Signs

During a scene of peril when it looks as if Grahms asthmatic son Morgan might die, he even becomes angry, telling God “Don’t do this to me again. I hate you! I hate you!” It’s a heartbreaking scene and one that clearly disturbs Grahm’s worldly brother Merill. So much so that Merill later scolds Grahm for his faithlessness saying, “I don’t ever want to see you like that again. Ok?” Then, during the climax of the film, God uses a miracle to save Morgan, allowing his asthma to be the key to protecting him from an alien’s poison. During this scene, Grahm realizes that it wasn’t an accident that the asthma attack happened and when Morgan wakes up and asks, “what happened? Did someone save me?” Grahm tearfully replies, “yeah, I think someone did.”

Now for the family themselves. Grahm, even though he has lost his faith, still loves his children and his brother fiercely. After the passing of Grahm’s wife, Merill moved in with the rest of the family to help out on their farm and help raise the kids. Merill also protects the rest of the family from an alien by beating it with a baseball bat. Grahm comforts his frightened children during an alien attack on their house by telling them stories of when they were born. Morgan protects his little sister Beau from a mad dog and later promises her that he won’t let anything bad happen to her.

Now for negative content. There is some bad language during the beginning of the film. There are two s-words, a use of pi*s, a use of bi**h, and a couple milder profanities including a single use of da*n, a misuse of God’s name, and three uses of a*s. However, other than the second s-word that is used toward the middle of the film, after the first twenty minutes or so, there is no more cursing.

The only other content of concern is the violence. I personally consider “Signs” to fall into the suspense/ thriller category, but I know some people who consider it a horror movie, and that is understandable. This movie is scary, but pretty blood-less. A dog goes crazy and a boy kills it by stabbing it with a barbecue fork. We don’t see the actual death take place, but we later see the fork sticking out of the dead dog’s neck. Still, it’s not bloody. Another time a dog can be heard barking before whining and going silent, apparently killed by the aliens. Grahm uses a knife to cut off two fingers of an attacking alien. As mentioned earlier, Merill uses a baseball bat to beat up an intruding alien. (Spoiler alert) during that scene, water is spilled on the alien and it burns through the skin like acid. Merill than repeatedly hits the alien and smashes glasses of water to kill it. We see the alien laying on the floor, huffing until it stops breathing and dies (Spoiler over). We also see a very sad flashback to when Grahm’s wife died. She is pinned up against a tree by a truck and the impact severed her lower half. We don’t see the actual injury, and the description of it from a police officer is more gruesome than what is seen on screen. Still, it’s a sad scene as Grahm talks with his wife for the last time, and will likely make viewers tear up.

This film also has several jolting scenes. There are about six or seven good jump scares. There is also a creepy/ suspenseful scene where Grahm is out in his cornfield at night and an alien, or several perhaps, is nearby. We don’t see them, apart from a leg, but we hear them rustling in the corn, moving around, and speaking to each other in their own language of clicking sounds. Another scary scene occurs with the alien’s surrounding the house, trying to find a way in. Their shadows can be seen through the windows and we hear their footsteps outside. There are some loud bangs during this scene that serve as jump-scares with the alien’s trying to get through the doors or windows. Then, there is the birthday party scene on a television, when a group of children scream and panic when they see an alien walking near the house. The family also takes shelter in their basement at one point with the alien’s, again, trying to find a way in.

In conclusion, “Signs” is well-made and, in my opinion, one of M. Night Shayamalan’s better films before things started to go down hill. It’s faith-inspiring, funny, heart-breaking, scary, and has a fantastic score. If you have not seen this movie, I highly recommend it. If you let younger kids watch it, be sure they know better than to repeat the surprisingly small amount of bad language, and aren’t too scared during certain scenes. This movie could easily give kids nightmares and I even heard some of my adult family members saying they had a hard time sleeping after watching this movie. Still, it’s a great film and a lot of fun if you like scary stuff.