Spooky And Silly By Turns

Rating: 7/10 (4 April 2010)

Starring Mel Gibson - not always a warranty of enjoyment.
The aliens are coming to get us. And the kids can hear them talking in obscure ways in television static, phone-line crackle, and stuff like that. For the most part the audience is left frustrated and wondering, like long-suffering dad Mel Gibson.
The 'Signs' progressively increase in intensity. There are massed UFO sightings. Something seems to be creeping about in the tall, rustling corn crops, which seems to draw upon a Stephen King short story for its particular inspiration.
The crisis arrives, and the aliens lay siege to the Gibson family home, which is little more than a big clapboard shack.
Unfortunately, these aliens who can travel across the galaxy in flying-saucers encounter something quite beyond their experience and - it seems - utterly defeating: the doors have locks! Yup; just shut 'em in the pantry and they're screwed. Or lock yourself in the cellar and there's nothing for it but to admit defeat and go back to your home-planet. Locks - who would've believed it? Those darned, crafty humans.
Ah - but one get's left behind. And I'm not surprised; he looks like ET's great Uncle Fester. Wouldn't want to spend hypersleep lying next to him - or her, or whatever.
When it's spooky, it does a really good job. But - gosh - when it comes to being silly, it has few equals.
Be sure to lock your doors before you go to bed and you should be safe from any risk of abduction. Unless they manage to Shanghai a locksmith first, that is.