You will gasp and jump with fright!

Rating: 10/10 (5 September 2002)

Signs is a great movie reminiscent of the old way of making a movie, built on suspense, great acting and the single most significant ingredient - FEAR. No computer graphics, no high tech weaponry, no non stop action. Just the slow building and continual hold of fear, and tension through out the entire movie.
The formula of Signs relies on the simple fact; that we as individuals fear the unknown.
The story is about a farming family who are dealing with the fairly fresh death of a family member. Gibson's Character, Graham "father" Hess has to deal with his own grief, let alone his children's. One morning, he finds the beginning of a Crop Circle, and thus the weirdness and installation of fear begins.
Is it Aliens, the local mischief makers or something else entirely?
A lot of the movie we go through a cat and mouse approach. You can hear the sounds of whatever is "out there", but you very rarely see what it is, as a whole. In one great scene, the Hess family are trapped in their boarded up house. The camera pans, as if our eyes, looking at the areas where we hear the movements of what is outside the house. And we know there is no where for these people to go, and no one can help them. They are a every day family, there are no weapons for them to use for protection. All they have is each other.
The suspense of Signs works because the story is realistic enough to relate to. All the emotions of fear, panic and the instinct to survive, the family go through in their secluded location, is to be expected of anyone in the same circumstance.
Mel Gibson is brilliant as the grieving father, once a priest, as he questions his faith. Signs would have to be the best movie I have ever seen Mel Gibson in and I've seen most of his movies!
Signs is one of the best suspense movies of recent years. If you decided to see only one movie this year, make it this one. You will not be disappointed. You'll be scared.