Review of signs (2014) by Andrew M — 11 May 2013

This is a movie that rekindled my faith in the horror/thriller genre. It has long been an issue that these big budget horror movies get riddled with flaws and cliches. But for me Signs is an exception.

Even the opening credits are memorable for a start: the music is some of the best written in the genre and the coloring and texture of the credits are a perfect match for it. The music, written by James Newton Howard, is spiky and has the perfect mix of Herrmannesque something's coming-suspense and good old fashioned instrumentation.

The best performances are provided by Mel Gibson and Joaquin Phoenix who play Graham and Merill Hess respectively. It's films like this that remind us that Gibson can act and that sometimes it is the material that dictates the quality of acting rather than the actor.

Shyamalan is clever in that he uses the old trick of not overdoing the scares in terms of frequency, which is a simple aspect of filmmaking that most directors and writers can't seem to grasp. But when the suspense arrives in the flesh, it looks satisfying and there is no denying when Shyamalan gets it right visually he hits the nail in the head.

The characters are realistic and so we genuinely feel for them and root for them throughout their ordeal which is the hardest job for the storyteller to do. In this case it is story well told.