Goosebumps abound!: Skillful, crafty, sly, scary... but ultimately a beautiful film

Rating: 10/10 (12 January 2003)

Every year there is a point where I (mentally, at least) give up on mainstream American cinema and relegate myself to enjoying classics or smaller budget, obscure, foreign, or indie films. Imagine my surprise when I found myself hooked to the first 3 minutes of this film, and then enjoying it.
Back to the film. The film is scary, it's very scary, and it delights in the stuff that scares people and little kids on a day to day basis: reflections, sounds, music, intense paranoia (paranoia is a very big factor in this film). But believe me, the threat of alien invasion is hardly what this film is about. Many scary films these days rely totally on their scare factor, this film made the wise decision not to. It uses what is scary in the film as a tool to hammer in a bigger point about faith and trust and family.

Where that may sound as though it's delving into the awfully sappy world of Hallmark Hall of Fame, it's not. The film rather reminded me of The Twilight Zone (though, strangely, Shyamalan does not list that series as a basis or inspiration in the documentary). The film centers around the Hess family who suffered a devastating blow after a rather gruesome tragedy. The portrayal of grief and death and everyone's estrangement is cold and sharp, there's nothing sweet about this movie. The tone of the film has a deadpan humor to it. Everything is stricken and old looking (Graham Hess, Gibson's character, is a preacher, and a lot of his Victorian country farmhouse looks like it's full of hand me downs), except for the muted and lush visuals of the gorgeous countryside. The music (especially at the beginning, which in a theatre was loud and shocking), is deliciously creepy and chilling yet at the same time works for dramatic purposes, kudos to James Newton Howard for such a skillfull piece of work. Tak fujimoto's cinematography milks the fear, bleakness, and sarcasm from the air by the gallons. Bravo! Finally, the fears of the family about the strange occurrences, and their desperation when the super sci-fi situation seemingly gets out of hand, feels very, very real, and keeps you juggling, just like the characters, for a good while as to what is real and what isn't.
The actors are the same. They're honest and blunt with their styles. They all gel their performances and characters together to create a world onscreen that becomes realistic, they are realistic. It's a horror movie, it has to be believable. The characters are flawed, with idiosyncrasies, they aren't perfect specimens, they all have something that's wrong with them, physically, mentally, spiritually, they are human after all, yet we still accept them. This really fleshes the movie out and makes it more believable and them more endearing, and ultimately, rewarding. For example: the devestated Graham Hess' interaction with his children is often listless, he worries about them, but often can't express his feelings, so they tend to turn to their uncle for any solace (wonderfully played by Joaquin Phoenix in a rare role for him as the normal, suave, and slightly comedic Merrill Hess, a man who embarrassingly failed at minor league baseball). Cherry Jones turns up in a wonderfully played supporting role as a local police officer and friend of the family's. It's not often that you see someone get so much out of a limited supporting role and give so much back to the benefit of the film as Ms. Jones does with her role. And you remember her character and performance. Kudos to her.
This film is unpretentious and sly. Everything about this film works towards the goal, in the end everything fits like a jigsaw puzzle, I can't say much lest I give away any vital plot points, but let me say that it makes you believe it's all about one aspect of the movie, then hits you with a larger theme and message, but you're so wrapped up with the scary part, you forget about the latter. The "big twist" is not supernatural but human. The ending is one of the more ingenious and truly beautiful endings I have seen in years.
Like Sixth Sense and Unbreakable, this film craftfully weaves drama with horror. Where I found the other two films applaudable and superbly crafted, I found "Signs" was truly endearing to me. There's something about how it gives you goosebumps during the frightening parts, yet also the human "drama" parts that was different from many a film I've seen. I rarely get goosebumps watching people interacting with each other, most of the time films can be so banal, pretentious, and cliched, human drama loses all effect, but not here. And ultimately, when the scare factor rubs off, the film retains it's rewatchability. It's a fun entertaining movie that was perfect as a summertime hit, yet it's also a stunning, stirring film that wasn't afraid to use unconventional means to get a higher, more profound, message across.