talented in creating a threatening mood and lead the audience to nail-biting scenarios as rarely anyone else in the United States. The scenes in the cornfield are some of the best in recent suspense cinema history and could easily have been in one of the best movies in recent history. If there hadn't been this other part in this film, meaning the past of Mel Gibson's character as a priest, the death of his wife and the way he slowly finds back a way to believe in god. In a horror film it is advisable not to show the threat, so the viewer has many possibilities to envision it for himself. You have to keep the possibilities open. For creating suspense, Shyamalan is well aware of this principle. But when it comes to the faith storyline (and also the resolution), Shyamalan ignores the many possibilities and serves religious hardliners.