Merrill Hess

Merrill Hess is the brother of Graham Hess in the movie Signs. 
He was played by Joaquin Phoenix, who also played Kenai in Brother Bear and Bobby Green in We Own the Night.
==History==
Similar to Graham, he also too is alarmed by the sound of someone screaming, causing him to jump off his bed. Merrill Merrill runs frantically into Graham and they hear Morgan, his nephew and Graham's son, say, "Dad! Uncle Merrill! Dad!" They run through the cornfield. Merrill holds on to Bo, upon finding her in the cornfield. Merrill enter what is revealed to a large crop circle, one of three in a formation. We next see Merrill when Graham asks him to tie Isabelle, the other dog to the back of the garage. Merrill then gets woken up by Graham, who tells him Lionel Prichard and the Wolfington Bros., Merrill's archenemy, is back. Merrill vows to fight them. He devises a plan to scare them away. When they hear movement outside, they decide to run. Merrill says, "We're gonna beat your ass bitch," in a rather hilarious way. I can imagine the alien was more in a scared defenseless state rather than in combat mode, and confused, like, "Why are these folks chasing me?" Haha. Upon reaching Graham, the figure jumps up to the roof. Merrill is truly confused, saying, "Are you sure this is Lionel Pritchard. The figure then jumps into the corn, but we can't see. The next morning Merrill reveals that he works at a gas station. He is joined by Graham with Caroline, the officer from earlier on, when they try to investigate who was the intruder. Merrill frustrated and feeling that investigation is going nowhere, saying, "Excluding the possibility that a female Scandinavian olympian was running around our house last night, what else might be a possibility," upsetting Caroline. He then apologizes. But they are interrupted by Bo, who says news is playing on every station. We find out that crop circles are being made everywhere, and there is talk of extraterrestrials, weirding Caroline out. On her advise, the family decides to go into town to get their minds of the news. Merrill runs into an army recruiter who tells them, indirectly, that aliens are probing the places for an invasion, scaring Merrill. Later on we Lionel Pritchard, who insults Merrill about his past. This angers Merrill who tries to scare him. The family joins up for pizza, when they see Ray Reddy, the man who killed Coleen. When they return home, Morgan's baby monitor picks up a signal. Merrill dismisses this as "nerd" stuff. But even Merrill believes eventually, when he says, "You'll lose the signal." It's revealed that some creatures are talking. Later, Merrill is eating some chips, when Graham returns home, scared. The family witnesses in disbelief as UFOs are reported over Mexico City, causing Merrill to say, "The nerds were right." Later that night Merrill and Graham have a talk about fate. Merrill then talks about meeting a cute girl, named Martha McKinney, but saying he was blessed, because kissing her would have been a mistake, cause she was sick and had gum in her mouth. But is quickly shut up when Graham says that no one is looking out for them. The next morning, Merrill sees disturbing news about the UFOs becoming invisible, and a bird crashing into something in the sky. We next see Merrill when he's watching news about "disturbing" footage from Paso Fundo, Brazil, from a birthday party. We see kids frantically frightened. We then see a creature walk through the driveway. It's revealed to be a reptilian alien. This shocks Merrill. They replay the footage and we get a nice paused shot of the alien. Merrill then tells Graham that's it's no wonder they couldn't see the alien-their skin changes color. Merrill, now a believer, is wearing tin foiled hats. He then goes to board up the house, along with Graham. They then watch footage that now 274 have lights in the sky. Merrill then tries to comfort the kids, but scolds Morgan when he says that he wishes Merrill was his dad, angered by Graham's lack of faith. They then have a last meal, but Merrill suggest sandwiches, saying eating fast would be the best thing. But Graham doesn't mind a big meal. They have a final meal, but Graham doesn't want to pray. Outraged that the others are not eating, he takes food from everyone. Everyone sobs and cries and hugs. Morgan's baby monitor alerts them the aliens are coming. Merrill and Graham rush to finish boarding up the rest of the house. Merrill tells Graham to hurry. They board up the door to his bedroom. Upon going down the stairs, they realize they forgot about Isabelle, who is crying frantically. She is all of a sudden silenced. They hear movement outside. Merrill suggests turning the lights off. When the aliens finally reach the door, and thuds begins, Merrill warns that the aliens are entering the house. Merrill then realizes they forgot about one door—the attic door. They retreat into the basement. Graham, frightened, as Merrill if they can find something to wedge against the door nob. The aliens finally reach the door and try to open it, with the knob, but Graham holds on to door. Merrill then finds an axe but breaks the light bulb by accident. After boarding the knob with an axe, Merrill looks for a radio, hoping to see if there's any news of what's happening. Merrill, frightened, says in a chilling way, "What's happening out there?" The aliens then make noises, but they're not trying to get in. Merrill thinks it's because aliens want their attention at the door, but Graham correctly thinks it's a distraction. They realize a coal chute was used in the house, centuries before. They look for it. Merrill remarks that he can also feel air. Upon arriving, they realize an alien's hand is there waiting to attack Morgan. The hands grab Morgan and a rush to rescue him and board the coal chute door happens. Upon rescuing him. Merrill boards the chute door with dog food bags. He finds a can and adds 8 more pounds of pressure against the coal chute. Graham regains his faith in God at this moment, although cursing him out when trying to pray that Morgan gets rescued. Merrill and Graham and the rest of the family go to sleep. Merrill wakes up ahead of them, because of a news report saying the aliens retreated. Merrill then tells Graham the good news, but scolds him for his lack of faith. Merrill and Graham take Morgan's baby monitor out to make sure no more aliens are in, or within the area - and/or proximity, of the house. They reluctantly open the basement door. The coast is clear, until an alien grabs Morgan. Revealed to have 2 chopped fingers off, we find out it's the same alien that attacked Graham and had its fingers chopped. Merrill then is told to "swing away," by Graham. Taking his instructions, he takes the bat and swings at the alien. Sensing an attack, the alien pours poison on Morgan, which proves to backfire. This enrages Merrill, who launches a retaliatory attack. He then finally attacks the alien where it hurts the most, with tap water, the tap being harmful to the aliens. Merrill then attacks and swings at the alien. We then see Merrill praying that Morgan is OK. When Morgan speaks, Merrill cries. Morgan's asthma is what blocked the alien's poison from getting in.
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