It’s been 21 years since M. Night Shyamalan‘s fifth film Signs was released. A science fiction drama about faith and family that features a stellar cast.
The story of Signs sees Mel Gibson and Joaquin Phoenix, as brothers Graham and Merril Hess. They, along with Graham’s children Morgan and Bo (Rory Culkin and Abigail Breslin) are dealing with the aftermath of Graham’s wife’s cruel death. Graham, a former Preacher, has lost his faith and renounced religion. But growing signs of an impending alien invasion change everything about what Graham believes.
Shyamalan said the film was inspired by The Birds, Night of the Living Dead, and the original 1956 adaptation of Invasion of the Body Snatchers. He made the cast watch Hitchcock’s horror classic several times during the production of his movie.
As with many other films that followed Shyamalan’s breakout hit The Sixth Sense, a lot of the reception to the film in the past two decades has been focused on ‘the twist’ rather than what the film offers as a whole.
Signs’ Lasting Impact
Despite this, it still sits fairly high in Shyamalan’s directorial career. It hit a critical average of 6.8/10 on IMDb (only The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, and Split have scored higher). ComingSoon’s Jeff Ames wrote a lengthy and passionate celebration of the film last year.
Shyamalan is currently preparing to direct his sixteenth full-length movie Trap. It’s set for an August 2024 release and the director has said, “It’s a thriller. It’s very unusual and very new compared to what I’ve been trying to do [recently], but I’m feeling very excited about the story, so much so that I can’t wait to tell it to you guys,” Shyamalan said. “I will say this, the angle into the story is why it’s so exciting. The story might be something that you’ve seen before but the angle is very, very unique – the point of view.”
