I LOVED this movie. I've watched it several times. The family dynamic, the humor, the love between them all. I'm with you......I thought it was a quietly phenomenal movie! It was a slow build up of tension and there was horror in other parts of the world once the aliens arrived.... but you really cared about this family and wanted them to be ok. I liked the water idea a lot. That added a bit of mysticism or faith to the whole movie. Where mom died for a reason perhaps? It was a way to save her children? Perhaps God was watching out after all? The whole water obsession with the little girl started after her mom died. The humor of all her different reasons for not drinking it, and leaving them out all over was really precious. I love movies that don't spell it all out for you. I like the assumption you're intelligent enough to get the premise. Doesn't rely on gore and cheap thrills.
I really should revisit this movie, since I haven't seen it since it came out, and I didn't think it was all that great. I've always been in the camp that is irritated by the aliens' weakness to water, and I thought the reveal about Mel Gibson's wife's prophetic last words was pretty dumb. But maybe my perspectives have changed after 20+ years, and I'll get something different out of it as a guy in his 40s with kids.
I would definitely recommend to revisit it, though I'm not sure it will change your opinion about the alien stuff. But if you can appreciate the drama in it, you might enjoy it a lot more than you did the first time.
And I agree with you that those last words were pretty far-fetched and somewhat unnecessary.
I couldn't agree more. My grandmother described Signs to me and said the water twist was ridiculous. I watched it and immediately knew it is a gorgeously filmed and scored film about family trauma and healing. The aliens could have been anything--lava, home invasion, robots. How they came and went and why didn't matter. (Although the water was a nifty homage to War of the Worlds' germs.)
Yes, I'd read a column about forgotten horror in the 2000s.
I LOVED this movie. I've watched it several times. The family dynamic, the humor, the love between them all. I'm with you......I thought it was a quietly phenomenal movie! It was a slow build up of tension and there was horror in other parts of the world once the aliens arrived.... but you really cared about this family and wanted them to be ok. I liked the water idea a lot. That added a bit of mysticism or faith to the whole movie. Where mom died for a reason perhaps? It was a way to save her children? Perhaps God was watching out after all? The whole water obsession with the little girl started after her mom died. The humor of all her different reasons for not drinking it, and leaving them out all over was really precious. I love movies that don't spell it all out for you. I like the assumption you're intelligent enough to get the premise. Doesn't rely on gore and cheap thrills.
I really should revisit this movie, since I haven't seen it since it came out, and I didn't think it was all that great. I've always been in the camp that is irritated by the aliens' weakness to water, and I thought the reveal about Mel Gibson's wife's prophetic last words was pretty dumb. But maybe my perspectives have changed after 20+ years, and I'll get something different out of it as a guy in his 40s with kids.
I would definitely recommend to revisit it, though I'm not sure it will change your opinion about the alien stuff. But if you can appreciate the drama in it, you might enjoy it a lot more than you did the first time.
And I agree with you that those last words were pretty far-fetched and somewhat unnecessary.
I couldn't agree more. My grandmother described Signs to me and said the water twist was ridiculous. I watched it and immediately knew it is a gorgeously filmed and scored film about family trauma and healing. The aliens could have been anything--lava, home invasion, robots. How they came and went and why didn't matter. (Although the water was a nifty homage to War of the Worlds' germs.)
Yes, I'd read a column about forgotten horror in the 2000s.
I particularly liked the water "twist" because of how carefully Shyamalan built it up from the beginning. That's just good writing and storytelling.
Also: you're my first paid subscriber ever here, so a huge thank you. You just made my day. :) Oh, and the column is coming soon.
That column about forgotten horror in the 2000s is definitely of interest!
Thanks for the feedback, Filip. I'm already working on a piece ;)
Great! 😁🙏